Ability Privilege Lesson
11th grade, 12th grade, college and beyond Sharon Pennock 11th grade, 12th grade, college and beyond Sharon Pennock

Ability Privilege Lesson

This activity is designed for students to reflect on their own lives and their privilege status. Unfortunately in our society certain groups can navigate with ease, while others must fight for their basic rights. Students will reflect on how their ability (able-bodied or disabled) affects their lives and how they can use their privilege to help others.

Image Description: various heights of different colored bars lined up next to one another. The words “Ability Privilege” towards the top.

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Circles Lesson Plan
Kindergarten Sharon Pennock Kindergarten Sharon Pennock

Circles Lesson Plan

This lesson will use wheelchair wheels to teach the concept of circles. Students will identify circles in wheelchair wheels and then draw/sculpt their own.

Image description: 2 wheelchairs and 4 circles

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Coloring Books, Pages and Clip Art with Disability Representation

Coloring Books, Pages and Clip Art with Disability Representation

Including coloring pages and artwork in lessons (some of these allow you to use as clip art) that includes disability representation furthers the goal of regularizing disability by seeing it and offering opportunities to learn and ask questions.

Image Description: small images of the coloring books on a yellow background

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Disability History through Primary Sources

Disability History through Primary Sources

As our friends from Engaging America state, “Primary sources … can provide entry points and deepen exploration into historical events. Primary sources add immediacy, such as the faces in a photograph, the emotional tone of a drawing or song, or the complex look of a handwritten document. Documents from multiple points of view can illuminate conflicting ideas and events. Varied media, including maps, oral histories, published reports, and graphs offer many options for connection and investigation”.

We share these collections or primary sources as tools to continue introducing disability into the conversation from natural perspectives, using disabled people to tell their own stories whenever possible.

Image Description: Article from Dallas Times Herald, Wednesday, January 14, 1986 in section “Community Close-Up” titled “Police on sidewalk wheelchair ramps changed”
Full image description can be found at: https://adaptmuseum.net/gallery/picture.php?/451/category/16

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Disability Justice Lesson Plan - Education Amplifier

Disability Justice Lesson Plan - Education Amplifier

In this lesson plan, you’ll find six modules that you can mix and match, that all teach about different aspects of disability rights and disability justice.

Image Description: Education Amplifier’s illustration of Lydia X.Z. Brown

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One Out of Five - Intro to Disability
6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade Sharon Pennock 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade Sharon Pennock

One Out of Five - Intro to Disability

The purpose of this lesson is to humanize the experience of disability by focusing on student-voice videos, recognize diversity within the disability community, and discuss ways to promote accessibility. This is the first in a series of 5 lessons by Washington State’s One Out of Five Disability History and Pride Project.

Image Description: Groups of students sit and stand, talking in clusters. The profiles of the students of different ages, races, and abilities is on a colorful background of yellow, orange, and green. The dominant image is the silhouette of a male student in dark blue reading a book. The title is: One Out of Five: Disability History and Pride Project. “One” and “five” are spelled out in American Sign Language. At the bottom, Braille reads: “pride” and “history.”]

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One Out of Five - Intersectionality
6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade Sharon Pennock 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade Sharon Pennock

One Out of Five - Intersectionality

The purpose of this lesson is to shift stereotypes and limited ways of thinking about people with disabilities to consider the full range of disability experiences from an intersectional perspective. This is the second in a series of 5 lessons by Washington State’s One Out of Five Disability History and Pride Project.

Image Description: Groups of students sit and stand, talking in clusters. The profiles of the students of different ages, races, and abilities is on a colorful background of yellow, orange, and green. The dominant image is the silhouette of a male student in dark blue reading a book. The title is: One Out of Five: Disability History and Pride Project. “One” and “five” are spelled out in American Sign Language. At the bottom, Braille reads: “pride” and “history.”]

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One Out of Five - Allyship and Solidarity
6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade Sharon Pennock 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade Sharon Pennock

One Out of Five - Allyship and Solidarity

The purpose of this lesson is to teach students how to recognize ableism and its harmful effects, be allies in solidarity with people with disabilities, and actively and intentionally build inclusive communities. This is the fifth in a series of 5 lessons by Washington State’s One Out of Five Disability History and Pride Project.

