The Student Support Department has been busy introducing the ‘Celebrating Differences’ event recently. This event is intended to draw attention to, and acknowledge, inherent differences across the community in areas of mental health, behavior and emotions, processing and physical challenges.

Students in Year 4 – 10 engaged in exploration and experimentation tasks to increase their knowledge and awareness in order to develop empathy through experiencing how some other people perceive and live every day.

On May 17, 2018, Year 6 students participated in an activity called “Experiencing Blindness”. Before event, Year 6 students were grouped in pairs. One student’s eyes were covered with a piece of cloth and the other person’s role was as the guide, or ‘walking stick’. The pairs set out around the campus to experience how blind people navigate their world day to day.

The students walked carefully as the guides helped them to get around. Students swapped to make sure everyone experienced both roles. The students described the activity as very challenging and were shocked how long it took to do simple tasks, like merely walking back to their classroom.

Activities like these develop awareness and empathy for the people who have physical impairments that impact their daily lives. We trust that all students have a better understanding of disabilities and a greater desire to be compassionate to those whose lives differ from their own.