The Kids on the Block is a troupe of disabled and non disabled puppets who look like real kids, dress in real kids’ clothes, and like real kids, have real problems they tackle every day. Mark Riley has cerebal palsy, Joanne Spinoza is a fourteen-year old with a complexion problem, Nam is a Vietnamese eleven-year-old who plays soccer, and Brian has epilepsy. They and their friends form the core of an exciting, effective educational program about disability and being different. 

United States public Law 94-142, often called the “Mainstreaming Law,” requires that handicapped children, to the greatest extent possible, are educated side by side with non handicapped children, sharing classrooms, facilities, and experiences. Such “mainstreaming” is bound to raise a unique set of problems and questions from both disabled and non disabled children, and that’s where the Kids on the Block fit in. The remarkable nature of the Kids on the Block opens avenues of honesty and communication. Children ask the puppets questions about disabilities they might otherwise hesitate to raise.