Kids Learn About Disabilities and Bullying

HILTON, NY - Northwood Elementary School teamed up with the Advocacy Center Thursday for a program which taught kids about people with disabilities and how to stand up to bullying.

It was all about teaching kids to respect and accept people's differences, without making fun of them.

Fourth graders spent the entire day jumping from station to station learning about what it's like to have autism, restricted mobility or be blind.

Some of the volunteers even had disabilities, so the kids got work with them and ask questions.

The kids even experienced what it's like to be disabled by trying on blind goggles. They also restricted their movements and tried using walkers and wheelchairs.

At the end of the day, the kids partook in a seminar focused solely on bullying - how to stop it when they see it as well as report it.

Students and teachers say Thursday's lessons will stick with them.

"If you like, if you're blind you be nice to them and you don't be mean," 4^th grader Reagan Pickett said. "For like disability people, you be respectful and just say hi and try to make new friends with them."

"They'll keep that with them for the next few years," Physical Education teacher Colleen Coles said. "And hopefully take that into middle school and high school."

This is the fourth year the school and the center teamed up for this training.

The Advocacy Center said it also provides this training to other schools.