CELEBRATING DIFFERENCES
INTRODUCTION
We are going to talk about similarities and differences. We have things in common that make us similar to each other. We are all humans, we are all adults, and we all work for the same organization.
So, we have some similarities, but we all also have differences. The world would be very boring if we were all the same. Our differences make us unique. People can be different from each other in many ways.
We look different. Some people are short and other are tall. Raise your hand if you have brown hair. Raise your hand if you blue eyes. What other ways do we look different? (glasses, hair length, eye color, skin color)
Our personalities are different. Some people like to talk a lot while others are quieter. Some people like to cook, while other like to eat. Some love enjoying spending time with friends. Others like to spend time alone.
We have different abilities.
With a show of hands, let’s see what different abilities we all have.
- Who knows how to ski?
- Who can ride a bike?
- Who knows how to skateboard?
- Who knows how to bake?
- Who knows how to play the piano?
- Who has neat handwriting?
- What other abilities or skills do you have?
We also have different challenges. Some people find learning a new skill challenging while others might find golfing challenging. Think about what you find challenging.
People have all kinds of challenges.
Even though everyone is different, one thing we all have in common is that everyone likes to be understood, accepted and liked. When people look or act differently than you, it is important to try to understand and accept them for who they are. Ways to do that is learn more about them, be nice to them, and reach out to them.
How many of you know anyone who has autism?
If you don’t, chances are you will soon. In the United States, 1 in 110 children have been diagnosed with autism.
There are 3 main areas that autism impacts. The first thing is communication. What is communication? Of course talking. But also includes waving, pointing, gesturing.
Ask for a volunteer.
Without using words try to tell me that you are hungry. What about trying to tell me you are tired. Now how about telling me you are sick.
Ok, now pretend you are back in high school in math class and you are trying to tell me that you aren’t sure how to find the lowest common denominator for adding fractions.
Another area that autism impacts is social interaction. Social interaction is like “the dance of life” – things that we do when other people are involved. For example, if I was walking down the hallway and Rebecca was walking right at me, one or both of us would move to the side to let the other pass. We don’t need to talk about it or even think about it, we just know what to do and generally know what the other person will do. But that is not the case with autism. The problem is that the person with autism often doesn’t read the situation or the other person very well at all.
Let me give you an example:
- Ask for a volunteer.
- Ask for that volunteer to ask me how I am doing.
- I start talking about dogs..
See how I’m not responding in a way that makes sense to the other person?
The last characteristic is atypical behaviors. Some examples of atypical behaviors are:
Talking to yourself, screaming or making strange noises, rocking, flapping hands, holding hands over your ears, repetitive behaviors, perseverative interests.
Individuals with autism often have difficulties with many of their sensory systems. Some of their senses may be over reactive or under reactive. For most of us, we don’t think twice about using more than one sense at a time. For many individuals with autism, it is difficult to use more than one, for example looking and listening at the same time.
Everyone stand up, and when I say go, start talking to a person next to you. Go…………Stop. Now, you will do the same thing with a different person when I say go, but this time, look at your feet and try to carry on a conversation to see if we could truly communicate without looking at each other.
How did you feel?
Uncomfortable?
What was it like without the usual nonverbal social cues to guide you -- eye contact, body gesture, facial expression.
Did you note that your tone of voice became flat, did you speak without using emotion because it was too odd to talk without looking at each other...
Did anyone feel ostracized because without having someone looking at them, it was unclear who was addressing whom.
DEMONSTRATION
Materials List
1 table/desk and chair
1 book (an appropriate book or textbook)
4 small blocks, numbered 1-4 (one number on each)
1 wood block with striking stick
1 mobile with several oversized glitter balls
1 sandpaper block or fine sandpaper sheet
1 maraca
1 small piece of cloth or paper towel soaked in perfume or scented oil
I want to show you and example of what it might be like to be someone with autism.
