When one observes contemporary United States culture, it appears there are standards that the members of this society are convinced that they have to conform to. Our minds constantly are being conditioned to keep up with what is the popular norm. The media tells us that we have to look and behave a certain way in order to get noticed. For example, music videos show that men have to have diamonds hanging from their necks and ears and be surrounded by beautiful women to be considered "The Man."  In addition, women have to be willing to have a particular body type to be thought of as being attractive and to have attention paid to them.

Men and women who have disabilities do not usually fit into these categories. It is a rare occasion when this country celebrates people's uniqueness. Yes, there are people who showcase their different ways of thinking and behaving. They shine for a while but it seems that those moments are short lived and eventually society goes back to the media's norm and forgets about people's individuality.

How to encourage a more open-minded society?
Therefore, I pose a question. How do we begin to impact society's way of thinking to be open-minded in a more beneficial manner?  One of the answers can be found in the educational system.

Some of the most influential people in our lives can be teachers. I say this because I know teachers have been influential in my life. There are lessons that I have learned from teachers that I have carried into adulthood. Teachers are the tools for students to learn the educational skills they need. The grammar school teachers are the ones who teach the three "Rs" that are so basic but so important to get ahead in life. They teach the three "Rs" based on the curriculum for a particular grade.

However, recently I learned of a school that has gone beyond the teaching of the three R's. At the Indian Fields Elementary School located in Dayton, NJ they have integrated the teachings of uniqueness into their second grade curriculum.

Teaching second graders the value of being unique
The teachers spend some of the school year teaching their second graders the value of being unique. The program is founded on the principle that all people have a unique way about themselves. They also teach that everyone has struggles to overcome, but that everyone conquers them in different ways. The second graders are made very aware that everyone has goals and dreams that they want to achieve. At the completion of the curriculum, which is filled with plenty of discussions and activities, the students hear from various speakers about their uniqueness. The speakers describe their challenges, experiences, and achievements, including their singular and different personal traits.

What is most striking about this school is that most of the speakers that they invite to participate have a disability. The speakers' disabilities range from diabetes, missing a limb, to using a wheelchair.

The second graders in Indian Fields Elementary School are first greeted by a speaker who tells a novel story. Then they are given the opportunity to ask questions and talk about their own experiences with disability. An important point that the students learn is that because people have a variety of disabilities that all people have individual ways to live their lives. Therefore, the students gain a new perceptive on life that is not showed in the media. By way of this program, they can learn that they don't have to conform to how the media tells them they aspire to live.

A chance to learn about disability on a firsthand basis
What is so impacting about this program is that the students are being given a chance to learn about people with disabilities on a firsthand, human basis. Their minds are being expanded to think beyond what their society shows them to be normal. They are being challenged at an early age to think out of range from what they see and know day to day. The students' responses show that their mentality is one of understanding and allows them to relate to what can make a person unique. When one of the speakers asked the students "How do you treat people with disabilities?" a student responded: "The way I want to be treated."

Indian Fields Elementary School is itself unique for having such a program as part of their curriculum. The teachers and staff are affording their students a rare opportunity which is to learn about the diversity of their world. The students are also learning valuable social skills that are also going to help them in their future.

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