Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 10/28/2008 07:52 PM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 10/28/2008 11:35 PM
Expires: 01/01/2013 12:00 AM
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Hazel Fisher and Avery Middle School Students Get a Touch of Understanding~By Brett Loring, the PineTree Pedaler
"What’s it like to get around in a wheelchair? …to trace your name in Braille? …to wear a prosthetic arm? Hazel Fischer 5th graders got a touch of understanding on Tuesday facilitated by the Granite Bay organization A Touch Of Understanding (ATOU). ATOU is comprised of volunteers, both with and without disabilities, including children and adults, athletes and career....
   
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professionals. Tuesday’s presenters included individuals with disabilities ranging from blindness and the effects of cerebral palsy to in-utero hydrocephalis, and amputations from the complications of diabetes.
ATOU volunteers had visited Avery Middle school the day before and fielded questions from 6th graders like, “Does it hurt to wear those legs?” and “What was your first accomplishment after you went blind?” The later question was answered by Karen Parsegian who in mid-life became blind six years ago. She responded light-heartedly, but seriously, “Opening the door and taking out the garbage.” Parsegian brings a message to students about reaching goals despite physical challenges. To make her point, she shot and made a free throw at the Kings-Lakers game last March, and previously had thrown out the first pitch for the San Francisco Giants home game in March of 2006. “I am totally blind.” Parsegian shares. “I got hit in the left eye with a crab-apple when I was eleven. In 2000, I had to have that eye removed due to pain and then lost sight in my right eye six years ago due to a weird phenomenon called sympathetic ophthalmia for my right eye.”
Greg Ellie, a young man who had the first in-utero brain surgery for hydrocephalis, now faces the challenges of not being able to be as active in sports as he would like and the maintenance of a valve and shunt inside his head to control spinal fluid flow. Nevertheless, his positive outlook shone through as he told students that one of the good things about being disabled was that “I don’t have to wait in line at Disneyland!” He continued, “Focus on what you CAN do, not on what you can’t do…it’s okay to be disabled.” Parents and members of the community, including Arnold Rotary, were invited to observe the presentations. Arnold Rotary arranged for overnight accommodations in cooperation with Meadowmont Lodge for members of the ATOU team since they came from out of town and needed to stay overnight to do two consecutive days of presentations at Vallecito Union School District schools. Members stated that they enjoyed and appreciated the local accommodations. Principal Brett Loring is hopeful to spread the ATOU experience beyond the Hazel Fischer school campus into the larger community and onto other Calaveras County campuses in future years. Leslie Dedora, executive director of ATOU stated that this was a beautiful place to come and do their presentation. In fact, ATOU volunteer, Julie Davison has a sister who lives in Arnold and who treated team members to a pasta dinner on Monday night.
Students were very responsive to the presentation as they asked questions and made connections and observations. One student stated to one of the presenters, “I have a disability, but it’s not like yours. It’s called A.D.H.D.” Another noted, “When you lose one of your senses, your other ones get better.” To that, Karen Parsegian challenged students to eat their lunch today with their eyes closed, simulating blindness.
The hoped-for impact of ATOU’s presentation to students at local schools is that students would begin to realize and accept that others may learn, act, and think in ways that are different, but equally meaningful and contributory as the majority of the population. Through talks, visuals, and experiential empathy activity stations, students learn what it is like to have a disability whether physical or developmental. Loring added, “From that seed of understanding, an acceptance, if not an appreciation, begins to spring up, and students begin to demonstrate more caring attitudes and actions toward others.” As a testimonial, evidence of this has been noted after ATOU’s presentations in other schools, including a juvenile court school where Loring had worked. He noted that the students afterwards came to volunteers in tears asking how they could work for the organization or telling stories of how they had felt mistreated before, and now better understood how they may have in turn mistreated others. The social awareness that blooms from ATOU’s visit could have a phenomenal positive impact upon a small community. Just awareness of accessible attractions in our own area creates an initial talking point for how we can better make our resources available to all. A timely example is the planned A.D.A. (Americans with Disabilities Act) San Antonio Creek segment of the Arnold Rim Trail, now under construction.
By its very nature, the stated purpose of A Touch Of Understanding is “to encourage acceptance and respect for all individuals and to minimize the discrimination and misunderstanding experienced by people with disabilities.” The total program emphasis is based on creating a sense of empathy in others and a desire to promote social awareness of those who may look or function differently than those in the mainstream. Individuals with disabilities in our community are not always “visible” to our students, and when they are, often evoke curiosity and misunderstanding. ATOU presents the uniqueness, capacity, and the important role of individuals with disabilities in a new light that allows students to experience what it is like to be “disabled.” Neither the disabled individual, nor the completely able-bodied person ever really gets an opportunity to genuinely interact, ask and answer tough questions, or to mutually seek to understand. ATOU brings this opportunity right into the community and face to face with individuals in their school presentation. Like Steven who faces daily complications from cerebral palsy, says, “Just say ‘Hi,’” as he communicated to students that it is nice to be treated as a normal person.
Karen Parsegian, 50, now in her sixth year of blindness summed up her session nicely, “Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.” She went on to hand a student a nickel referring to the obverse and reverse of the coin like “heads” and “tails” in a coin-toss, “Sometimes things are good. Sometimes things are bad.” Parsegian then referred to a 1930 Buffalo Nickel that was a mis-strike, revealing only 3 of 4 legs of the buffalo. Although it was a “disabled buffalo” as she called it, that coin now fetches over $1.5 million as it is a rare, one-of-a-kind, and valuable piece, just like each individual, disabled or not.
Building on what the ATOU team addressed about bullying, teasing and perceptions, follow-up activities at the school will include class discussions, outreach activities, and empathy lessons throughout the 2008-2009 school year. For more information about A Touch Of Understanding, see the website: www.touchofunderstanding.org"
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