7 Activities to Celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities in Your Classroom

Why disability awareness belongs in every classroom

December 3rd marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), a day the United Nations established in 1992 to promote understanding, respect, and advocacy for the rights of people living with disabilities. For teachers, it’s a natural entry point to talk with students about what inclusion really looks like and why it matters every day, not just once a year.

Consider this: roughly one billion people worldwide, about 16% of the global population, live with some form of disability. That means most students already know someone navigating a disability, or they may be experiencing one themselves. Yet disability remains one of those topics many educators aren’t quite sure how to approach in a way that feels age-appropriate, empowering, and respectful rather than pitying.

The good news? You don’t need a standalone unit to make it happen. The seven activities below draw on ClickView’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities topic resources and are designed to fit into what you’re already teaching whether that’s social studies, ELA, STEAM, or a morning meeting. They’ll help your students build empathy, think critically about accessibility, and recognize the value of diversity in their own communities.

Building empathy through stories and conversation

1) Read and reflect with inclusive literature

Books that feature characters with disabilities give students a window into experiences different from their own — and sometimes a mirror reflecting experiences they recognize. Literature is one of the most accessible ways to build empathy across grade levels, and it turns what might feel like a difficult conversation into something organic and student-led.

Pick a read-aloud that centers a character with a disability. For elementary readers, Wonder by R.J. Palacio and El Deafo by Cece Bell are strong choices. Before diving in, watch ClickView’s Thinking About Wonder video together to introduce key themes and set the stage for discussion.

• Preview the video as a class and discuss what students already know about the story or its themes
• During reading, pause for guided questions: How did the character’s classmates respond? Were there moments where someone showed courage? What would you have done differently?
• After reading, ask students to write or draw a response to the prompt: “What does it mean to be a good friend to someone who experiences the world differently than you?”
• Extend the activity by walking through your school to audit disability-friendly features such as wheelchair ramps, accessible bathrooms, visual fire alarms, and so on. Are there areas your class could suggest improvements for?

That last step matters. Moving from a story to a real-world observation helps students connect empathy to action, and it gives them a sense of agency.

2) Explore disability through a classroom workshop

Reading about disability builds understanding. Experiencing a simulation, even briefly, can build perspective. A disability awareness workshop gives students a structured and respectful way to explore what daily life might feel like for someone with a particular disability, and it often sparks the kind of “aha” moment that sticks.

Begin by watching Let’s Talk About Disability as a class. This animated video explains different types of disability, introduces the disability rights movement, and models inclusive language in a format that works well from kindergarten through 5th grade.

• Set up sensory stations around the room. For example: noise-canceling headphones to simulate hearing difficulty, blindfolds for a guided navigation task, or thick gloves to experience reduced fine motor control
• Have students rotate through stations in small groups, spending two to three minutes at each one
• Bring the class together to debrief. Ask: What surprised you? Which challenges were easier to spot than others? How might someone with an invisible disability like anxiety, ADHD, or a sensory processing difference experience challenges that aren’t immediately obvious?

For a deeper variation, host a “disability-friendly lunch” where each student is quietly assigned a condition to experience for the duration of the meal. Afterward, reflect together: How did people respond to you? Were physical disabilities easier for classmates to recognize than invisible ones? What could have made things easier?

Frame these simulations carefully. The goal isn’t to make disability something to be pitied but rather to build genuine understanding of the barriers people face and the creativity and resilience they bring to everyday life.

3) Prepare for and host a guest speaker

There’s something irreplaceable about hearing directly from someone with lived experience. Inviting a guest speaker — a community member, parent, or local advocate living with a disability — brings the conversation to life in a way that no worksheet or video alone can match.

Great conversations start with great questions, though, and this is a perfect opportunity to build communication skills alongside empathy. Use ClickView’s Funnel Question Technique video to teach students how to move from broad, open questions to more specific and thoughtful ones.

• Watch the video together and discuss: What makes a question respectful? What’s the difference between being curious and being intrusive?
• In small groups, have students brainstorm questions and then narrow their list to the five strongest ones. Encourage questions about achievements, daily life, and what inclusion looks like from the speaker’s perspective — not just questions about the disability itself
• For extra depth, pair with Ask Deeper Questions to push students past surface-level fact-finding
• After the visit, have students write a short reflection: What’s one thing you learned that you didn’t expect? How has your thinking changed?

If an in-person visit isn’t possible, recorded interviews and video resources work well as substitutes. ClickView’s Understanding People with Disabilities offers a solid starting point for the kind of discussion a guest speaker would spark.

Hands-on activities for inclusion and accessibility

4) Create art that celebrates belonging

What does a world look like when everyone belongs? That’s the kind of question that’s hard to answer in a paragraph — but comes alive through art. This activity gives students space to express ideas about inclusion visually, and the finished work becomes a tool for sparking conversation beyond your classroom walls.

Start by watching Respect Diversity, where students view a piece of public art and think about how creative expression can celebrate the positive contributions of all people.

• Give students a prompt: “What does inclusion mean to me?”, “What does a world look like when everyone belongs?”, or “Design a symbol for accessibility that anyone would recognize”
• Let them choose their medium; drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, or digital art all work
• Display finished pieces in a hallway, library, or common area as an “Inclusion Gallery” and invite other classes or families to walk through

The public display is the point. When students see their ideas valued and shared, the message deepens for them and for everyone who walks by.

