Young children and their reaction to disability.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself doing a lot of work in Primary schools promoting inclusion and working with the children to help them learn to understand and respect diversity.
Part of this work involved bringing people with a disability, specifically people with limb loss, into schools to speak with the children. After giving a talk, the amputees would join me and my coaches to deliver inclusive and adapted sports to the little ones. I’ve been doing this type of work for a while now but I still find it interesting to observe the reaction of the younger children when they meet someone with a disability. In my experience, the children often have several different reactions. However, on occasion, some of their reactions are in sharp contrast. There are little ones, like a young girl called Saffron (not her real name) that we met at a school back in the summer of 2018, who are beautifully accepting, sometimes to the point of nonchalance.
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