Inclusion By Bandaids or By Design

So I’ve done a fair amount of work on inclusion. I’m the former director of Yad B’Yad, and – as someone with disabilities – I’ve faced my own struggles.

This doesn’t, in fact, earn you a gold star: it’s exactly the bare minimum that you should be doing.

So what does inclusion look like?

How can I be inclusive?

The first step to being inclusive is – and this may sound so obvious it’s painful – including people…including people who require accommodations as part of your planning process, including the things they tell you in your meeting minutes (even if they’re going to be ‘difficult’ for you to fund, or to ‘incorporate’ into your program), and it means understanding that people who require accommodations are experts on themselves, their lives, and their needs.

But funding is an issue, and we don’t have any Deaf people coming, and why on Earth would we pay for interpreters if there aren’t any Deaf people coming?

Sometimes you have to put the cart before the horse, and let the horse push (rather than pull) the cart for a bit. If your agency/event/venue has – traditionally – been non-inclusive, then you can’t very well expect people who require acommodations to just start showing up…you have to give them a reason to attend outside of you…you have to make it a bit about them. Show that your space is friendly to those with visual impairments, show that you have ASL interpreters on stage and not shoved off to the side, in a poorly lit area, where no one can see them. Make sure that you have quiet spaces where folks who are overwhelmed or who need a moment to regroup themselves can go away from the blaring noise of the DJ/Emcee/Main Event (side note: those brestfeeding will thank you as well).

You can’t expect someone who uses a wheelchair/other mobility device to come first before you build ramps and put in elevators.

Dungeons & Dreidels is my new pet project.