Disability Awareness Through Education (DATE)
The focus of the DATE program is to bring disability awareness to schools, businesses, organizations and local governmental entities to help people of all ages interact and react positively to children and adults with disabilities. Most people want to show respect and sensitivity to people with disabilities. But they simply don’t know how, and with good reason; amid dozens of disabilities and millions who have them, there is so much to know that it overwhelms most people.
We hope that through our presentations people will be more comfortable around people with physical, mental and sensory disabilities and more knowledgeable about the technology and ways we do things that can eliminate many barriers for people with disabilities.
Upon request, we send speakers with different types of disabilities to present to a group(s). The speaker briefly describes the nature of his or her disability, gives some examples of how it affects their daily activities, and ways in which he or she has adapted to living with a disability. We try to help the group see that everyone is different and that a disability is just one attribute of a person just like any person’s hair color, height or laugh.
We also talk about how people with disabilities want, have and do the same kinds of things as everyone else such as friends, family, children, going to movies or sports events, going out to eat, going to college or going to work, etc.
Our most requested DATE presentations are for elementary schools. For the past 15 years, speakers have been giving presentations in elementary schools in Monmouth County presenting to more than 35,000 students between grade three (3) and grade five (5) and more than 7,000 college students.
After a presentation, there is an open question and answer session. The elementary students are very perceptive! Asking questions such as:
- How do you get in your car?
- How do you go to the bathroom?
- How do you get dressed?
- My brother has a broken arm. Is he disabled?
We also encourage them to do some problem solving. We do some brainstorming for solutions to problems such as:
- Dropped a can, how to pick it up
- Print that is too small to read
- Stores that have one or two steps at the entrance
- Doors that are too heavy to push open easily
- Bus drivers who do not announce the stops
- A class or meeting on the second floor of a building with no elevator
- Words that cannot be understood because they are being said too fast or not loud enough
If your school, business or organization would benefit from having a DATE speaker present to your group, please contact Stanley Soden at (732) 571-4884 or email stanley.soden@moceanscil.org.
