Number of Participants: 100
Hours Donated: 1
Value of Time Served: $845
Event Type: Children & Youth
Sport: Schools
Date: March 15, 2019
Location:
Deer Park
NY, USA
About:
Deer Park’s Robert Frost Middle School held its fourth annual BandAid Project on March 15. Developed by Frost speech-language pathologist Stephanie O’Connell to coincide with April as National Autism Awareness Month, the daylong event – which won the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission’s Inter-Faith Anti-Bias Task Force Award last year – works to increase acceptance of people with autism and developmental disabilities rather than just awareness and provides students with a firsthand experience of the daily struggles of people with disabilities.
Participating students wear a Band-aid across their mouth for the entire day, and must use pen and paper, gestures and even body language to communicate with their teachers and peers while taking part in all required activities of the school day. At BandAid’s conclusion, the students gather to play a game or complete an activity reflecting on the difficulties they had without the ability to communicate like others.
“Doing the BandAid Project for three straight years was a really good experience, and I looked forward to it every year,” said eighth-grader David Perez. “It’s basically the same as every other day, but once you put the Band-aid on, everything changes for you. When I tried to speak, I felt totally different. I really wanted to rip it off and speak as much as I want, but I knew I couldn’t, because I dedicated myself to finishing the project. It gave me a new