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Show Learning About Handicaps Helps Children Grow ' i i i u i ii ii According to Camp Fire, the national youth agency, a "trust walk" with a friend is one activity that can help girls and boys understand disabilities. The United Nations has declared 1981 the International Interna-tional Year of Disabled Persons, Per-sons, and according to Camp Fire, the national youth agency, it's the perfect per-fect time for children to learn about handicaps. Camp Fire suggests these activities ac-tivities for girls and boys. Help children get to know someone who has a disability. Concentrate on the person's abilities, rather than disabilities. Refer to a disabled child as "Sue" or "George" or "the one in the red sweater," not as "the . one in the wheelchair" or "the blind child." With the children, identify iden-tify barriers at home, at school and in public places. Discuss how barriers might affect the dibbled. Have children eat a snack with a blindfold 0n play a game with their eai plugged, take their shoej off and put them back on jj one hand in their pocket, ot take a walk with a scarf tied just above their kneej. Thj have them discuss howtkw felt. Divide children into pairs for "trust walks." 0m child is blindfolded, wk the other acts as a guio( Tell each guide, "Hold you; friend's hand or elbow. Ai you walk, ask if your frieac can tell where the two of you are going. Areyougoi uphill or downhill? Areyo: in the sun or the shade? Aii your friend to think o! something, such as a tne, and describe it." Camp Fire, which ha 500,000 members acroait country, believes in "mn i streaming" children . handicapping conditio |