Karen Quincy Loberg / Star staff Redwood Middle School sixth-grader Brandon Grillet experiences what it's like to use a wheelchair when he takes a spin in a sports model earlier this month. The Thousand Oaks school held an Abilities Awareness program.

Cassie Nunes is not contagious.

The 14-year-old Thousand Oaks student found out she had diabetes seven years ago. Today, she pricks a finger every few hours to test her blood and gets stuck with an insulin needle several times a day.

But kids don't have to tease or be scared of her because of diabetes, which she said is both a disease and a disability.

Cassie decided to say that loud and clear to fellow students at Redwood Middle School during its Abilities Awareness Week program this month. Her school has held the program for seven years. This year, her last at the school, she wanted to make her voice heard.

"I wanted to show that people (with diabetes) can have a normal life," Cassie said.

Schools throughout Ventura County and the rest of the nation hold events, bring in guest speakers and plan lessons to help students learn more about people living with disabilities.

The U.S. Census estimates 51.2 million Americans have some level of disability, including about 4 million children and more than 15,000 students in Ventura County.

Some students with disabilities can feel isolated or are harassed at school, said Donna Richard, program director at The Cromwell Center for Disabilities Awareness, a nonprofit agency based in Maine.

The Cromwell Center has held programs on school campuses for four years and found that getting kids talking about how they view people with disabilities helps break down barriers.

"We want kids to look around and realize ... every family has people with disabilities," Richard said. "We want them to realize it is normal."

Organizers at Redwood share a similar belief that providing students with information about disabilities helps foster understanding and respect.

Seven years ago, the Parent Teacher Student Association started Abilities Awareness Week at the request of a parent of a child with autism who was being teased by other kids.

"I know it has been done at the preschool and elementary level," said PTSA member Shari Ferezy. "But middle school years are difficult under the best of circumstances."

In middle school, many students want to be normal and not stand out, organizers said, and learning about disabilities helps them see fewer differences and more similarities.

Principal Lou Lichtl said the program "is an eye-opener for a lot of students."

This year, Sequoia Middle School in Newbury Park decided to start its own Abilities Awareness Week after seeing Redwood's success.

Karen Kain jumped at the chance to help out with the new program. Her daughter, Lorrin, 14, has severe brain damage and had a difficult time in the sixth grade, her first at Sequoia. Kain said the environment started to change for the better when students got a chance to ask questions and realized Lorrin wasn't that different from them.

This month, Kain helped organize singers, artists and others — all with disabilities — to visit the campus, one of several activities during its Abilities Awareness program. "I believe it really hit home," she said. "My goal is to have all schools have something like this."

Redwood students took part in a host of activities, including meeting a Paralympic athlete, working on an outreach project to benefit a camp for medically fragile children, and going to a lunchtime fair to meet people in the community with disabilities.

Teachers also got involved, including in English language arts classes, where students were asked to write about their experiences.

"I think it's just about people seeing what it's like to have more challenges," said Brett Ferezy, a seventh-grader at Redwood. "It's good because you get to know some of their struggles."