Students taking Disability Awareness researched and presented on a famous person or historical figure that has the same disability as themselves. They were then asked to research this disability, describe the impact, or symptoms, it has on a person’s daily life, how many people world wide have this type of disability, and describe how people become aware they have this. The students presented this information and talked about how this disability affected their famous person’s career, how they overcame some of the obstacles this disability may have caused, and how it made them feel. The students are also asked to think about how their own disability may affect their own career choices and discuss how they can or are overcoming some hurdles themselves
Disability Awareness is a lot about learning and taking ownership about peoples own disabilities, and learning about others. We put a lot of focus on disclosing (sharing personal information) and advocacy (speaking up for yourself). This project is one of many that begins this sometimes difficult journey for our students. This activity helps students learn how to correctly inform others about their disability so they are better able to articulate what sorts of issues they are dealing with and be able to disclose and advocate for themselves.
OLS Student Lavanya had a lot to say on the impact this activity and the overall course has had for her. “It is important for OLS students to learn this skill or complete this activity because it gives them a sense of what people can achieve despite their disability,” she says. “It helps students learn how to advocate for their disability in the workplace. It shows that this course is preparing students to be well-informed to be able to disclose their disability at work, as well as helping students better understand how their disability affects them, while teaching them how to research information and ask for help.”
Disability Awareness is one of the many courses OLS Students take to obtain their associate degree from OLS. More information about our curriculum is available on our website. To learn more about our program register for an Information Session.
Last Updated March 27, 2019