Even students who consider themselves open-minded and empathetic may harbor biases against people with disabilities. One way to encourage a conversation about the subtle ways some people mistreat people with disabilities is to host a classroom role playing game. During the role playing game, one students plays the students with a disability and the other student plays a fully abled student. A teacher might suggest a situation, like working on a math problem together. Other students observe the interaction and note the ways that the fully abled student treats the disabled student --- some ways may be helpful modifications, like slowing down speech so a deaf student can lip read, while others may be a symptom of bias, like oversimplifying language for a student in a wheelchair. Discuss the ways in which biases can be hurtful to people who are differently abled.
For younger students, a simulation game is a hands-on way to begin developing empathy for people with different abilities. During a simulation activity, provide students with various props or tools and ask them to take on the role of a person with a specific disability. For example, blindfolds might simulate blindness, noise-canceling headphones simulate deafness and a wheelchair simulates limited mobility. Challenge the students to complete everyday tasks, like navigate the school hallways or playing a basketball game, and then lead a discussion about the challenges of each disability. Learning disabilities can also be included. For example, challenge students to read and summarize a passage while a loud, distracting noise plays in the background to simulate attention disorders.
Older students with a more developed understanding about disabilities are prepared for a self-directed activity that addresses the more global challenges that face people who are differently abled. Invite students to create their own disability outreach projects. The goal of an outreach project is to educate and engage other students or community members in the effort to make the world a more physically and emotionally friendly place for people with disabilities. Students might consider highlighting disabled students in the school newspaper as "Stars of the Week" or organizing an in-school fundraiser like a bake sale to donate money to the special education department.
Making classroom modifications so that learning is equitable to all students is a responsibility of teachers, but students may not always consider the value of such modifications. As a concluding activity in a unit on disability awareness, as students to evaluate their classrooms or school for accessibility. Students might consider narrow doorways, small bathrooms or poor lighting in classrooms as inhibitors to equitable learning for disabled students. Encourage students to also consider learning disabled peers who might be challenged by background noise or uncomfortable temperatures in the classroom. If you have a student with disabilities in your classroom, invite her to talk about modifications that are the most meaningful to her and modifications she'd like to see.