Miss-Delectable
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Students become Deaf/Blind for a Day | TBO.com
Cathy Lorenzo got a sense of what it was like to live without sight or hearing on Thursday.
The 10th-grader was one of about 100 students who took part in Sunlake High School's Deaf/Blind for a Day activity, intended to give them a better understanding of what disabled people deal with every day.
Wearing a set of ear plugs and dark glasses covered with Vaseline, Lorenzo, 16, went to class as usual, though she realized by midmorning that the day would not be a typical one.
"Some of my friends would try to talk to me, then get frustrated and walk away," said Lorenzo, who is studying American Sign Language at school. "I had trouble hearing my teacher in class, so I had to sit closer."
The exercise was supervised by Sunlake High's American Sign Language teacher, Rhonda Leslie.
"Sometimes it's difficult to teach teenagers about deaf and blind culture," said Leslie. "This way, they understand the sense of frustration, the lack of communication, the isolation that people who are deaf and blind face every day, in every situation."
Students taking part in the exercise attended classes as usual Thursday, and while teachers were notified about the activity, they were not required to provide the students with any special accommodations.
"They have to accommodate themselves," said Leslie. "If they have to move forward to see or hear in class, they have to tell the teachers themselves."
Outside the classroom, students were encouraged to "wear their impairments" in the hallways and the cafeteria, where some of the "blind" students got by with the aid of walking sticks.
"By wearing their ear plugs and sunglasses in the common areas, it shows how the entire school community is affected by the presence of challenged kids," said Leslie.
Students completed an obstacle course, navigating around chairs and trash cans with the aid of walking sticks; read a story in Braille; and used their sense of smell to determine the contents of paper bags, filled with lemon, coffee, tea and caramel.
Mary Cruv, 16, struggled to adapt to her changed circumstances at some points of the day.
"At one point I tried to ask someone for a piece of paper but didn't realize that I wasn't talking loud enough for them to hear.
"For the day I was immersed in deaf culture."
By the end of the day, some students were getting headaches and stressed out, Leslie said.
"They didn't realize they would have to concentrate so much," said Leslie. "They didn't realize how much their other senses are working to make up for the impairments."
Cathy Lorenzo got a sense of what it was like to live without sight or hearing on Thursday.
The 10th-grader was one of about 100 students who took part in Sunlake High School's Deaf/Blind for a Day activity, intended to give them a better understanding of what disabled people deal with every day.
Wearing a set of ear plugs and dark glasses covered with Vaseline, Lorenzo, 16, went to class as usual, though she realized by midmorning that the day would not be a typical one.
"Some of my friends would try to talk to me, then get frustrated and walk away," said Lorenzo, who is studying American Sign Language at school. "I had trouble hearing my teacher in class, so I had to sit closer."
The exercise was supervised by Sunlake High's American Sign Language teacher, Rhonda Leslie.
"Sometimes it's difficult to teach teenagers about deaf and blind culture," said Leslie. "This way, they understand the sense of frustration, the lack of communication, the isolation that people who are deaf and blind face every day, in every situation."
Students taking part in the exercise attended classes as usual Thursday, and while teachers were notified about the activity, they were not required to provide the students with any special accommodations.
"They have to accommodate themselves," said Leslie. "If they have to move forward to see or hear in class, they have to tell the teachers themselves."
Outside the classroom, students were encouraged to "wear their impairments" in the hallways and the cafeteria, where some of the "blind" students got by with the aid of walking sticks.
"By wearing their ear plugs and sunglasses in the common areas, it shows how the entire school community is affected by the presence of challenged kids," said Leslie.
Students completed an obstacle course, navigating around chairs and trash cans with the aid of walking sticks; read a story in Braille; and used their sense of smell to determine the contents of paper bags, filled with lemon, coffee, tea and caramel.
Mary Cruv, 16, struggled to adapt to her changed circumstances at some points of the day.
"At one point I tried to ask someone for a piece of paper but didn't realize that I wasn't talking loud enough for them to hear.
"For the day I was immersed in deaf culture."
By the end of the day, some students were getting headaches and stressed out, Leslie said.
"They didn't realize they would have to concentrate so much," said Leslie. "They didn't realize how much their other senses are working to make up for the impairments."