December 2020

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Lesson Objectives:

  • Students will acknowledge the importance of International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

  • Students will be able to define "disability" and recognize the different types of disabilities.

  • Students will understand the impact of specific barriers for people with disabilities.

Pre-Test

  1. What is International Day of Persons with Disabilities?

  2. What does "disability" mean?

  3. Name of the types of disabilities.

  4. What are the barriers that people with disabilities have to endure?

What is International Day of Persons with Disabilities?

International Day of Persons with Disabilities serves to highlight the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society, and to increase awareness of their political, social, economic, and cultural life situations.

What does "disability" mean?

A disability is a physical or mental problem that makes it difficult or impossible for a person to walk, see, hear, speak, learn, or do other important things. Some disabilities are permanent, or last forever. Others are temporary, or last for only a short time. A disabilitycan be something a person was born with.

You can find the different types of disabilities on the image to the right.


Facts & Figures

  • 7 billion people: world population

  • More than 100 million disabled persons are children

  • Children with disabilities are almost four times more likely to experience violence than non-disabled children

  • 50% of disabled persons cannot afford health care

What are the barriers people with disabilities have to endure?

Often there are multiple barriers (or obstacles) that can make it extremely difficult or even impossible for people with disabilities to function. Here are some of the most common barriers:

  1. Stereotyping and discrimination: People sometimes assume that people with disabilities live unhappy lives or that they are unhealthy.

  2. Communication: Communication obstacles are experienced by people who have disabilities that affect hearing, speaking, reading, writing, and or understanding, and who use different ways to communicate than people who do not have these disabilities.

  3. Physical: Physical barriers, like not having access to ramps, structural obstacles in natural or manmade environments that prevent or block moving around in the environment.

  4. Laws: This obstacle affects people with disabilities because many people do not know the laws that protect them and people do not enforce these laws, which require programs and activities be accessible to people with disabilities.

Reflection

  1. In the video, Cole stated "there does not need to be a cure for autism." What do you think he meant by this?

  2. What makes YOU different?

  3. Why is it important to respect and cherish each other's differences?

Pre-Test

  1. What is International Day of Persons with Disabilities?

  2. What does "disability" mean?

  3. Name of the types of disabilities.

  4. What are the barriers that people with disabilities have to endure?

  5. Why is it important to accept people's differences?