Game Gives Lessons in Sensitivity

All it took was a simple board game for Carol Leish to teach 100 area Girl Scout leaders something about being sensitive to people with disabilities.

The Oxnard native, who is a disability consultant, showed off the Capable Kids Game she created to Girl Scout leaders from Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The demonstration was at a Southern California Leaderama last Saturday at Blackstock Junior High School.

“The one-hour discussion game provides open-ended questions about physical, mental and learning challenges. The objective is to help players become more aware of the capabilities and strengths of individuals with disabilities,” said Leish, 36. “It’s meant to be a learning tool, not a game per se.”

Leish said she demonstrates the game in small groups of children or adults. She usually splits people into groups of five, and challenges them with questions to earn points.

Then they can earn bonus points with a roll of the dice.

“The main theme of the game is that, whether we have disabilities or not, we are more similar than different,” Leish said. “It is all about being able to improvise or accommodate situations in different ways. The game is intended to be a fun learning experience that, at the same time, fosters more acceptance and empathy for people with disabilities.”

The game includes cards in one of three categories: emotion, experience and imagination.

Emotion cards, for instance, ask a player to “describe how you would feel if you had to use a wheelchair for one year,” or an experience card might ask a player, “Imagine you started a new business. Would you hire a person with a disability?”

An imagination card might ask, “What would you do as a teacher to help a student who has trouble writing in class?”

“The questions are open-ended, and there are no right or wrong answers,” Leish said.

For more information, call Leish at 988-6160.