Students will learn about one of the most influential blues guitarists of the early 1900s, Blind Willie Johnson. They will read an article detailing his life and how he is remembered. The class will then listen to an example of his music, and covers of his music. Students will also discuss how blind musicians can help advance the discussion concerning the stigma of disability.   

Image description: halftone photograph of Blind Willie Johnson

A calendar of events that recognizes various days (and months) is an easy way to bring the conversation about disability into your classrooms and schools. Including discussion of disabled people throughout the year sends a message to all that disabled students are recognized and valued as a part of the education community.

Image description: calendar page tilted at an angle, reading glasses rest on the bottom corner of the calendar

Students will participate in an exercise and discussion on disability and segregation. In this lesson students will map out social interactions in their everyday lives. After they complete the exercise the teacher will facilitate a discussion on segregation. Students with disabilities who grow up in institutions are effectively segregated from the rest of the population, so their social circles tend to look very different from the students in class.  This lesson is split into two class periods. 

Image description: Overlapping circles with various disability icons inside each circle

In this lesson students will contemplate how they perceive disability and explore stereotypes and misconceptions of disability through a circle discussion activity. This lesson is intended as an introductory activity on disability. Students are just beginning the discussion on disability. 

Image description: rainbow concentric circles

Students will watch “Defiant Lives: The Rise and Triumph of the Disability Rights Movement in the United States, England, and Australia.” It covers important milestones in disability activism, from breaking people out of nursing homes to advocating for equal rights. The discussion topics in the film vary from institutionalization to passing legislation. The film highlights in particular, the vast differences between the medical model of disability and the social model of disability. For 5 days, students will watch a segment of the film and record their own thoughts and then discuss their thoughts with a partner and the full group. The last two days students will work together to create their own plan to address an issue in their own community.

Image description: Defiant Lives poster showing stairs and projected onto the stairs is a pink and black wheelchair and disability activist. Text at the top says Defiant Lives and text at the bottom says the Rise and Triumph of the Disability Rights Movement

In this lesson students will compare and contrast 3 videos on Pennhurst State School. Students will delve into two narratives, The “horror” and “historical”. In a class discussion, students will discuss the implications of each narrative on how society views mental illness and intellectual disability. Students will learn about Pennhurst and the historic self-advocacy of the residents and the eventual closing of the PA institution.

Image description: Black and white photograph of Pennhurst

Lesson title: Disability and Disability Arts - Disability and Disability Arts Invisible Disabilities/ Autism/Poetry/ Golden Shovels Poetic Form

This is a three part lesson to introduce the student to disability and a disabled artist's work. Disability arts is an art form where the context of the art takes on disability as its theme. Disability art is about exploring the various realities of what it's like to be disabled. The theme of disability may be used in a variety of ways in how the artist chooses to represent the theme in their work. This lesson uses poetry created by Ian Fay.

Disability and Disability Arts - Invisible Disabilities - “See Me; Invisibility” Paintings Lessons

This is a three part lesson to introduce the student to disability and a disabled artist's work. Disability arts is an art form where the context of the art takes on disability as its theme. Disability art is about exploring the various realities of what it's like to be disabled. The theme of disability may be used in a variety of ways in how the artist chooses to represent the theme in their work. This lesson uses 3 paintings created by Mali Fenning.

Students will review the social model of disability and then apply it to 4 short films created for the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge. “The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge gives filmmakers—with and without disabilities—the opportunity to collaborate to tell unique stories that showcase disability in its many forms (disabilityfilmchallenge.com).” Students will watch the 4 winning films, and then break into groups to focus on analyzing one film as a group.

Students will engage in discussion about the Stigma associated with disability. They will then learn about FDR and how illness made him lose the ability to fully walk. They will then learn about how FDR, the people around him, and the press worked to keep his disability as secret as possible. This will lead to a discussion about the impact of his decision to hide his disability, and how taking a prideful approach to his disability could have changed how people perceived him and others with disabilities.

Image description: photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Students will read about Hephaestus. After reading each passage, they will be able to reflect and write about how Hephaestus is portrayed in that specific passage.  Using evidence from each passage, the students must justify their opinions.

Image description: Statue of Hephaestus

Students will analyze Laura Hershey’s poem, “You Get Proud By Practicing.” A poet, author, and activist, Laura Hershey first published the poem in 1991. To better understand its context, students will learn about neuromuscular diseases, disability activism in the 1980s, and the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Students will then analyze the poem for repetition and figurative language and understand what Hershey suggests it means to get proud. After discussing the poem, students will write and share their own poems about getting proud using those literary devices. 

Image description: photo of Laura Hershey

Out of My Mind is narrated by a girl with cerebral palsy who's very intelligent but unable to express herself by speaking or physically. When Melody is integrated into some general classes at school, many kids are purposely mean; others, including teachers, are cruel through their assumptions that Melody is incapable of understanding them. With the help of her parents and some supportive friends and teachers, Melody acquires a machine that allows her to communicate better than she ever has before (Common Sense Media). At last Melody has a voice… but not everyone around her is ready to hear it (Draper, 2010). This book discussion guide can also be adapted into a full assignment if that is more applicable for your student group.

Image description: Cover from the book “Out of My Mind”

Students will research concepts related to disability and then create a physical Pinterest board in groups. Each group will present and discuss their concept in a gallery walk style. This lesson highlights the social model of disability as well as introducing disability topics.

Image description: the word “personification” repeated over and over at an angle

Posters with disability representation. Most are free to download, though some can be purchased as well.

Image description: Corkboard wall with many signs of assorted size and colors.