Welcome to Pigmillion Possibilities™
This fun and educational in-class program teaches disability awareness and responsible citizenship to Bay Area youth. The highly interactive lessons involve students in storytelling, hands-on sensitivity exercises, and an art project.
The purpose of Pigmillion Possibilities is to:
- Create awareness of and sensitivity toward people with disabilities, including students, peers, and others in their community
- Cultivate in youth a lifelong sense of philanthropy and commitment to community participation and contribution
The Pigmillion Possibilities curriculum presents four major learning components:
- Reading The Adventures of Pegasus Pig, the story of a pig named Pegasus who is born unlike other pigs on the farm - he has wings!
- Participating in hands-on sensitivity exercises, which teaches students about the realities and possibilities of people with disabilities through first-hand experience:
- Wearing glue-coated glasses simulates visual impairment.
- Wearing socks on hands simulates limited dexterity and mobility.
- Stuffing four marshmallows in the mouth and communicating with a peer simulates a speech impediment.
- Trying to read instructions when the letters are upside down and backwards simulates.
- Decorating piggy banks in the image of Pegasus allows students to develop character interpretation through an art project, while demonstrating that everyone is unique and special.
- Taking home their newly decorated piggy bank serves as a constant reminder to treat people of all abilities with respect and encourages students to teach family and friends what they learned from Pigmillion Possibilities!
Pigmillion Possibilities is one of five programs directed by Community Gatepath, the largest nonprofit agency serving people with disabilities in San Mateo County.
Community Gatepath has been innovating services to address the many complex needs of people with disabilities starting with its root organizations, Poplar Center and Peninsula ReCare, since the 1920s. These two organizations responded to the needs of people with tuberculosis, mental retardation, and other disabilities for over 70 years before merging in 1995. Renamed Community Gatepath in 2001, the organization is committed to enabling children and adults with disabilities to achieve their full potential in health and work and to live as fully integrated members of our community.
For more information on Community Gatepath, visit their website.
