Access is a Civil Right - Capitol Crawl
This lesson plan is a guide for how you can have a discussion with your students about the history of the ADA and, more specifically, the Capitol Crawl, which was a protest that was successful in urging congress to vote on the ADA. The lessons center around a 9 minute video that tells the story of the Capitol Crawl. There is a worksheet that goes with this lesson.
Image description: photograph of dozens of protesters on the steps of the Capitol building. Some are standing, some in wheelchairs, many are crawling up the steps.
Black Disabled Art History Lesson
Students will select a Black Disabled artist from Leroy Moore’s Black Disabled Art History 101. Students will research their selected artist and their works. Students will choose a piece of artwork created by this artist and analyze it using a critical artistic framework. This lesson can be adapted for a wide range of ages.
Image description: Cover photo of Black Disabled Art History 101
Calendar of Events
A calendar of events that recognizes various days (and months) is an easy way to bring the conversation about disability into your classrooms and schools. Including discussion of disabled people throughout the year sends a message to all that disabled students are recognized and valued as a part of the education community.
Image description: calendar page tilted at an angle, reading glasses rest on the bottom corner of the calendar
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
Common Lit - Analyzing the Author's Point of View with "I'm a Disabled Teenager, and Social Media Is My Lifeline" Lesson
In this opinion piece, students will learn about one teenager’s perspective on the value of social media, especially for people with disabilities. Students will analyze the author’s point of view about social media.
Image Description: Logo of CommonLit which looks like an open book
Critical Media Analysis: Autistic characters in children’s media
Summary:
In this lesson, students will look at four different characterizations of autistic children in contemporary media. They will watch excerpts or videos featuring the characters, read about the characters, and study how they were created. They will then fill out an evaluation chart to analyze the different depictions. They will have a group discussion as a class and write a reflective response.
Issues considered will include: character’s role within the show/movie; who was involved in writing/creating the characters; what public response has been; and so on. The lesson will conclude with a group discussion and students will complete a journal-style piece of writing as an exit ticket.
The characters that the students will learn about are:
Julia from the television show Sesame Street;
Pablo from the television show Pablo;
the main character from a Pixar short called Loop;
Carl, from the show Carl the Collector.
Image Description: Upper left quadrant is Julia, a muppet with yellow skin and orange hair. Upper right quadrant shows the main character from Loop, a girl with brown skin and dark hair who is reaching with her hands to touch reeds. Bottom left quadrant shows Pablo, a hand-drawn boy with light skin standing on a green hill with a rainbow behind him. Bottom right quadrant shows Carl, an illustrated raccoon wearing an argyle sweater.
Deaf President Now Unit
This unit focuses on the historical event that caused a ripple in the Deaf community, Deaf President Now. The unit includes three lessons, three projects, and a lot of fun!
Image Description: Black and white photo of students holding a banner that says “Deaf Prez Now!”.
The Day the World Heard ... Kent State and Gallaudet University
Students will be introduced to two important events in US history – the Kent State Massacre and Deaf President Now protest. They will be exposed to the events that occurred on the two college campuses and their outcomes. They will read the First Amendment and be presented with information to assist them in drawing conclusions about whether these were peaceful protests. They will obtain information to assist them in comparing and contrasting the two events. As the culminating activity, students will create a storyboard about May 4, 1970 at Kent State.
* NOTE: This lesson could be taught during Deaf Awareness week and the following week ‐‐ could encompass ASL, history and ELA classes.
Image Description: Colorful painting depicting a protest scene in front of a domed building. In the foreground, several figures are holding a large sign that reads "DEAF PRESIDENT NOW" in red letters. There are also several flags in vibrant colors, including red, blue, and yellow, being waved by the crowd.
Disability and Disability Arts Vision Loss - Disability Empowerment “Disability Looks Like You and Me”
Disability and Disability Arts Vision Loss - Disability Empowerment “Disability Looks Like You and Me”
This is a three part lesson to introduce the student to disability and a disabled artist's work. Disability arts is an art form where the context of the art takes on disability as its theme. Disability art is about exploring the various realities of what it's like to be disabled. The theme of disability may be used in a variety of ways in how the artist chooses to represent the theme in their work. This lesson uses art created by Jade Ramos.
