5 Family Experiences To Build Better Understanding of Disabilities

People often fear what they don’t know about disabilities. Cultivate empathy with these 5 ways to help people of all ages better understand disabilities.

Rachel Olstad, mom to a child with special needs, worked with the Southern Oregon Joni and Friends Board to create interactive workshops called “Come Feel What I Feel.” They visited schools, churches, and organizations with displays promoting understanding of various disabilities. Olstad shared five stations you can easily create and allow families to explore and experience them together—with parents or other caregivers guiding their kids.

“We post definitions and facts about disabilities on posters and encourage people to read all the information before trying the experiences for themselves,” says Olstad. “Once people feel what children with disabilities experience, their hearts open toward this ministry.”

The displays are simple, and everyday items facilitate the experiences. Try these five activities to help kids and their families better understand disabilities. You could create them as part of a family night at your church, an interactive display for anyone to engage in after church services, or send simple descriptions of the activities home for families to do together in that setting. They’re also a fantastic addition for any staff training you have planned for your children’s ministry!

1. Which Way?

Using a hand mirror, have participants copy a sentence by looking at its reverse image in the mirror. This is how some children (and teens and adults) with dyslexia and central processing dysfunctions see print. With patience and help, they can learn to read by seeing words in a different way.

2. Tell Me If You Can

Some children on the autism spectrum may have difficulty expressing emotions. To help people see this frustration, prepare cards describing different emotional situations. People choose a card and try to get a family member or friend to understand what it says without using words.

3. Walk in My Shoes

To understand what it feels like to have physical impairments, ask participants to tie shoelaces on a pair of boots while wearing large gloves. Or, ask them to make a sandwich with one hand held behind their back. Children with cerebral palsy, birth defects, or amputations are skilled at adapting to the world around them.

4. Yes! No! Maybe So!

Some children and people of all other ages have paralysis that affects the ways they communicate. To understand how this feels, create a picture collage and a poster with large letters of the alphabet. Give participants straws to hold in their teeth. Then ask them questions they can only answer by pointing to a picture or letters that spell out a word.

5. Pour It On

To understand visual impairments, blindfold participants and have them pour six ounces of water into a cup with the help of a measuring stick. It’s always appropriate to ask a blind people if they need help, but many can do things by themselves.

Offer this encouragement to families facing disability challenges and those looking to better understand and support them. “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

When families affected by disability thrive at church, we see God’s victorious work in action. In other words, we’re more aware of all the good God’s doing around us when we’re aware of others’ needs.

Pat Verbal is the general editor of Special Needs Ministry for Children and was senior manager of curriculum development at the Christian Institute on Disability at Joni and Friends International Disability Center.

Want more articles regarding children with special needs? Check out these posts!