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Workshop shows kids
the need for sensitivity By Don Manley They gained insight into the lives of the disabled through a video, hands-on activities and the impassioned words of Lisa Cronin Miller and her Sensitivity Awareness Workshop.
Fourth- and fifth-grade students — roughly 250 total over the course of the day —assembled in groups of 50 in the school's media center for the hour-long sessions of the workshop, which Cronin Miller, of Cape Coral, has been conducting since 2003. She kicked off the workshop with a brief video about the inspiration for the program, her 14-year-old daughter, Rachal. Rachal was a healthy child until the age of 6 months, when she began having seizures which, over time, damaged her brain and left her mentally retarded. After years of hospitalizations, treatments, and occupational and speech therapy, Rachal is now seizure-free, but doctors were unable to pinpoint their cause, she said. Cronin Miller, 41, said the workshop grew out of an experience they had three years ago, when Rachal was attending Bonita Middle School's program for mentally and physically challenged children. She said she accompanied her daughter to a school dance, where she saw some students making fun of their special-needs classmates. This horrified the stay-at-home mom. It was at this point that she decided her life's work would be to enlighten people about the plight of those with physical, mental or learning disabilities. Since then, Cronin Miller said, she has presented the workshop to roughly 5,000 people at Lee County elementary and middle schools, businesses, clubs and community groups. After the video, the children moved on to 10 tables where they were challenged to perform tasks that simulate six different disabilities. "Our goal today is that you would step out of your comfort zone and experience what their life is like," she said. At one table, they had to write using their non-dominant hand to replicate a fine motor skill problem. At another, it was attempting to speak while keeping the tongue placed on the roof of the mouth to experience what it is like to to be speech impaired. A question and answer session followed, with Cronin Miller asking the students which task was most difficult and what adjectives best described their feelings while attempting them. She then asked the students how often they called others "retard" or "stupid," even in a joking manner, and urged them to stop. "I want you guys to treat others the way you want to be treated," Cronin Miller said. "We want you to treat each other with love and kindness." She also encouraged the children to make classmates with physical, mental or learning disabilities feel wanted, telling them to, "Be a friend, sit next to them on the bus or talk to them at lunch." Fifth grader Andrea Soto, of Lehigh Acres, said the workshop's message had an impact. "It was cool," she said. "I learned to think before you say something because if you say something, it can really hurt that person inside." Alexandria Rodriguez, 9, also of Lehigh Acres, said she intends to stick up for disabled children if she feels they are being mistreated. "I learned that it's very hard for other people and I feel sorry for them when people make fun of them," she said. Gateway Principal Nancy Adams said the program has value for all ages. "We all need it," she said. "We all need to learn what it's like to walk in somebody else's shoes. When you understand what life is like for other people." The program dovetails with the school's anti-bully efforts, which utilize a number of special programs, said Mary Jo Rheaume, Gateway's guidance counselor. "We're trying to teach the children how to be peacemakers rather than bullies," she said.
SAW
of SWFL, Inc. is a Florida 501(c)3 Non Profit Corporation. All
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