Image Description: Groups of students sit and stand, talking in clusters. The profiles of the students of different ages, races, and abilities is on a colorful background of yellow, orange, and green. The dominant image is the silhouette of a male student in dark blue reading a book. The title is: One Out of Five: Disability History and Pride Project. “One” and “five” are spelled out in American Sign Language. At the bottom, Braille reads: “pride” and “history.”]

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One Out of Five - Disability History in Washington State
6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade Sharon Pennock 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade Sharon Pennock

One Out of Five - Disability History in Washington State

The purpose of this lesson is to increase awareness of local and state disability history, including discrimination, advocacy, and grassroots movement. This is the fourth in a series of 5 lessons by Washington State’s One Out of Five Disability History and Pride Project.

Image Description: Groups of students sit and stand, talking in clusters. The profiles of the students of different ages, races, and abilities is on a colorful background of yellow, orange, and green. The dominant image is the silhouette of a male student in dark blue reading a book. The title is: One Out of Five: Disability History and Pride Project. “One” and “five” are spelled out in American Sign Language. At the bottom, Braille reads: “pride” and “history.”]

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One Out of Five - Disability History in the United States
6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade Sharon Pennock 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade Sharon Pennock

One Out of Five - Disability History in the United States

The purpose of this lesson is to teach the history of the disability rights movement in the United States, as well as diversity within that movement. This lesson includes important people, policies, and events in disability history in the United States. This is the third in a series of 5 lessons by Washington State’s One Out of Five Disability History and Pride Project.

Image Description: Groups of students sit and stand, talking in clusters. The profiles of the students of different ages, races, and abilities is on a colorful background of yellow, orange, and green. The dominant image is the silhouette of a male student in dark blue reading a book. The title is: One Out of Five: Disability History and Pride Project. “One” and “five” are spelled out in American Sign Language. At the bottom, Braille reads: “pride” and “history.”]

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Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights

Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights

Teaching the story of the 504 occupation, the focus of the Patient No More exhibit, will undoubtedly leave students with a new perspective toward living with a disability. “Patient No More” offers a story about the creativity and strength that comes out of the disability community, an incredible example of how change can happen from the bottom up. It's also a story about how disability rights have changed the lives of all Americans in ways they might not realize.

Image Description: “Patient No More - People with disabilities securing civil rights” black and white photo of protestors with capitol building in the background, many in wheelchairs, one with a sign on the back of their wheelchair that says “We Shall Overcome”

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Play Map: Designing Inclusive Spaces
2nd grade, 3rd grade Sharon Pennock 2nd grade, 3rd grade Sharon Pennock

Play Map: Designing Inclusive Spaces

Students will map out where they have recess. Students will be asked to reflect on the physical accessibility of their environment (i.e. 3 steps to go from classroom to outside, playground has woodchips and a step up). They will draw out a map for their current environment and then create new map that is a inclusive play area.

Image description: wheelchair accessible playground equipment and people playing on it

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Portrait of the Whole Person - Disability Rights Washington

Portrait of the Whole Person - Disability Rights Washington

Portrait of the Whole Person is a curriculum for elementary school students designed to teach students how disability rights fit into the broader civil rights movement, to perceive disability as a reflection of societal views of differences, and to treat people with disabilities with respect and dignity. It contains four distinct lesson plans comprised of three in-class instruction lesson plans and one lesson plan governing the research and writing of a biographical sketch and creation of a portrait of a notable person with a disability. It is also complete with a graphic organizer, rubrics, a power point, and a list of references students can use for research.

Image Description: Disability Rights Washington logo with “Portrait of a Whole Person Curriculum Overview” written below and drawings of 3 different people in colored pencil.

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Posters with Disability Inclusive Content

Posters with Disability Inclusive Content

Posters with disability representation. Most are free to download, though some can be purchased as well.

Image description: Corkboard wall with many signs of assorted size and colors.

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