I was watching an episode of Handy Manny with my daughter the other day. For those who have never seen the show it is about Manny and his tools. Manny's tools all talk and the group goes around town fixing whatever needs to be fixed. The particular episode that we were watching (okay I was doing more watching and my daughter was doing more drinking of her morning milk) was about Manny and the tools fixing a windmill on a miniature golf course.
As the episode progressed, Manny's tool become upset/confused/frustrated with the man who owned the miniature golf course because he seemed to be ignoring the tools when they would ask him questions. The man's wife helped to explain to the tools that her husband was not ignoring them, he was deaf. After a brief explanation about what it meant to be deaf, the wife taught Manny and the tools some introductory sign language.
I was very pleased to see this approach to teaching about a disability. The more that children are exposed to people who are different from them, the more understanding they will be as they get older. If at a young age a child learns that some people are deaf and this is normal, then they will be less likely to develop derogatory opinions of people who have disabilities later in life.
For what it's worth...parents let your children interact with people who are different from you. We have tried to expose our daughter to a variety of people. From attending the Special Olympics to watching college rugby to spending time with Uncle Bryan :) we want her to see people who are different from her mom and dad.
