Disabled students on the team

[SousVide]

I am interested in your team experience with students with disability on your team. What type of changes you might have had to make to your team, your workshop, organization wise, etc. ?

We might have an opportunity to have a visually impaired student joining our team. Tool Safety definitely comes to mind first. Are there hand tools that we can adapt or find that can be used ? I believe this student has no vision capability. I am not versed in this area as far as tool use and availability. I know that computers have come a long way as far as accessibility - so possibly programming could be a route we could have. I don't know of his interest yet, so I am looking for your experience.

Come to think of it, I am interested in the wider range of disabilities and not just a student who is visually challenged.

[801DOC]

The integration of students with special needs is one of the highlights of FIRST. While it can initially be intimidating, the rewards for all will be amazing.

Since every situation is different, there is not an easy answer to the question on how to integrate them. From my experience with students of all "difabilities" or different abilities, is the key to success is to see it as an opportunity for you and the team to learn from them. They have more experience than you and when you focus on learning from them, you will see their abilities and the results will be amazing.

It has been my experience that the parents can be the biggest challenge in this process since there can be a tendency to over-protect. In short, learn from them too but encourage them to let you learn from their child. You both have the same goals in mind but are approaching the situation from different perspectives.

You, and the other mentors will set the example for the students to follow. When your actions follow your words, the team will learn from you.

My experience with individuals with difabilities is extensive. I was instrumental in breaking down barriers for individuals with difabilities to experience microgravity including Stephen Hawking. If you, or others, wish to discuss this in greater detail, feel free to ping me at any time.

Peace,
DOC

[GeeTwo]

The only issue we've had so far is a latex allergy. In this case, it just means that we bagged up all the surgical tubing and replaced our gloves and added verifying that new gloves are non-latex was added to our safety checklist.

The real key to making this work is to accommodate each team member with the abilities they do have, rather than focus on disabilities. That is, find out which parts of the team's activities this student is capable of doing, and focus there. I've seen people do amazing things, so try not to pre-judge what someone can or cannot do.

[rich2202]

We don't have any disabled students, but my first thought on reading your post is:

Let the Student tell you what they are interested in doing, and then help them find a way to meaningfully participate. If the Student doesn't know, let them bounce from team to team, just like the other kids. If they still don't know, then you can help guide them to what you think would be easiest for them.

IMHO, they want to be treated like the other students, so let them be like the other students. Maybe a little extra help along the way, and when they have found their niche, a some accommodation to help them participate.

[PVCpirate]

I have a muscle disease that impairs my strength and walking ability. When I was on a team, I wasn't in a wheelchair, so I didn't have that issue. I couldn't do much machining, but I worked on design, CAD, fundraising, scouting and Chairman's at different times over 4 years. The team was great, didn't treat me any differently except for stuff related to the disability, and made sure I wasn't sitting by myself at the bottom of the bleachers (because I can't climb stairs).

The biggest thing I can stress is to treat a person with a disability as just a person. Don't assume they can't do something because of their disability(unless it's really obvious), ask questions so you don't miss a way for a student to participate on the team.

People have varying comfort levels with talking about their disabilities. Personally, I have no problem answering sincere questions about it and joking about it, but not everyone is the same. Make sure the team becomes aware of this and acts accordingly.

As far as tools go, I would imagine power tools are out(but who knows?), but I'm sure there is some way a visually impaired student could contribute in a shop. I'm not sure what kind of adaptive tools would be useful in this situation, I would just suggest keeping an open line of communication with the student so that you know what they're interested in doing and what they need to do so.

[Koko Ed]

When I am running the que on the field I have often had several teams come up to me and ask if they can have a member of their team who is wheelchair bound if they can watch from the field area. I usually can oblige them so long as it is safe and they are not in the way.
I had a whole hearing impaired team at a regional and another one that was half hearing impaired (when they won an award the whole audience gave them the sign for applause. It was a very goose bump inducing moment).

[Tina Nguyen]

Oh! I remember getting several blind middle school students interested in robotics. I believe one of them wanted to program.

So far on my team though, we've only had students with mental disabilities/impairments/differences-- two students with autism (high-functioning though) and one with ADHD (who had to quit in order to pull up his grades).

I'm wondering how we can better include them if the condition isn't always as obvious (these students' differences aren't exactly publicly known, if that makes sense).

[StevenB]

I worked for four years with a student who had muscular dystrophy and was in a wheelchair. He was the software guy, but he was also the electrical team, and sometimes the CAD team. Maybe the pneumatics team as well.

Basically we would sit together, both of our minds working together, and my fingers doing the typing. If I wasn't there, or was busy with others, he'd be coaching others on how to wire up the robot, or gently berating them for putting the drivebase together wrong. And in 2008 (Overdrive), since the ROBOCOACH position didn't require any physical capacity, he was with us on the drive team.

I don't know that we made significant changes to the team structure or the way we did things to accommodate Kaleb. It happened naturally, because he was on the team from its rookie year, and his father was heavily involved as a mentor.