Today was an exciting day! We went to the Ability Center for an orientation session.
It surprised me when I saw that other people were there. The orientation was composed of five stations, each focusing on a slightly different aspect of dealing with, talking to, interacting with people with disabilities. The center itself was a nice, welcoming environment. The staff was extremely friendly and I wasn't afraid to ask them questions at all. It was a wonderful place.
The disabilities we were assigned were very diverse and lots of them were popular in the U.S. population, like being blind, partially deaf, in a wheelchair or on crutches. I wish, though, that we could've switched disabilities for a while, just to have gotten a different experience.
The different activities in the stations were also very cool. We were told about kitchen tools and other kinds of tools for independent living for disabled people. They were really cool, and also a bit hard to maneuver. We were told about two disabled peoples' experiences (Dan Wilkinson and Angie Hiser), how they became disabled and how they were treated. Also, we coaxed someone pretending to have a cognitive disability into making a PB&J sandwich, telling her one step at a time what to do. It was hard!
This was my favorite trip yet. Even though we aren't going to volunteer there exactly, I would have liked to... :)
By: Hedyeh Elehinia
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