Week Twelve

This week in RTH 252 my group presented on Dining. We were going to start class by having Emily’s friend Barb come in and speak to the class, but she had something come up. Instead, we started class by having Emily talk about her friend’s experience of being blind and how she learned to do the many daily things that we take for granted. She also talked about the difficulties of her dining experiences. We then had the members pair up and do a blind-folded pouring activity. Each person was to try to fill a glass as full of water as they could without overflowing it. Once one person went, then their partner went. After this activity we had the group make adapted silverware by using plastic silverware, model magic, and nuts. While making their choice of adapted silverware, we presented them with the many different types of adaptive dining equipment that is available. We had some equipment available to pass around, and showed some videos of others. Then we had the group count off by fours so we could move to our next set of activities.

The next part of class, we had four activities happening all at once. There was a group of three at each activity. The first activity was Trisha’s station where members would try pureed pizza, would try Thick It, have someone else feel them, and would eat with their non-dominant hand. The next activity was Emily’s station where each member learned about ways to communicate with individuals that are deaf by using sign language. They also learned about some dinner etiquette. The next activity was my station where members watched a short inspirational video on how a man born without arms is able to eat, open a can of soda, and drink the soda out of a coffee cup-all with only using his feet. Each member was then asked to try to use their feet and a spoon to transfer rice from one bowl to another. They also were given a coffee cup filled with rice and were to try to dump the rice into a bowl using their feet. The members also were blindfolded and were asked to eat a bite of pudding with their dominant hand, and then with their non-dominant hand. Finally, members were able to try two adaptive spoons to get a feel for what it would be like to handle them every day. The final activity was Maria and Ashley’s station where each member was given a certain type of disability (blind, deaf, cerebral palsy, or cognitive impairment) and were to help the group by doing their part in the process of making pancakes.

The last activity that we had the class do was a debrief activity where each member was to model an emotion or structure that explained how they felt about today’s activities. Each member was given the opportunity to share what they created and explain how it related to their feelings today. After the class shared their feelings, I ended the class by debriefing and asking a few questions about our presentation. By teaching the class this week, I learned a lot about the different problems that people with disabilities face while just trying to accomplish the task of eating. I also learned about many of the great adaptive tools that can help these individuals. Having researched this project really gave me a much greater understanding of both of these, which will significantly help me in my professional career. Teaching also better prepared me for giving presentations in class and leading programs on a variety of topics. This week I learned that I am able to teach others something that I am not an expert at, and that I have gotten better with speaking in front of people and doing things that I am not always comfortable with. I also learned just how much I appreciate that I am an able-bodied individual. My way of “striving for excellence” this week was to take everything in and enjoy watching the class do our activities. I had a great time with my activity station and could tell that the other groups were having just as much fun! Hooray for the last group presentation!