You are a middle school headmaster, a teacher, or a supervisor for children aged 11 to 15 and you want to change how teenagers view disabilities? PlayMoovin’ reviews the resources and activities that can be carried out to successfully raise awareness of disabilities in middle school.
Middle school: awareness tools to talk of disabilities
How to raise awareness of disabilities among middle schoolers? Animations, debates, readings: there are numerous ways to get rid of prejudices and to make teenagers think about disabilities. Here are a few ideas you can test out to carry out a disability awareness project.
The International Day for Persons with Disabilities
The International Day for Persons with Disabilities was created by the UN. It has been taking place each year on the 3rd of December for more than 30 years. On this occasion, numerous disability awareness activities can be organised in middle school. For example, it can be about raising awareness of the obstacles people with reduced mobility face among 11- to 15-year-olds. Below are few ideas of possible activities.
Organise an activity about disability awareness
The objective is to explain the ins and outs of the International Day for Persons with Disabilities. These discussions can be done for students from 6th to 9th grade and allow to treat topics such as:
- The rights of people with disabilities;
- Inclusion;
- Fighting against discriminations.
It is also a great idea to welcome professionals working in the field of disabilities or disabled people so they can take part in the activity. They are the best at raising awareness of diversity among young people. They are always pleased to share their experience and answer to the students’ questions concretely.
Propose middle schoolers to carry out their own awareness campaign
Learning is not just about receiving knowledge. It is also about production and experimentation. With that in mind, the design of a disability awareness poster and of flyers is a good way to shift the mentalities on disabilities.
Middle schoolers can write an inspiring story for their classmates or create an artistic exposition on disability awareness following the intervention of a disabled person who shared their experience.
Being actively involved in solidarity actions starting in middle school
Teenagers can also organise workshops for their classmates in your school. Indeed, when a project is carried out by students for other students, the impact on the latter is way more important. When teenagers suffering from a disability talk about their experience to other teenagers from the same middle school, they are moved. The H project that was carried out in a middle school in Beauvais is a great example of an inclusive school.
Tools for raising awareness of disabilities
Here are below interesting movies or books on this topic which can be used to carry out a disability awareness activity in a middle school. They can be the subject of workshops on disabilities aimed towards the middle schoolers of your school.
Movies and short films around disabilities
Several movies are a good occasion to talk about invisible or visible disabilities. Here is a non-exhaustive list of movies to see to help raise awareness of disabilities in middle school:
- “Intouchables” directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano;
- “Elephant Man” directed by David Lynch;
- “Le scaphandre et le papillon » directed by Julian Schnabel ;
- « Good Vibrations » directed by Lydia Erbibou
- Etc.
The first movies we mentioned are well-known by the public. The last movie, “Good Vibration” is a documentary which was filmed over several months at the Institut national des jeunes sourds (National Institute for young deaf people).
You can also find several clips which can help free the speech n disabilities on Eduscol’s site.
Books on disabilities adapted to middle schoolers
Autism, motor or visual disability: children’s literature has no shortage of works on these topics.
Let’s start with the comic books and with “La metamorphose d’Hélène Keller”. It tells the story of Hélène who was born in 1880 and who suffers from a visual disability as well as from deafness before she reaches the age of 2. She can thus only communicate with clumsy gestures and finds herself cut off from the rest of the world. At the age of 6, her parents hired a governess who will help her overcome the obstacles and acquire communication skills. Hélène would become an emblematic figure of the American society. She distinguished herself as a writer while actively being involved in politics. This comic book is a true source of inspiration for teenagers. It showcases the power of human will against adversity.
“Handicap, le guide de l’autonomie” is a book which regroups personal stories, concrete advice and useful references about numerous topics such a s family, friendship, love relationships, studies, hobbies and the future.
“Maldonne” is also a book which talks about disabilities. It is written by Mikaël Ollivier and tells the story of Juliette, a little 9-year-old girl who is suffering from myopathy. She has been living alone with her mother since her father left because he could not live with his daughter’s disease. She then decides that for her mother to smile again, she must find a new person to love. This story really puts the reader in the place of someone suffering from a disability and allows them to see how one can live with someone suffering from a disability and how to support them as well. A captivating and touching story to put between the hands of all middle schoolers!
Did you think about organising inclusive sport activities? Students can participate to games or competitions which value each and everyone’s capabilities disregarding physical and cognitive differences. This is an excellent way to make middle schoolers understand the importance of inclusion in all of life’s aspects including sports. Let’s talk about it!
Sport as a way to demystify disabilities in middle school
Sport offers a different perspective when talking about disabilities. Playing in the context of raising awareness of disabilities allows indeed to go beyond prejudices and stereotypes. It helps create an environment where the individual capabilities of the students are showcased instead of their limitations.
Talking about awareness in another way
In the framework of inclusive sport activities, middle schoolers experience firsthand the challenges and opportunities related to disabilities. Their understanding of disabilities is thus deeper and their awareness is greater.
It is essential not to forget that sport also offers moments of sharing, mutual aid, and collaboration between able-bodied and disabled middle schoolers.
By working together towards a common objective, they break physical and sensory barriers. Teenagers develop their empathy, their communication, their respect, and their acceptance of diversity. They learn to recognise but also to value people’s different capabilities.
A sport wheelchair to raise awareness among middle schoolers
You will have understood that sport allows to comprehend disabilities in a dynamic and positive way. It is at least what we believe at PlayMoovin’.
To put our beliefs into application, we have developed a sport wheelchair – the FreeMoovin’ – which traverses France to raise awareness of disabilities among children in primary schools, activity centres, middle schools, and companies. This vehicle has all the technical specifications for people with a physical disability and is validated by the CERAH (research and study centre for the equipment of disabled people).
Indeed, it comes equipped with a rigid and eco-designed plastic case made from collision-resistant materials. Moreover, it also comes with a strap for the abdomen as well as with knee protection to ensure security for the person in it. Additionally, the system is equipped with an anti-swing system which prevents the student from falling, even if they stand up.
Here are a few examples of what you can do along with a class of students.
Awareness games for middle schoolers
When you are with teenagers aged from 11 to 15 years old, all team sports are interesting.
At first, it is necessary for the teenagers to learn how to use the wheelchair. To reach that objective, it is a great idea to install a track where they can learn to handle it.
Once they understand how to handle the wheelchair, you can organise a game of any team sport:
- Wheelchair rugby;
- Wheelchair handball;
- Wheelchair tennis;
- Etc.
You want to organise an activity to raise awareness of disabilities in your middle high school? Do not hesitate to contact us! We are renting our sport wheelchairs for classes all throughout France and even beyond France’s borders.
Sources
Eduscol-Ressources pour animer une séance de sensibilisation au handicap
Dossier d’informations sur la campagne nationale de sensibilisation au handicap
