In someone else's shoes

Do not be surprised to see blindfolded students gingerly walking around campus. Most likely, they are a part of a class called Adapted Physical Education, or KPE 320.

The course is designed to prepare kinesiology and physical education majors to implement a variety of physical activity programs based on the unique needs of individuals with disabilities, according to Dr. Barry Lavay, who has been teaching the course at Cal State Long Beach for 12 years.

Simulating blindness is just one of the many hands-on exercises that these students engage in, Lavay said.

"I want students to know what it's like to be visually impaired," Lavay said. "What we're doing is assimilating disability issues because students may not think about it."

Lavay said this course is mainly for kinesiology and physical education majors who are interested in pedagogy, or teaching physical education, because they will encounter people with disabilities in schools. He stressed that disabilities are not limited to physical limitations. Asthma and learning disabilities are also prevalent.

"People with disabilities aren't inferior --they're different," Lavay said. "A person with a disability is a person first."

Junior Lou Vincent, a kinesiology and physical education major, is currently enrolled in the course and said it has been a learning experience.

"It's a very valuable course to take for anyone who's going into physical education," she said. "It's enlightening and opens your eyes to the abilities of the disabled, not the disabilities."

Vincent was required to spend a day in a wheelchair as part of the course requirements.

"I've learned that people who are disabled can achieve the tasks that able-bodied people do, but they just do it in a different way," Vincent said.

"Like any class, theory is taught, but I want students to walk away with a positive attitude towards persons with disabilities," Lavay said while explaining why this class is so vital to a physical education teacher's curriculum.