Understanding Disabilities

Albert Einstein, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, photographer Dorothea Lange and Olympic gold medal-winner Wilma Rudolph are among extraordinary achievers who overcame disabilities. Learn about disabilities and how people deal with them, find out about the importance of universal access and equal opportunities, and become more sensitive to handicapped people through these direct links on The Times Launch Point Web site: https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint

Level 1

Seeing Disabilities from a Different Perspective: Beethoven continued composing outstanding music after he became deaf. This elementary school student project provides perspectives on autism, blindness, cerebral palsy and deafness through interviews and simulation activities and includes helpful book reviews and a glossary.

https://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5852/

Kids’ Health for Kids: Though dyslexia is a learning problem that affects reading and writing, it didn’t stop Einstein from positing the theory of relativity. Learn about more than 25 conditions as you read about kids with diseases and find out what it is like to be hearing impaired.

https://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/index.html

Band-Aids & Blackboards: Stories From the Front: Read more than 40 stories by kids for kids who explain what it’s like to be allergic to certain foods or to deal with spinal muscular atrophy.

https://funrsc.fairfield.edu/~jfleitas/experts1.html

Level 2

Just Because We Have a Disability Doesn’t Mean We Byte! This student project explains visible disabilities such as visual or mobility impairments as well as hidden conditions such as learning disabilities. Take a quiz about famous achievers who overcame various difficulties and learn about topics such as universal design, accessibility and technology for the handicapped.

https://library.thinkquest.org/11799/

Disability Awareness: Learn about the challenges--physical and otherwise--that disabled people face in their daily lives and find out basic principles of disability etiquette.

https://www.daras.co.uk/pack/chap4.htm

Teens Vs. Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities: This online magazine produced by teenagers explains dyslexia, offers helpful study tips, provides a forum for discussing issues and features wonderful artwork and creative writing.

https://www.ldteens.org/

Level 3

National Museum of American History: The Disability Rights Movement Visit: Ten years ago the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed to make discrimination illegal and to ensure equal access for people with disabilities. View photos, documents and video clips that tell the story of the disability rights movement, which was modeled after the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

https://americanhistory.si.edu/disabilityrights/welcome.html

We Media: This online magazine for the disabled provides up-to-date coverage on news, including sports (the 2000 Paralympic Games) and politics. This site also offers many valuable resources, including discussion forums and a special children’s section with American Sign Language games and stories of young newsmakers.

https://www.wemedia.com/wehome/gateway.jhtml

Art, Disability Expression: This outstanding online art exhibit explores important issues, such as disability culture, art as cultural representation, artists with disabilities and how depictions of the disabled (such as Tiny Tim and Captain Hook) reflect people’s prejudices and fears.

https://www.vsarts.org/gallery/exhibits/disability/index.html

EXPLORER’S QUEST

The answer to this Internet quiz can be found in the sites at right.

What famous movie star learns his lines by listening to a tape because he has dyslexia?

CLUE: See Just Because We Have a Disability Doesn’t Mean We Byte! (Fun Stuff)

Find What You Need to Know: Have a project on California history? Need help doing a math problem? Launch Point now covers more than 150 topics for getting your schoolwork done. Go to https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/ for the full list of subjects and direct links to the best Internet sites.

Answer to last week’s Quest: The didgeridoo relies on the technique of circular breathing, in which air is taken in through the nose while simultaneously blowing air out through the mouth.

Launch Point is produced by the UC Irvine department of education, which reviews each site for appropriateness and quality. Even so, parents should supervise their children’s use of the Internet. This column was designed by Anna Manring.