Empathy lesson puts students in shoes of disabled

It's hard to tie your shoes with your fingers taped together. It's even harder to use scissors with your elbows. Now try working a puzzle with double vision.
Students encountered such scenarios this week during "Come Walk in My Shoes" at Menlo Park Elementary in Northeast Portland in the David Douglas School District. The one-day event offered lessons in empathy for those with learning and physical disabilities, and language barriers.
In one exercise, students sat in wheelchairs and pushed themselves over thick carpet -- while carrying lunch trays on their laps. Most students dropped their lunches, and many couldn't help but use their legs. "My hands are already getting tired," one student said as she wheeled herself up a low ramp.
At a station simulating what it's like to have dyslexia, students were asked to read pages with improper word spacing and backward letters.