TUSTIN : Learning the ABCs of Handicaps

Francisco Burgos, a second-grader at Arroyo Elementary School, didn’t like being blind. As soon as he could, the boy took off the black scarf tied around his eyes and squinted in the bright morning sunshine. He was thrilled that the experiment was over.

“I kept bumping into stuff,” he said. “It’s kind of sad for people who are blind.”

For about 15 minutes Tuesday, the school’s playground was filled with children careening about in wheelchairs, tapping white canes while wearing blindfolds and pushing themselves forward in walkers.

The idea, said teacher Nancy McCloud, is give the children a first-hand experience of what it’s like to be handicapped.

“I think they develop an understanding of differences between people,” McCloud said. “They physically know the meaning of the old proverb, ‘Walk a mile in my shoes.’ They’ve rolled a mile.”

Gina Kim, 7, of Santa Ana, who had seen a walker at her grandmother’s house, said she now has a better idea of what the grandmother goes through. “I think she’s kind of hurting in her body,” Kim said.

Kim Thompson thought being blind was scary. But she quickly pointed out that many blind people are aided by guide dogs.

“They have to use special things and they are differently-abled,” the 7-year-old from Santa Ana said.

Her classmate, Athina Singer, who helped guide Thompson around the schoolyard, added, “We shouldn’t laugh at them and we shouldn’t feel sorry for them. If you tease them, they won’t feel OK.”

McCloud developed handicap education lessons for the state-funded Mentor Teacher program in which instructors show their colleagues innovative ways of teaching traditional and special subjects. The program will be introduced to all of Arroyo’s second-grade classes by the end of the year.

McCloud’s lessons integrate information about being handicapped into regular course work. When pupil students study George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, they’ll study Helen Keller as well.

During silent reading time after lunch, pupils can select from such books as “I’m Deaf and That’s Okay” or “I Can Sign My ABCs.” When music is discussed, the class will hear a few songs from blind musician Stevie Wonder’s latest album. When pupils discuss the alphabet, they will learn a few letters in Braille.

Administrators have even become involved in the program.

Several children experimenting with wheelchairs have visited Principal Gerry Aust’s office. He said he never mentions the wheelchairs and treats the students like any other child coming into his office.

“Kids can really be cruel without meaning to be cruel,” he said. “If we can make them aware of these people, we’ve given them a good education.”