November 19th, 2015

Social Work students from University of Waterloo gave a presentation to grade six students today at Empire.  Empire students learned not to “judge a book by its cover”.  The visit included a sharing of personal stories by adults with disabilities.  Students heard about their life and experiences living with a disability.  All of these adults shared that they strive to be independent despite their disability and that often help is offered when it isn’t needed.

Students learned about bullying and the stigma around labels.  For example each student was given a ‘sticky note’ and they crumpled it up to represent negative thoughts about others.  In the end students discovered that they were unable to get this note back to its original state much like what happens to people after they are bullied.