To the Catskill Center for Independence and Riverside Elementary School, for teaching students and adults in an unusual way about living with disabilities.
Third-grade teacher Ken Sider contacted the center after school psychologist Deborah Clune began using a motorized scooter. The center provided nonmotorized wheelchairs to the school, which third-graders take turns using for an entire day.
Students said the experience was partly fun, but also difficult.
Elias Brashear, a student in Sider’s class, said, "If I had to do it all the time, it wouldn’t be fun. When you have to go fast, your arms hurt. Your legs hurt from not being able to move."
He added that he couldn’t join his friends in playing in the snow while he was in the wheelchair.
Students are also writing essays about what they expect to face when it is their turn for a chair and another about what it’s actually like.
This project seems to have taught the Riverside students important lessons in empathy and respecting others, regardless of their physical condition. We hope those lessons will stay with them for a long time, and that more students will get the chance to learn them.