Disability Awareness

Choose one thing to do from each of the four lists.

1. Disability awareness
   • Explain what a disability is. What are the different types of disability?
   • Research a famous person with a disability. Make a poster or write about their life and achievements.
   • Visit a local community building like a library, town hall or cinema. How accessible is it for someone with a disability? Write down what you find out.
   • Show how you could help someone with a disability to make the Cub Promise. Think of a different example to the ones in steps 2, 3 or 4.
2. Physical disability awareness
   • Find out about two different aids that can assist a disabled person. How do they help? You could find out about things like wheelchairs, computers, rising chairs or adapted cars.
   • Find out about three ways to make it easier for a wheelchair user to use public places, like shops, parks, hospitals or libraries. How could your meeting place be made better for a wheelchair user?
   • Make a sandwich using only one hand or draw a picture using only your feet to hold the pen.
3. Deaf awareness
   • Learn the alphabet using fingerspelling. Show you understand a word communicated to you using fingerspelling.
   • Learn a song in Makaton or British Sign Language.
   • Explain what equipment a deaf person might use in the home. You might look at special features on things like fire alarms, telephones or TVs.
   • Show how you would approach a deaf person and speak to them so they can lip-read.
4. Sight awareness
   • Describe two different ways a blind or visually impaired person can read. You could talk about how they would use computers, Braille or Moon.
   • Explain what guide dogs for blind people do. How are they trained?
   • Learn and read your name in Braille.
   • Show how to approach a blind or visually impaired person. How would you identify yourself?

Top tips

There are lots of websites that can tell you about different disabilities. Here are just a few:

Scope - scope.org.uk Paralympics - paralympics.org .uk Whizz-Kidz - whizz-kidz.org.uk British Sign - British-sign .co.uk