Image description: A colorful abstract artwork featuring a silhouette of a person with long hair outlined in bright neon colors. The background is filled with vibrant, swirling patterns. Text says “Every One Matters, Even You” along the left and right edges. The person is wearing a shirt with the text “Disability Looks Like You and Me”
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
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
Drawing your City - the Art of Stephen Wiltshire
In this lesson, students will be exposed to the artwork of Stephen Wiltshire. Wiltshire is from Britain and known for his large-scale detailed drawings of cityscapes. After learning about Wiltshire, who is autistic, students will have the opportunity to draw their own cityscape, inspired by Wiltshire’s art. For an extra geographic element, they can write facts about their city and create a bulletin board display. They will also consider how Wiltshire is often most widely described as a savant/genius, and how these words can create challenging stereotypes, both for the autistic community and for artists. For both, these words set up unrealistic expectations about who autistic people are/can be, and what art is/can be/how much training and practice is required to be an artist.
Image Description: Photo from behind a person wearing a dark jacket and a cap with headphones that is drawing on a large, detailed cityscape illustration. The drawing appears to be a bird's-eye view of a city with numerous buildings and streets.
Happy Paintings - The Art of Maud Lewis
In this lesson, students will learn about the art of Maud Lewis, a prolific Canadian folk artist who lived in rural Nova Scotia (Eastern Canada, near the Atlantic Ocean), and worked in the mid-20th century. She is now believed to have been born with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, but it was not diagnosed or treated in her lifetime. Students will learn about her artwork, rooted deeply in the place where she lived, and have the opportunity to keep a sketchbook for a week, and create a painting in Maud Lewis’ style that reflects their own local world. Students will also consider the complex intersections between disability, poverty and the arts that are embedded in Maud’s life story.
Image Description: a painted clam shell that features a red birdhouse in the center, surrounded by colorful flowers and two blue birds on either side. The shell is mounted on a wooden background. The artist's name, "Maud Lewis," is visible on the shell.
Hispanic Heritage: Frida Kahlo (Intersectionality of Ableism, Creativity and Feminism) Lesson
Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954) was a Mexican artist who was influenced by the Mexican Revolution. She experienced a disability at two times in her life. Her determinism helped her cope with the pain of overcoming polio, a difficult marriage and bus-trolley accident. Frida Kahlo’s curiosity and love for nature were often the subjects of her paintings. Known as the “mother of the selfie,” Frida also created more than 200 paintings of herself. This unit of lessons is to recognize the creativity and imagination of Frida Kahlo.
Image description: Photograph of Frida Kahlo against a green floral background
Laura Hershey Poetry Lesson: “You Get Proud By Practicing”
Students will analyze Laura Hershey’s poem, “You Get Proud By Practicing.” A poet, author, and activist, Laura Hershey first published the poem in 1991. To better understand its context, students will learn about neuromuscular diseases, disability activism in the 1980s, and the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Students will then analyze the poem for repetition and figurative language and understand what Hershey suggests it means to get proud. After discussing the poem, students will write and share their own poems about getting proud using those literary devices.
Image description: photo of Laura Hershey
The New York Times - ‘26.2 Miles Is Easy. Getting Around New York City Is Not.’ - Lesson Plan
In this lesson, students will learn why it’s easier for one athlete to win a marathon in New York than to navigate the city in a wheelchair. Then, students will evaluate the accessibility of public spaces where they live.
Image Description: "The Learning Network Teaching & Learning with the New York Times" Below the text is an illustration of a green chalkboard with a lightning bolt.
New York Times: Learning With: ‘Adaptive Video Game Controllers Open Worlds for Gamers With Disabilities’
This lesson explores how adaptive video game controllers are transforming gaming for players with disabilities. Students will first reflect on their own gaming experiences before analyzing a commercial and reading an article about accessibility in gaming. Through discussion questions, they will examine the challenges faced by disabled gamers, how technology has evolved to be more inclusive, and the broader impact of adaptive controllers. The lesson encourages critical thinking about accessibility in technology and invites students to consider how they would design more inclusive gaming experiences.
Image Description: "The Learning Network Teaching & Learning with the New York Times" Below the text is an illustration of a green chalkboard with a lightning bolt.
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.”]
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.”]
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.”]