PROGRAMME

workshop

Introduction

Is your cultural organization brainstorming ways to engage more inclusive practices for visitors with disabilities, but you’re not sure where to begin? Your speaker will start with the basics to put disability into context, and identify different barriers people with disabilities can face in cultural organizations. Learn best practices that you can adapt to welcome guests with different disabilities in a variety of performance or exhibition experiences. Explore some myths about accessibility, talk about our responsibility as cultural administrators and hosts, discuss options and resources for disability inclusion, and share affordable next steps that organizations can take in accessibility practices. Hands-on activities will be included in this session.

Outline:

I. Definition of disability / brief disability rights history in the U.S.
II. Explore medical and social models of disability
III. Explore different disability types. Define these different disability categories, look at incidence within the population, and explore accommodations and etiquette in cultural organizations, including videos (with sound):
a. People with physical disabilities
b. People who are Deaf or hard of hearing
c. People who are blind or have low vision
d. brief verbal description exercise
e. People who have cognitive disabilities, including those who have memory loss
f. People who have sensory differences, including those on the autism spectrum
g. People who have psychiatric disabilities
h. People with multiple disabilities/aging
IV. Discuss general accommodation etiquette and customer service recommendations *brief cultural access scenario exercise
V. Discuss advice for getting started with access efforts, sharing about Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium (CCAC) model *brief access resolution sharing