University of Wisconsin - Extension

http://www.wpt.org">Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) will air Dragon Club at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, July 29. The broadcast is a look at an innovative school program in Wood County's community of Nekoosa that is breaking down barriers between special needs and non-special needs middle-school students.

Begun in 1999, the extracurricular Dragon Club in Alexander Middle School, with 488 students, focuses on two groups of kids who, formerly, did not relate to each other.

Now, said, Briana Nistler, a member of the club, "We're helping more (non-disabled) people learn what these people go through, people who are deaf, people who are blind, people with mental disabilities. We are showing people what they go through and that we can help them. Then, we show them (the disabled) how we can become their friend and how we can learn what they go through."

Faculty and school administrators say the program takes children who are already at a vulnerable age and a time of transition as they move into puberty, and reduces their questions and fears about disabilities.

The broadcast also includes scenes from the schools' annual Disability Awareness Day. Giggling middle-schoolers are seen painting with their toes to emulate what a disabled artist may experience. They are shown wearing special goggles to simulate blindness and then read Braille. They compete in wheelchair floor hockey.

WPT is a service of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin-Extension. Wisconsin Public Television is a place to grow through learning on WHA-TV/Madison, WPNE-TV/Green Bay, WHRM-TV/Wausau, WLEF-TV/Park Falls, WHLA-TV/La Crosse and WHWC-TV/Menomonie-Eau Claire.