Staff photo / Emily Scott Fifth-grader Sophia Mashiska walks through an obstacle course with a blindfold and walking stick to simulate what it is like to be blind during Austintown Intermediate School’s third Ability Awareness Week.

AUSTINTOWN — Students at Austintown Intermediate School throughout the past school week got the opportunity to learn about different disabilities, culminating in activities at week’s end.

The program is designed to help students build empathy and understanding for others, especially those with disabilities. Students will learn that everyone faces challenges in life and everyone has strengths to share.

This year’s theme was “Stronger Together When We Lend Each Other a Helping Hand.”

Students learned about one disability and its associated challenges each day.

This year, the students learned about individuals living with disabilities including Down syndrome, visual impairments, general speech disorders and medical conditions — including allergies, asthma, diabetes and traumatic brain injuries.

“I learned how people have to deal with their disabilities,” fifth-grader Sophia Mashiska said. “Sometimes it might not be easy. Sometimes it might be hard.”

In addition to learning in their classrooms, students also took part in activities that simulated what it may be like to do everyday tasks with different disabilities. Five stations were set up in the school gym.

Two activities simulated what it would be like to be blind. In one, students used walking sticks to feel their way through an obstacle course while wearing a blindfold.

Sophia said she thought the obstacle challenge was hard because she couldn’t tell where she was going.

In the other, students wore blindfolds and lined up in teams across from each other. The two teams hit a ball back and forth that had bells inside, so they had to listen for the ball and keep it from going behind their team.

The other three activities included learning how much sugar is in everyday items to be able to better understand those who are diabetic, a tongue-twister challenge to learn about speech impediments and a world record challenge — where the students learned about people with disabilities who had set world records, then tried to do the same world record action.

The goal of these activities and the program is for students to learn to be more compassionate and to include all of their peers, no matter their ability

AIS houses grades three through five. Throughout the three years students are at AIS, they will learn about 15 different disabilities and conditions. Each year, five topics are discussed. In the past two years of the program, students have learned about disabilities such as dyslexia, autism, hearing impairments and physical disabilities.

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