I will need 8 volunteers:
- Student Volunteer
- Teacher Volunteer
- Block Volunteer
- Clock Volunteer
- Dust Volunteer
- Sweater Volunteer
- Rain Volunteer
- Perfume Volunteer
Often children with autism like to have things in order. When things aren’t in order their level of anxiety goes up. They start to feel bad if things aren’t the way they want them to be. It can be what time they do things during the day, where things are on their desk or on their plate, but their brains are telling them that things need to be a certain way or they are going to feel nervous or bad. We’re going to use some numbered blocks as the things that (Student Volunteer) needs to have in order in his/her day.
Each volunteer – when I give you an instruction, you need to continue to perform that instruction throughout this demonstration…
There are 4 blocks in front of the student that are numbered. Ask the student to try to keep them in numerical order. Ask the block volunteer to keep messing them up periodically. You can make comments like “I wish you’d pay attention” to show how difficult it can be when the person, even a teacher, may not understand the importance of order to the person with autism.
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Sometimes kids with autism can’t prioritize sounds and sights. For example, if you and I look at the clock to see how much longer until lunchtime. And that’s it; we forget about the clock and go back to our work. But that’s not always the case with people with autism. To them, the clock may sound like this (hit wood block with stick) and their brain cannot put the sound in the background.
Ask the clock volunteer to hit a wood block with a stick every time the clock ticks.
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Sometimes kids with autism are fixated on small details. They are paying so much attention to the details that their brains can’t put the details in to the background. For example, if there is a little dust in the air, a person with autism might only focus on that and they can’t focus on other things but only that small detail of the dust being present.
Have dust volunteer with dust balls hang the balls in front of the student’s face.
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Often a kid with autism might feel things differently than most other kids do, they put on a sweater if it is a cold day. While most of us would find the sweater cozy or warming, for the child with autism, it feels like someone is rubbing sandpaper all over them. This is called tactile defensiveness.
Have sweater volunteer rub student’s arm with sandpaper.
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And even though it may be chilly in the morning, weather can change at any time. And all of a sudden, it starts to rain. Again, the students may perceive that sounds very differently
Have rain volunteer stand close to the student and shake a maraca.
So, now your teacher may just put on a little extra perfume.
Have a perfume volunteer put perfume-doused cloth under the student’s nose.
Point to the teacher volunteer to begin reading from the book. Have him/her read for about 20 seconds while you are recapping all of the things that are happening to the student. Now ask all volunteers to stop.
Did you understand what the teacher was reading?
Now, how long did you have to do that?
What about having to deal with that all day, every day?
This demonstration could have been exaggerated for some of the kids you know, but some kids experience all of these things and some experience some of these things
How do you feel when all these things were happening?
This could be very frustrating, especially if you are expected to understand and keep up with your schoolwork.
What do you do when you get frustrated?
Think of how frustrating it would be to have all of these sensations of sound, smell, touch, and sight throughout the day. You would probably want to scream.
Imagine experiencing these sensations but not being about to tell people how you felt because remember that communication is one of the problems that people with autism have. And, what if you couldn’t speak at all? Some people with autism don’t speak at all and we don’t really know why.
Try reading this page. Were you able to read the sentence? Even if you know all the words, they probably became hard to read because they were so mixed up with so many other letters. Didn’t it feel better at the end, when all that clutter was cleared out so you could just see the words? Just like the jumbled up letters on the page, sometimes all the things in a room can make people with autism feel confused and overwhelmed, just like you might have felt when reading that paper.
AlkdfokenhncilsmnISJksnkldinel,KLndlkmdgITlsknwlkdipp
MelslkeposkeHARD s;lej;lso[p[kwiwniod;lajdowpldFORlsk
Woqpdlskejsoe’seowirkwbslckYOUslekjsoeindwdtTOkjislk
READkiejguhtyfghecmdkslroeTHISqwergdksidjghoksloeksjsjwhquazaksPAGE?akwmxlwidksDOESwpeoslskeiajeloekszndjeudmckdiwoapeoITqwertyuioplkjsmaFEELujmnhyehsemsALLqazxswedcMESSYplokmjiujendhsCLUTTERED?alk
Would you like it to be more like a regular page so you don’t have to think so hard?