THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501200213
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HOLLY WESTER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
ALTHOUGH HE DOESN'T have any neck or back problems, fifth-grader Daniel Cochran knows what it's like to wear a neck brace.
``It's weird because you can't turn your neck,'' the Red Mill Elementary School student said. ``It gets hot after a while and it starts to hurt.''
Daniel was only one of 300 fifth-graders who experienced a disability recently as part of a community problem-solving project at the Old Donation Center for the Gifted and Talented. Students taped fingers together, wore ear muffs and sat in wheelchairs.
The school, which began the project earlier this month, is exposing third- and fifth-graders to the capabilities of the visually impaired, hearing impaired and wheelchair users through guest speakers and independent projects. The idea stemmed from the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.
Peer counselors from Norfolk's Endependence Center, a private, non-profit center for independent living that serves people with physical and sensory disabilities, have been visiting ODC students to help increase their awareness and knowledge.
``An important component of what we do is community education and disability awareness training,'' said Paul Melvin, director of participant services at the center.
The emphasis has been on the positive aspects of living with a disability, and students are learning things they never knew.
``The speakers have been crucial,'' said Martha Tompkins, administrative assistant and third-grade teacher. ``These people do have physical impairments, but they function in their lives independently.''
Students, who spend one day a week at the Old Donation center, were shocked to find out that counselor Rich Sorey, who is blind, used to wrestle in high school. He told them about beepers in baseballs and basketballs that allow the visually impaired to play sports.
Sorey passed around a sheet of Braille to show students how he reads. ``Most folks can't understand the only difference between me and them is that I can't see,'' Sorey told a group of students during a recent visit. ``Having a disability is hard, but it's all what you make of it.''
Another speaker, Pat Horan, who uses a wheelchair because of a diving accident 17 years ago, took an extra step by inviting students out to his van, where he showed them how he gets around.
``I liked Mr. Pat's van,'' said Sarah Martin, a third-grader at Salem Elementary School. ``I didn't know people in wheelchairs could drive. I thought they got someone to drive them.''
Horan said he thinks this show-and-tell approach works with the students. ``My personal gratification from educating them on disabilities is knowing that they're going to see persons as persons first, and disabilities second,'' he said.
Third-graders have written to city officials as well as state and national organizations to get updated information about what services are provided for people with disabilities.
The students also are visiting Bayside Recreation Center to learn about therapeutic recreation.
Fifth-graders have been looking at new gadgets for the disabled and will make brochures for their own inventions. Teachers plan to send some of these to the Department of Rehabilitation Services.
Both grades will share their knowledge with classmates, and teachers are planning to send the information to the students' home schools and into their communities via brochures, posters and videos. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by CHARLIE MEADS
Guest speakers Pat Horan, right, and Rich Sorey tell students at the
Old Donation Center for the Gifted and Talented of the challenges
they face in life.
ABOVE LEFT: Rich Sorey, who is blind, tells students: ``Having a
disability is hard, but it's all what you make of it.''
ABOVE RIGHT: Pat Horan, injured in a diving accident, said: ``My
personal gratification from educating them on disabilities is
knowing that they're going to see persons as persons first, and
disabilities second.''
KEYWORDS: DISABLED HANDICAPPED by CNB