Lloyd Road Students Learn What It's Like To Have A Disability

ABERDEEN, NJ — For the second year in a row, fourth-grade students at Lloyd Road Elementary School celebrated Diverse Learners Day on Friday, Nov. 1.

This was meant to give students an understanding of what it’s like to have a disability.

The day kicked off with a keynote speech from assistant principal Cristina Olsen’s son Leo, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.

Then, approximately 250 students divided and rotated through five disability awareness rooms. Each 40-minute period consisted of five different stations. Inside the rooms, the students had to: Figure out how to use electric wheelchair; button a shirt and tye shoes with one hand to simulate physical disability; count money while wearing darkened glasses to simulate blindness and finally, scramble words to simulate dyslexia.

“Diverse Learners Day was an opportunity to celebrate and educate our students so that they continue to develop awareness, understanding, and appreciation for the uniqueness of everyone,” said Lloyd Road School principal John Bombardier.