International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is observed globally in December each year, working to raise awareness, promote inclusion, help improve the lives of a person with a disability, and celebrate their achievements and contributions to society. According to the United Nation’s Department of Economics and Social Affairs there are six key goals associated with this year’s theme, “Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future.”
One of the six key goals this year is:
Increasing the participation of persons with disabilities in decision-making processes.
This blog will focus on how students/children with disabilities, including visual impairment and blindness, can work toward the decision-making processes by increasing their critical thinking and problem-solving skills through interdependence and partial participation in functional skills.
A philosophy I share with IEP team members and parents is, “do not do anything for a student/child that they can do themselves.” This means stepping back and observing what the individual can do before leaning in to help. This involves patience and providing time for a student/child to do tasks independently. Team members and parents should strive to increase a youth’s ability to participate as much as possible in independent living skills, recreational activities, and when navigating the community. When total independence is not possible, a student/child can be taught to participate in part of a task through a task analysis while being assisted with all other parts of the activity. Collaboration and communication with all team members and caretakers is vital. When working together, functional skills can be carried over throughout a school day and at home. Here are a few examples of how partial participation can work across disciplines:
- A student/child may not be able to connect a zipper on their jacket, but once connected, they can independently pull the zipper up.
- A student/child may not be able to propel their manual wheelchair across campus, but they can point and state the direction to turn as they are pushed along a familiar route.
- A student/child may not be able to see the pedestrian signal on a traffic light, but they can learn to use an app on their phone, like the Oko application on an iPhone, to hear, feel, and/or see visual signals that alert them when it is safe to cross.
- A student/child may not be able to read a label on a product, but they can learn to use an app on their phone, like the Seeing AI application on an iPhone or iPad, to read the product code aloud.
Think out of the box and make accommodations that help students/children with disabilities feel they are valuable and contributing members of the team/family. It is important to keep in mind that helping them too much is a disservice, undermining their self-confidence and leading to learned helplessness. Providing opportunities for the student/child to accomplishing challenges, even in a limited way, will help prepare them for the bigger challenges ahead. Build the strong foundation needed for increasing confidence in problem solving and critical thinking skills by empowering them to participate in their unique way, creating a more inclusive society where everyone has a voice and can contribute.
While the World celebrates International Day of Persons with Disabilities in December, we celebrate individuals with disabilities every day. We encourage you to do the same by practicing self-awareness and understanding your intentions when assisting a person with disability and provide opportunities for people with disabilities to actively participate in everyday skills.
If you or someone you love is experiencing vision loss and could benefit from our services, please contact Future In Sight at [email protected] or 603-224-4039 today!
About the Author: Sandra Walsh is a Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist at Future In Sight.