One of the ways that we try to educate people in Cambridge about disability and access issue is by providing what we call disability awareness training for various groups - businesses, non-profits, faith communities, city departments. We particularly enjoy working with the students.

In May of each year Commission members, staff and additional volunteers visit nearly all the third grade classes in the Cambridge public elementary schools. The program was launched with the third grade because they use a health education curriculum supplement called The Great Body Shop that has a unit each spring on disability issues. We appreciate how Kim DeAndrade of the Health Education Office has helped coordinate these sessions with the teachers.

Kids are curious and ask questions about all kinds of things, particularly if it is new to them. If they are shushed up and told not to talk about it, this can make the whole subject seem too embarrassing, scary or forbidden. I think children are just trying to make sense of the differences they encounter.

From the adults in their lives they will either learn to fear and ridicule the people and situations that are unfamiliar, or gain an appreciation of the wonderful diversity of people in the world about them. We hope that these visits will help the kids be more comfortable around people with physical, mental and sensory impairments and more knowledgeable about the technology and ways we do things that can eliminate many barriers for people with disabilities.

We send teams of two or three people with different types of disabilities to each classroom. Each panelist briefly describes the nature of his or her disability, gives some examples of how it affects daily activities, and ways in which he or she has adapted to living with a disability. We try to help the students see that everyone is different and that a disability is one if those attributes that defines a person, just like hair color, size, language. We also talk about how people with disabilities want the same kinds of things as everyone else: friends, families, going to movies or sports events, out to eat, working, etc.

We let the students ask us questions. They are very perceptive!
How do you get in your car?
How does your guide dog know when the traffic light turns green?
My sister has a broken arm. Is that a disability?

We also encourage them to do some problem solving with us. We do some brainstorming for solutions to problems such as:

• Print that is too small to read
• Stores that have one or two steps at the entrance
• Doors that are too heavy to push open easily
• Bus drivers who do not announce the stops
• A class or meeting on the second floor of a building with no elevator
• Words that cannot be understood because they are being said too fast or not loud enough