For an additional creative direction, try Engaging Fully, which challenges students to rewrite and illustrate a classic story to make it more inclusive. It’s a wonderful bridge between ELA and disability awareness.

5) Take on an accessible design challenge

How might we make playgrounds, vehicles, or public spaces more accessible for people living with a disability? This is where empathy meets engineering — and it’s the kind of question that gets students genuinely excited.

Design challenges are a natural fit for disability awareness because they ask students to identify real barriers and create real solutions. Launch the challenge with ClickView’s STEAM project videos: Parks and Playgrounds asks students to reimagine public spaces, Dream Car invites them to design vehicles, and Transportation Game explores accessibility in getting around.

• Watch one or more videos as a class and discuss: What makes a space or vehicle accessible? What barriers exist for people who use wheelchairs, have visual impairments, or experience sensory sensitivities?
• Present the challenge: “Design an accessible version of our school playground” or “Invent a form of transportation that works for everyone”
• Students work in small teams to sketch ideas, build prototypes using cardboard, craft supplies, or digital tools, and prepare a short pitch explaining their design choices
• Use Teams Pitch Solutions to guide the presentation process, with classmates offering feedback after each pitch

Want to push it further? Try Imitate Nature’s Solutions to introduce biomimicry — the idea that engineers look to nature for design inspiration. What might an accessible ramp designed like a spiral seashell look like? Or try Let’s Doodle Together to have teams brainstorm solutions visually before building.

6) Host an inclusive games day

Want to get the whole class moving while reinforcing what inclusion looks like in practice? An inclusive games day flips the script on traditional PE by asking students to redesign activities so everyone can participate — regardless of physical ability.

This is where awareness becomes action. Instead of simply talking about accessibility, students experience firsthand what it takes to create something that works for everyone.

• Start with a class discussion: Think of a game or sport you love. What parts of it would be tough for someone using a wheelchair, or someone with a visual impairment? What changes would make it work for everybody?
• Divide students into small groups and assign each group a traditional game — tag, relay races, volleyball, or similar. Their task: redesign the rules so the game is playable by people with a range of physical abilities. Sitting volleyball and wheelchair obstacle courses are great starting points
• Host the games day and have each group lead the class through their adapted activity
• Debrief afterward: Which adaptations worked best? What was harder than expected? How did it feel to play a game designed with accessibility in mind?

Watch Engaging Fully beforehand to set up a discussion about what it really means to make an experience inclusive — not just technically accessible, but genuinely welcoming and enjoyable.

Taking it further: reflection and action

7) Run a whole-school kindness campaign

The strongest disability awareness lessons don’t end when the bell rings. A kindness campaign extends the learning beyond a single class period and gives students ownership of creating a more inclusive school one small action at a time.

• Challenge students to perform one act of kindness each day for a week: helping a classmate carry their materials, writing an appreciation note, sitting with someone new at lunch, or simply holding a door
• Create a “Kindness Wall” in your classroom where students post sticky notes describing their acts of kindness — without naming specific people. Watch the wall grow over the week
• Connect the campaign back to disability awareness by discussing how everyday actions — holding a door, offering to read something aloud, being patient — make environments more welcoming for people of all abilities
• Broaden the scope by watching Global Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities and discussing how individual kindness connects to larger global goals around equity and human rights

You might find that students ask to keep the campaign going well beyond the original week. That’s exactly the outcome you want — kindness as a habit, not an assignment.

Tips for weaving disability awareness into the school year

International Day of Persons with Disabilities falls on December 3rd, but disability awareness doesn’t have to live inside a single lesson. Here are a few ways to keep the conversation going all year:

• Include disability in your read-aloud rotation. Feature books with characters who have disabilities regularly — not only during awareness weeks. The more students encounter these stories, the more naturally they understand that disability is simply part of the human experience
• Celebrate disability history beyond December. Highlight figures like Helen Keller, Judy Heumann, and Virginia Hall during biography units, Women’s History Month, or whenever their stories connect to what you’re teaching
• Practice inclusive language daily. Focus on what people can do, not just what they can’t. Model person-first language — “a person with a disability” rather than “a disabled person” — and create a classroom culture where students feel safe asking questions
• Revisit your school accessibility audit. After your initial walkthrough, check in periodically. Have improvements been made? Are there new areas to address? Giving students ownership of this process keeps equity front of mind
• Connect to the bigger picture. Use ClickView’s Discrimination, Diversity, and Equality topic to tie disability awareness into broader conversations about human rights and what it means to treat all people with dignity

The goal isn’t perfection — it’s progress. Every conversation, every activity, and every moment where a student pauses to consider someone else’s experience moves your classroom closer to the kind of inclusive community we all want to be part of.

Sources

1. United Nations. “International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December.” United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/observances/day-of-persons-with-disabilities.
2. World Health Organization. “Disability.” World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/health-topics/disability.
3. UNESCO. “International Day of Persons with Disabilities.” UNESCO, https://www.unesco.org/en/days/persons-disabilities.