The program will teach the medical students how to properly
interact with those with developmental disabilities.
Approximately 60 students have gone through the program this
year. The students are broken up into groups of 15 and visit JARC corporate
offices in Farmington Hills for one-hour presentations once a month.
Then the students go to tour one of JARC’s homes to learn
how people with disabilities live with around-the-clock care in a community
setting. The students are from the class of Dr. Ernest F. Krug, III, professor
of biomedical science at the medical school at OU.
The overall goal of this program is to teach the medical
students ways to become better doctors in the future. They learn about the history
of developmental and intellectual disabilities, how the two overlap, and most
importantly, how having a disability affects a person’s life.
Eye contact with the person that has a developmental
disability is stressed. Students also are taught effective ways of
communicating with those with disabilities, how to be more inclusive, and how
to deal with someone who is non-verbal and doesn’t want to be touched.
Students are also taught the philosophy of Gentle Teaching
in which a trusting and loving rapport is developed with the person with a
disability and others so the individual feels safe and cared about.
JARC, a nonprofit in Farmington Hills, serves both children
and adults with disabilities in terms of housing, life planning, social
inclusion, education, and recreation.
Jerry Wolffe is the
writer-in-residence and advocate-at-large at the Macomb-Oakland Regional
Central. He can be reached 586 263-8950.