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Seeing life from the 'other' side By DEIRDRE CONNER,
Staff Writer
As she stood in front of a group of students at Bonita Middle School on Thursday morning, Lisa Cronin Miller looked perfectly relaxed. The sixth graders she was talking to did not. She had just asked them a question to think about, but not to answer out loud. How many times had they called each other a retard? An uncomfortable, serious quiet engulfed the room. Young minds turned backward in time, wondering if the insult had ever crossed their lips; hoping it hadn't, fearing it had. "I'm going to ask you to think twice before you say that again," Miller asked them. The students had just finished a new workshop that is skyrocketing in popularity across Lee County. In it, they cycle through tables where their specially trained classmates tie one of their arms back and toss balls to them, have them speak with their tongue touching the roof of their mouths or make them complete a math test where the numbers are reversed. The short tests give them an idea of what life is like for people who live with disabilities — people who can't untie a band and get an arm back, who can't open their eyes and see the puzzle pieces before them. Miller, an Estero resident, was giving the workshop for the second time at Bonita Middle, the school where she piloted the program there just last year. With the support of Superintendent James Browder and the Southwest Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Sensitivity Awareness Workshop, Inc. has gone to elementary, middle and high schools across the county as well as to professional groups and businesses. Miller and her family know first-hand how much it can hurt when children don't know how to interact with people who have disabilities. The workshop was inspired by a heart-breaking experience Miller's daughter, Rachal, had last year. Rachal is a seventh grader in the life skills program at Bonita Middle. She suffered a disease as an infant that left her with developmental delays, epilepsy and mental retardation. At her first public school dance, Rachal and her classmates were taunted by schoolmates. "Now that she's accepted, it's easier," Miller said. Piloting the workshop at Bonita Middle last year was something of a homecoming for Miller. She attended the school herself in the 1970s. She and her family moved back to south Lee County in April 2002. Learning from their classmates hits the message home. "When you've got your peers in front of you, I think their tendency is to listen more." Katrina Casy, 11, said her sister, who went through the training last year, taught her never to use insults like "retard." Katrina, whose cousin has mental and physical disabilities, said tracing behind a mirror was the hardest part of the workshop. "I didn't know how hard it is," she said. Facilitator Gina Rossi had students at her table talk with their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths. "It sounds funny," they complained. "They get embarrassed," Gina, 13, said. "It's hard. When they see someone with this problem, they don't understand it. But now they do." Want more information on the workshop? Call 466-6344 or visit www.sawoneheart.com.
SAW
of SWFL, Inc. is a Florida 501(c)3 Non Profit Corporation. All
gifts of cash or securities are fully tax deductible under IRS
law. A copy of the official registration and financial information
may be obtained from the division of consumer services by calling
toll free (800-435-7352) within the state. Registration does not
imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by the state. |
