Welcome to the blog portion of the What's New in APE' podcast platform! In this episode we highlight a Paralympic school day model that is an "educational program that aims to create awareness and understanding in schools about persons with an impairment" (International Paralympic Committee, 2019). Within this episode we will talk with stakeholders from universities, K-12 schools and a wheelchair basketball team that implement Paralympic school days at both universities and public schools. More specifically, we will discuss how these stakeholders got involved in this program, how the program impacts students with and without disabilities' perspectives, and how someone else could get bring this model to their own school!
Along with this podcast, we wanted to share some additional resources that explain and highlight the Paralympic School Day model and help someone develop and implement their own Paralympic School Day!
-The International Paralympic Committee website explains the original premise of this program and has specific activity cards that give stakeholders the ability to bring this model to their own schools.
- Here is a video from a James Madison University Kinesiology course that shows a Paralympic Skills Lab in practice!
- Here is an article that discusses the impact on future teachers from bringing in Paralympians and local wheelchair athletes to teach these students a new sport and a new perspective on disability.
- One of the panelist, Cathy McKay, an assistant professor at James Madison University, has also published several research articles on the impacts of implementing a Paralympic school day. Please check out a few of them using the links below.
