The Ability Awareness Program (AAP) aims to promote understanding, acceptance and appreciation of individual learning and ability differences through fun, experiential activities. Parent volunteers involve students in activities designed to simulate different disabilities to experience first-hand what it is like to be disabled. Guided discussions address issues of acceptance, inclusion, making friends and celebrating differences.
So far, more than a dozen public middle schools in Mountain View, Los Altos and Palo Alto, California, have successfully conducted the program on site. The elementary school program includes a full week of activities, in full assembly, in-class and school-wide. The middle school program takes about one hour per student group.
This website provides free materials, such as sample schedules, communication templates, suggested scripts, and budgeting tools, so that you can easily conduct the program at your school. Download our tools and activities individually, or all at once in the manual we developed for the weeklong program: AAWManual3. Consultation is available upon request. For more information, contact us at info@selpa1cac.org.