BOONE GROVE | At stations around the Boone Grove Elementary School gym Wednesday, students struggled with limitations as part of disability awareness week.

At one table, students tried to eat applesauce using utensils adapted for users with various muscle problems.

"It gets tiring," one student said.

At another station that simulated the difficulty of dressing with disabilities, students used various tools to help them button buttons and pull on socks.

Fifth-grader Roland Brogdon tried a turn in a wheelchair.

"I got really confused," he said. Trying to imagine a life in a wheelchair, Roland said: "That would kind of stink."

Jessica Hall wrote her name on a sheet on the wall with a weight around her wrist to simulate a muscular impairment. She said it would be hard to have such a disability.

"I probably wouldn't be able to write as much, and it would probably be really, really hard," the fifth-grader said. "People with disabilities like this, it's not really easy for them."

Katie Marek, 11, hobbled along with a walker, keeping one "disabled" leg up.

"It's a lot harder than it looks," she said.

Katie said she could relate because of her late grandmother's experience.

"She was no different just because she was in a wheelchair. She was like any grandma. She was really nice."

The activities gave students a glimpse of what life is like for disabled people, occupational therapist Karen Cadle said.

Lori Jones, a mother at the school who used to teach deaf children, visited classrooms to give lessons in American Sign Language.

The day's goal, Principal Carol Smith said, is to increase students' understanding of what those with disabilities go through. One way to achieve that, she said, is for them to experience such difficulties firsthand.

"We want our students to be tolerant and respectful and compassionate towards people with disabilities," Smith said.