'Touch of Understanding'

Franklin School seventh-and eighth-graders know a touch of understanding goes a long way.The students recently participated in an assembly, Touch of Understanding, which was presented by people with disabilities to encourage students to treat all individuals with respect and empathy.During the assembly, students broke up into groups and tried out wheelchairs, walked with their eyes closed and used white canes for the blind, examined prosthetic devices, wrote their names in Braille and practiced mirror writing to simulate a learning disability."Wheelchairs are fun, but I wouldn't want to be in one my whole life. I'm glad I don't have a disability and I have a lot of respect for people who do," said eighth-grader Cassandra Palma after taking a wheelchair for a spin.Students also met speakers with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, missing legs and arms, blindness, hydrocephalus and they met a service dog named Magy.Many students recognized presenter Steven Sanchez, 30, who is a ticket taker at U.A. Cinema in Roseville. He has suffered from cerebral palsy his entire life and uses a wheelchair or braces to walk. "If you see someone with a disability, just say 'hi.' We're no different than anyone else," Sanchez told the students.Dan Adragna of East Roseville lost his legs and his voice after his diabetes, combined with a blood infection, left him in a three-month long coma. His heart stopped numerous times and doctors gave him no chance for surviving."Be grateful for what you have," he told the students as he demonstrated his artificial legs. Adragna never regretted the loss of his legs, rather he celebrated his survival."Never doubt what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it," advised former Franklin student Greg Elie, 24. Elie was born with water on the brain, hydrocephalus, and had a drainage shunt inserted in a surgery done before he was born. Doctors told his mother that he would probably never walk or talk. Elie defied the odds and graduated from Granite Bay High School and Sierra College and now volunteers with the Rocklin Police Department where he logs evidence and helps at DUI checkpoints."Focus on what you can do and find a new way to do things," Elie said.Another speaker, Mike Penketh, could be called the Bionic Man. He sports artificial bionic hands that look realistic and are operated electronically by muscle impulses. He was accompanied by his service dog, Magy, who retrieves things for him. Penketh, a former commercial pilot, lost both his hands in a race car accident. Penketh removed one of his hands and let the students examine it. He even let eighth-grader Jake Uhler demonstrate how it worked."It was a little creepy when he took it off, then I thought it (the hand) was really cool," Uhler said."Life is the greatest gift," Penketh told the students. Students were impressed with the assembly and seemed to get the message the speakers shared."All people are different, but just because they're different, they shouldn't be avoided or treated differently," said student Sam Hall, 13.A lunchtime group of seventh-graders became philosophical when questioned about the assembly."Don't take for granted how good your life is," said Alan Kidwell, 12."Realize how lucky you are," said 12-year-old Preston Cooper."They (the disabled) are not aliens or anything," quipped Austin Soldano, 12.Eighth-grader Jim Neal thinks his fellow students will behave better after experiencing the assembly. "I think people will be a bit nicer," he said.