This simulation was a very interesting experience, being blind was unsettling, placing my trust in someone else, trusting them to guide me safely around obstacles and explain what was going on around me. I enjoyed reaching around once my classmate had settled me into a chair near the craft shelves, I was trying to imagine being young especially and trying to figure out what I was holding...at one point I was shaking a big jar of glitter around thinking it was sand. The hearing impairment simulation was strange, I could hear some muffled sounds but nothing definite, reading lips is not easy at all, especially when it's in another language or super fast, for all I knew my classmate was saying supercalifragilisticexpialidotious in Ukrainian, I really couldn't tell at all. I don't know what I would have done as a child if I had either of these types of impairment, my sight and my hearing are very important to me and how I experience the world around me.
This whole exercise was very eye opening, reading with distractions was a nightmare to me, I love to read and the thought of struggling just to focus and comprehend what I'm reading not once, but multiple times...I wouldn't be who I am today if I had not been fortunate in that I took to reading like a duck to water, and it saddens me to think of all those that struggle in this fashion.
Listening with distractions was another one for the books, it reminds me of when I am listening to one child when three or four more walk up with something to share too, oh that can be so overwhelming, so many voices at once and sometimes mixed with the other teachers...it usually takes several minutes at least to get that sorted out for everyone, I certainly feel I have a better take on those children that have a little more difficulty focusing on one thing at a time now.
I have a few different websites listed below that give some good ideas for classroom adaptations for both the visual and hearing impaired of all ages.
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/special-ed-hearing-impairments/67528-tips-and-strategies-for-teaching-hearing-impaired-students/
http://successforkidswithhearingloss.com/relationship-hl-listen-learn/accommodations/
http://www.pathstoliteracy.org/environmental-adaptations-preschool-classrooms-serving-children-who-are-blind-or-visually-impaired
http://www.afb.org/info/programs-and-services/professional-development/experts-guide/accommodations-and-modifications-at-a-glance/1235
