![\"Juan](\"http:\/\/news.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Juan-simulation-florence-700x450.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGetting around in a wheelchair can be draining \u2013 especially when traveling abroad.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d think you\u2019re there sitting and relaxing but it takes a lot out of your body,\u201d said Juan Agudelo, 24, a senior majoring in recreational therapy. \u201cThe constant vibration of the wheelchair, the up and down at sidewalks, going over curbs all take their toll.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agudelo, one of 12 students who participated in the College of Education\u2019s Recreational Therapy study abroad program to Paris and Florence, came fact-to-face with the mobility challenges confronted by people with disabilities \u2013 people he hopes to treat one day.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy legs started to fall asleep and my back hurt,\u201d he said. \u201cThe next day I was sore, and my arms were sore because I tried pulling the chair myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Juan Agudelo, 24, a senior majoring in Recreational Therapy is wiped out from his wheelchair simulation experience in Florence. Students in the Recreational Therapy study abroad course experience Florence and Paris as if they had disabilities to better understand what their future patients encounter and to help them advocate for change.<\/sub><\/p>\n And that was just after eight hours.<\/p>\n The goal of the study abroad program isn\u2019t just to help students empathize with their future patients; it\u2019s also to help them realize more can be done to make places accessible.<\/p>\n It\u2019s estimated that in 2012 approximately 56.7 million people in the United States had a disability, and of those, some 30.6 million faced mobility challenges and used a wheelchair, crutches or a walker to get around, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.<\/p>\n The Census Bureau also estimates that almost 8.1 million Americans have trouble seeing and about 2 million are blind or unable to see.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do this so intensely that they look at everything differently,\u201d said Associate Professor Alexis McKenney, who led the students on their two-week journey abroad that followed one week of classes in Miami\u00a0covering a variety of topics ranging from attitudes toward people with disabilities, to the Americans with Disabilities Act to adaptations to include people with disabilities in a wide range of activities.<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s especially the case in historic cities such as Paris and Florence, where cobblestone streets and imperfect sidewalks are commonplace and access for people with disabilities often is limited.<\/p>\n This is a reality her students encountered when visiting the Duomo di Firenze. Florence\u2019s cathedral had a gift shop at the very bottom of a set of stairs and ultimately, the students chose not to risk injuring a classmate by wheeling them down the steep steps.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to take time for Europe to retrofit its cities because they\u2019re very old cities,\u201d McKenney said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to put an elevator in a building from the 1500s.\u201d<\/p>\n Students participating in the Recreational Therapy study abroad course this summer took turns guiding each other through the Louvre museum while blindfolded to simulate blindness. Here they get a chance to interact with reproductions of famous sculptures on display in the museum.<\/sub><\/p>\n Perhaps the greatest challenge faced by students, however, was serving as a guide for their blindfolded classmates in The Louvre.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you describe something, it\u2019s not just about describing its physical appearance because that\u2019s not very helpful for someone with congenital blindness,\u201d McKenney said. \u201cWhat helped was describing how a piece of art made them feel.\u201d<\/p>\n Kesley Oslan, 21, a special education major, came to that realization even before reaching the museum.<\/p>\n \u201cMy classmate was trying to describe everything but it didn\u2019t fit. She was giving me random facts,\u201d Oslan said. \u201cShe was telling me \u2018we are going down some steps, there are walls to your right and walls to your left, and here\u2019s the railing.’\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut it didn\u2019t fit. I couldn\u2019t visualize where we were.\u201d<\/p>\n Now picture trying to describe paintings and sculptures to someone who was blindfolded \u2013 it didn\u2019t get easier Oslan said. Instead, she coaxed her classmate to help her move her body to match the pose of sculptures.<\/p>\n \u201cShe would tell me how to move my hands and my body to understand how the sculpture or the painting looked,\u201d Oslan said. \u201cShe would help me move my face so I can understand the art.\u201d<\/p>\n When it came time to reverse roles, Oslan said she felt responsible for making sure her classmate would feel safe and would get the most out of the experience. She would count the number of steps on a set of stairs so her classmate knew how far up or down they needed to go and she would vividly describe the scenery around them.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew I had reached my goal,\u201d Oslan said. \u201cShe felt like she was included and she was having fun. I was making sure she was good and was experiencing everything I was too.\u201d<\/p>\n Thinking beyond graduation, Oslan, a senior, said the trip will make her a better educator.<\/p>\n \u201cThis may help me understand what students with cerebral palsy or who are in a wheel chair experience,\u201d she said. \u201cThe fact that I lived through it and pushed someone, it\u2019ll help me understand what my students feel.<\/p>\n \u201cThis made me feel like a better human being in the end,\u201d Oslan added. \u201cEvery positive or negative encounter was an amazing experience that no class lecture or book can ever replace.\u201d<\/p>\n The course, which is open to students of all disciplines, is available to undergraduate students as the Global Learning-designated course LEI 3707 and to graduate students\u00a0as LEI 5907.<\/p>\n![\"Students-Louvre-700x450\"](\"http:\/\/news.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Students-Louvre-700x450.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"http:\/\/news.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kelsey-Louvre-blindfolded.jpg\")
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