What is a disability? According to Webster's Dictionary it is: a condition (such as an illness or an injury) that damages or limits a person's physical or mental abilities; the condition of being unable to do things in the normal way.

If this is the way you would define a disability this not the unit for you.

Teaching Students About Disabilities & Acceptance

This Disability Awareness Activities Unit is all about acceptance, overcoming obstacles, and friendship. It is important for classrooms to be an environment where students can openly speak and learn about disabilities and what it means to be "differently-abled". If a student doesn't understand why a person may act, move, look, or learn differently, it can lead to mockery, pity, avoidance, and bullying. In this post (and my next three posts) I will be sharing the novels, resources, and activities I use with my students during our Disability Awareness Activities Unit.

 “Disability Awareness” is an important concept to teach students. It is a good way to start the school year, especially if there are any students with disabilities in your class. Of course, it is important to be very sensitive of the feelings of any student that has a disability in your class during the unit. Even if the beginning of the school year has come and gone, this unit can be used all yearlong. In fact, sometimes it has the most impact halfway through the school year when students are trying to navigate the complexities of classroom relationships, playground cliques, and are more aware of students with actual disabilities.

Mentor Text: Rules by Cynthia Lord

The inspiration for this unit is the 2007 Newbery Medal winner and Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book award winning book Rules by Cynthia Lord. I have been using the book Rules for almost eight years. I adore this book! It is about a middle school aged girl (Catherine) who has an autistic brother (David). Every chapter is subtitled with one of Catherine's rules for her brother David. These rules are intended to help David embarrass Catherine less and to encourage him to display what Catherine considers “normal” behavior. The author seamlessly weaves the rules into an engaging storyline. Even though the rules were created for David's benefit, over the course of the book it is Catherine who learns a valuable lesson about acceptance and friendship.

When I first began using Rules, I shared it with my students as a read-aloud. I was pleasantly surprised by the discussions and activites that came about from reading this book. My students loved the book, so I collected more books focusing on “Disability Awareness.” Rules remained my mentor book in what was slowly becoming a whole Disability Awareness Activities Unit. Now I use picture books with corresponding “Disability Awareness” activities as my mentor texts and Rules is used during small group work or independent reading.

The download available for Rules is what I currently use with my students for their independent reading work. It is an organizer with strategies and prompts for the entire book. I have also used this download in conjunction with Rules when it was my mentor text and read-aloud. Depending on your students’ ability it can be used either way. I hope Rules inspires you and your students the way it has inspired me.

Download my entire unit to increase students' knowledge and understanding about disabilities. The unit uses multiple texts to learn about the variety, complexities, and stereotypes of disabilities. Each text has a corresponding reading or writing activity that will help students gain a deeper understanding of disabilities! Download it now!

Check back in tomorrow to read how I use the book Wonder by RJ Palacio in my disability unit.