Thursday, December 17, 2009

Oklahoma fifth graders spend time in a wheelchair to see the world from their classmate's perspective

From The Enid, Okla., News and Eagle:


Fifth-graders scampered across the gym floor at Hoover Elementary School Monday afternoon as “snowballs” whizzed by their heads.

Many of the children were easily able to avoid the sock balls as they ran from one end of the gym to another.

But about four or five students couldn’t run — and couldn’t avoid being hit by the sock balls as easily.

They were in wheelchairs.

Many of the students found it difficult to maneuver the wheelchairs around the gym, much less avoid a barrage of soft projectiles while doing so.

One of the students in a wheelchair, though, was having a much easier time getting around the gym than other students in other wheelchairs were.

Her name is Rachel Doud, a 10-year old student at the school.

She has a condition called spina bifida, a condition her mother, Nikki, says causes an opening on her spine.

The condition causes mental and social problems for those who have it, and also problems walking and doing everyday activities.

One school day before Thanksgiving, Rachel came up to school nurse Laura Renfrow crying because she was upset about her PE class.

“She said she hated PE and didn’t want to take part,” Renfrow said.

Rachel said she had a hard time playing soccer, and some of the kids were making fun of her for her disability.

“I felt left out,” she said.

Fellow student, 11-year-old Josh Bradley, said he felt bad about Rachel’s situation.

“Whenever someone kicked the soccer ball and it bounced off her chair, (some of the children) would make fun of her,” he said.

After hearing Rachel and comforting her, Renfrow had an idea on how to make PE class more comfortable for her.

She contacted school officials and asked if the district had any wheelchairs available. She later found out there were six wheelchairs that were not being used.

She said her church also was ready donate any wheelchairs it could come up with, just in case they were needed.

But the school was able to gather six wheelchairs, and Renfrow had a conversation with PE teacher Cindy Moore.

They thought it would be neat if other students in the class got to use the wheelchairs and experience what it was like to be in them, so Rachel wouldn’t feel left out of any of the activities.

The plan took full effect the day after Thanksgiving, and ever since then, a few children in Rachel’s PE class are allowed to use the chairs during class time.

On Monday, the children who were chosen got to use the wheelchairs for a few activities.

First, all the fifth-graders did a few laps around the red-striped area on the outer portion of the gym. The children with the wheelchairs did the laps, too. Most stayed inside the red stripe, where they wouldn’t run into any other children.

The second activity, which lasted most of the 30-minute class period, was a “snowball fight” using sock balls instead of real balls of snow.

Students were lined up on either side of the gym, behind cones, to throw the sock balls as other students ran down the middle of the floor from one basketball hoop to another, trying to avoid the pretend balls of snow.

The children who could use both their legs slid or leapt into the air as the projectiles came flying at them. Most, if not all, eventually got hit with the socks.

The kids in the wheelchairs didn’t have as good an opportunity to get out of the way. Many got hit just as they were entering the playing field.

Nevertheless, the children seem to like being in the wheelchairs, or as Nikki Doud says, “walking a mile in someone else’s moccasins.”

“I think it’s pretty hard,” said 11-year-old Bryson Brown about steering the wheelchair.

“It’s hard to move around and stuff,” said Lena Shiplet, 12, echoing Brown’s statement.

“It lets you know not to take Rachel for granted,” added 11-year-old Christine Anderson.

Rachel said she’s really appreciative of the activity and Renfrow’s idea.

“I feel pretty great about it,” she said. “Mrs. Moore told me and I was excited to hear it.”

Nikki Doud said the activity has made PE class a much better experience for her daughter.

“It turned the experience around for her,” she said. “Rarely does she get the opportunity to play with others who are in a wheelchair.”

The students will continue to spend time in the wheelchairs until Christmas, but Renfrow also has something else planned.

“I hear we’re going to do a “Little Olympics,’” she said, smiling.

So far, the activity has gone exactly the way she hoped it would.

“I hear them coming back (from PE) and they say, ‘My gosh, I didn’t know it was so hard using a wheelchair,’” she said.