Disability Awareness

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Disability History and Awareness

Disability History and Awareness: A Resource Guide for Missouri

In May 2011, the Missouri legislature pass House Bill 555, which authorizes school boards to require the provision of disability history and awareness instruction in public schools during the month of October of each year. House Bill 555 further requires the month of October to be designated "Disability History and Awareness Month".

House Bill 555 was sponsored by Representative Jeff Grisamore and was actively supported by disability advocates across Missouri. Many Missouri disability orgainzations advocated with legislative leaders, provided testimony on behalf of the bill, and worked diligently to see the bill move successfully through the legislative session.

The goals of disability history and awareness instruction in House Bill 555 are:

Instilling in students sensitivity for fellow students with disabilities and encouraging educational cultures that nurture safe and inclusive environments for students with disabilities in which bullying is discouraged and respect and appreciation for students with disabilities is encouraged;
An understanding that disability is a natural part of the human experience; we are all more alike than different; and regardless of disability, every citizen is afforded the same rights and responsibilities as that of any other;
The creation of a more inclusive school community, where students with disabilities are included in every aspect of society, and every student is acknowledged for their unique gifts, talents, and contributions; and
Reaffirmation of the local, state, and federal commitment to the full inclusion in society of, and the equal opportunity for, all individuals with disabilities.

Disability History and Awareness: A Resource Guide for Missouri (pdf, 2.7MB)

Letter to Parents (pdf, 47.38KB)

Ideas for Infusing Disabilities into Curriculum Across Age Levels

Curriculum Across Age Levels (pdf, 166.34KB)

Promotional Ideas

Promotional Ideas (pdf, 133.42KB)

Famous People with Disabilities

Missourians You Should Know and Historic Individuals with Disabilities

Missourians You Should Know (pdf, 1.03MB)

Richard Teitelman, first legally blind judge to serve on the Missouri Supreme Court.
Ike Skelton, Chairperson of the US House Armed Service Committee, contracted polio as a child resulting in limitations in his arms.
Chris Craig, Director of the School of Education and Child Development at Drury University and is blind.
Stephanie Logan, Executive Director of the Leadership through Education and Advocacy for the Deaf, she is the only deaf psychologist in Missouri.
Chuck Graham, elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1996 and then to the Senate in 2004, he has a spinal cord injury and uses a wheelchair.
Jeff Tucker, he is one of the fewer than 1000 deaf lawyers practicing nationwide.
Nancy Martin, has cerebral palsy and is an administrator for the Special School District of St. Louis County Parent Education and Diversity Awareness Program.
Max Starkloff, became a quadriplegic in 1959 as a result of a car accident. He founded Paraquad a privately funded independent living center and co-founded Starkloff Disability Institute in 2003.

Classroom Activity Ideas

Here are some classroom activity ideas thanks to one of our own Westchester parents, Doug Riggs.

Classroom Activity Ideas (pdf, 68.1KB)

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