Advocating Disability Rights

Grade Level: 9-12

Academic Areas: Interdisciplinary

Duration of service: Year Long

Character Virtues: Caring, Civic virtue and Citizenship

Service Areas: Human Services, Education/Tutoring

Service Learning Project:

Students from high schools throughout New York State will form an online collaboration using Streams On Line. This collaboration -- through expressive writing, visual art, and media -- will increase the students’ awareness of disability rights issues. The Internet tool will allow people with disabilities to interact on more equal footing with non-disabled people. Students, disability rights advocates, and school staff will comment on each other’s writing. Students will revise their writing in the light of comments. All submissions will be reviewed and approved by teachers prior to being made public. Students will read and discuss works of literature written by and about people with disabilities. Toward the end of the school year, students will decide on which writing, visual art, and media will be published in a literary arts magazine in print and on CD. The students’ publication will be made available to local libraries and used in lessons given by other classroom teachers in the collaborating schools.

Learning Goal: Students will upload expressive writing, visual art and media on Streams On Line (a distance learning Internet -based program).

Standard: MST 2

Learning Goal: Students will create expressive writing that addresses disability rights issues. Students will respond to expressive writing, do peer to peer critical analysis and evaluation, and have the opportunity to socialize with students outside their home district.

Standard: ELA 1, 2, 3, & 4;

Community need: There is a need to bring community awareness to provisions in the Americans with Disability Rights Act and its relevance to the community at large..

Possible Community Partners: Disabled In Action, Ten Penny Players, Inc., Independent Living Centers, Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association, Disability Rag and local libraries.

Objective: Self-advocacy and technology literacy for students with disabilities.

Objective: Increased student and community awareness of ADA’s history, its impact and intentions.

Character

Virtue: Civic Virtue and Citizenship

Objective: Students will analyze and synthesize parts of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 2000. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the aspirations of people with disabilities by reading their expressive writing.

Virtue: Caring

Objective: Non-disabled students will partner with disabled students to brainstorm ideas to remove barriers and further social and academic inclusion.

1. Students will access Streams On Line (the website) that includes how to edit, compose, add users, use sections, approve submissions, and upload files.
2. The teacher will bring in outside advocacy organizations to discuss the ADA from various viewpoints.

Key Service Activities  

1. Students will submit original work to the community over the website.
2. Students create expressive writing examples that identify the reasons for ADA’s enactment.
3. Original work will be selected and formatted for printing in a literary publication or presentation on cd roms that are made available to the general public in local libraries.

1. (oral) Students will tell of personal experiences with disabilities.
2. (performance – civic virtue) Students will perform their interpretation of a passage in a poem, book, play, or movie that deals with a disability rights issue.

A mid-publication online awards ceremony will be held in recognition of the talents of all participants. Video classes who have taped the process will share copies of their videos with students at different schools. A final publication party will connect students at various schools through video conferencing.