Times Staff Report
MERRILLVILLE | A group of Pierce Middle School students is a lot more sensitive to the challenges of people with disabilities after using wheelchairs for a full day last week.
Eight seventh- and eighth-graders in Suzanne Keel's language arts class spent the day negotiating the lunchroom, hallways and classrooms as they tested their sensitivity and that of their classmates during Disabilities Awareness Month.
Seventh-grader Elbryn Goode said it was a difficult experience, with people largely ignoring him.
"It was easier when people offered to help you," he said. "The hardest part was getting a tray and getting around the tables in the lunchroom."
Elbryn said he has a lot more respect for people who have disabilities, whether it's from an illness such as a stroke or a birth defect.
"We did this for a day. This is their life day in and day out," he said.
