The usually quiet atrium found itself abuzz with chatter and swarmed with students on the annual Day of Disability Education on Wednesday, Dec. 20. From A- to E-block, activities and informative posters on disability awareness filled 11 tables spread out throughout the atrium and the MLK room.

Several clubs and organizations, including the Neuroscience Club, the Brilliant Club, Unified Basketball and Model UN participated in organizing the event. Some booths highlighted struggles and experiences that members of the disabled community face; others provided information on lesser-known disabilities, especially those that may not be as apparent at first glance. Throughout the day, students who were able to collect six stamps from six different tables were entered into a raffle to win a larger prize.

One table educated students on the deaf community and involved an American Sign Language (ASL) activity. English and Special Education teacher Alexa Bader encouraged students to fingerspell their names by using a poster near the table.

“If they came back and tried to fingerspell their name for me and I could decode what their name was, they got a stamp,” Bader said.

For the past three years, Bader has helped organize the event and has led the ASL table. She said spreading awareness about ASL can ease communications with people who are hearing-impaired.

“It’s important to understand how different people communicate. [ASL is] such an interesting language with such a rich history, and I think it’s really cool to get exposure to it,” Bader said.

Also part of the Day of Disability Education was the T-block presentation with prompts about disability and ableism. Senior Zoë Soroka has been a part of the planning committee for the Day of Disability Education for the past three years and was involved with creating the slideshows shown during T-block. Soroka also helped lead the library table, which offered recommendations for books with disabled characters. She said reading can be a valuable outlet for more diverse representation of disability.

“The T-block lessons today were really important because they helped us think about how disability comes in many facets and it’s not one thing; it’s an intersectional identity,” Soroka said. “Seeing it in representations in the media really helps.”

Junior Josie Marquis, who visited with her class during E-block, said she got a more enhanced understanding of what ability is.

“I think that all the booths were really cool because I learned some stuff I didn’t already know,” Marquis said. “It was super fun to learn new things about disability diversity and see people from our school being represented.”

Marquis said the day’s events gave her a deeper appreciation for disability education.

“Not being aware of disabilities can be dangerous if it makes things harder or more inaccessible for people with disabilities,” Marquis said. “It’s important to know what’s happening in the world, especially people [with] disabilities within our school and how it affects [everyone].”