FRIENDS WHO CARE® is designed to help children better understand what it means and how it feels to be a young person with a disability. This educational program gives students the opportunity to learn what is involved when someone has a disability and how they adapt to live life, go to school, or work as independently as possible.

The goals of the program are simple: to encourage typically developing children to accept their peers with disabilities as people first and also to find ways to include everyone in school and after-school activities.

FRIENDS WHO CARE® is also fun! The curriculum explores a range of disabilities and includes specially crafted learning activities, hands-on exercises, guided discussions and guest speakers. It starts with an introduction to disability, and looks at vision, hearing, and physical disabilities and then at learning disabilities including AD-HD, autism and intellectual disabilities.

We hope that your child will be an active participant in this new, exciting program and that FRIENDS WHO CARE® will help to bridge the gap between children with and without disabilities.

What is FRIENDS WHO CARE?
FRIENDS WHO CARE® is a complete disability awareness program for elementary students, developed by Easter Seals and sponsored by Friendly's.

Who is the program for?
FRIENDS WHO CARE® is for classrooms, schools and community groups.

What is included with the program?
The FRIENDS WHO CARE® curriculum includes a teacher's guide, specially crafted learning activities and hands-on exercises.

What does the program teach?
FRIENDS WHO CARE® teaches children about a wide range of disabilities. Students will learn how to accept their peers with disabilities and include them in everyday activities.

Download the materials
Complete the fields at the right to download the FRIENDS WHO CARE® materials or view short videos of Easter Seals Representatives.