Canes Enable by Jonah

I thought the presentation was amazing. Debbie and Lawrence were well spoken and easy to understand for our age group. I like the part when Lawrence took off his leg and did the bear crawl. Debbie’s idea of bringing Sarah bear was a nice touch. She also presented Sarah bear’s questions to the class and we passed a string that you pass to a person, which creates a web. The designs on the canes were incredible. The people at Canes Enable are so creative.

I learned that people with disabilities can do so much because before the presentation I thought they were very limited. Debbie and Lawrence showed us that with on leg you can do volleyball, bowling, skiing, dance and lots more things. I also learned about a prosthetic leg. It looks so realistic and very flexible. Having a prosthetic leg allows people to do more but it is so expensive.

I was so surprised that a prosthetic leg cost $40 000. That is the price for a good one. It must be very hard for people to afford one. Having a disability may limit your job possibilities and as Debbie said some disabled people get jobs that do not pay large salaries. How do you afford your bills plus $15 000 to $40 000 for a prosthetic leg. That is why it is good to spread awareness through presentations such as this one.

I think we need for our school to be wheelchair accessible. It has no elevator or ramp. When I was in a wheelchair I could only use it at recess and outside of the school. It was very painful because I had to use crutches up and down the stairs so may times and it was difficult. There was also no handicapped parking and it was hard to get out of the car and into my wheelchair in the drive through. I only had to be in the wheelchair for two months while for some people it is permanent. I really got a good idea of how difficult it is. I would make railings, escalators and elevators in most buildings.