How can you make your program inclusive for people with disabilities?

In my experience planning to run inclusive programmes can become complicated fast. Some planning is neccessary, such as health and safety. But you cannot predict needs of every person of super-ability that turns up. Sometimes “Unplanning” is the easiest, least stressful and most successful way. Plan your programme resources. Plan an accessible space. Plan a few options of levels of tasks that can be completed in the time allocated. Mostly plan to have enough knowledgable patient people with smiles on their faces around to assist those who find they need it. Then as attendees arrive, talk and listen to every one the same, give them the tasks and let them choose how to achieve their goals for attending and how you can assist them.

When program managers think about their program in terms of universal access to all components, they ensure that the programs is an inclusive and impactful as possible. Most disabilities are invisible and that means your understanding of barriers go beyond the visible. Only thinking about barriers in terms of physical accessibility (ramps, sign language interpreters, braille, etc) means you are only looking to include only the people with disabilities that you can see. People with invisible disabilities should not have to disclose to ensure they are included. You can learn about accidental barriers you've created by ensuring a diversity of disabilities in your stakeholder group. Which help to ensure your program is set up for success.

Helping leaders find the inaccessible areas of their workplace or their product is a worthy endeavor. Making sure you do it in a way that is collaborative is key. People tend to become defensive first, even if you approach them with the best of intentions. They want to make their workplace and lives more assessable; yet may approach it with fear and shame, when they learn how in-assessable their workplace or program is. I agree with all the comments here. Be more open to unseen disabilities that need to be accommodated. It is important to remain focused on active listening. It will help you clearly identify the issues and collaboratively next steps you can take to change the present and be more adaptable in the future.

Universal infrastructure must be thought as default setting. It requires mainstreaming notion whenever the facilities are created for all.

Persons with disabilities are a resource, when they are meaningfully involved they give insights through out the entire project cycle. Budget for inclusion related activities like provising reasonable accomodation needs during trainings among others should be part of budgeting from the word go and not an after thought.

"Reasonable Accommodations" is a tricky term. It means the lowest level of inclusion has been achieved because it is required by law. To ensure your program is more inclusive, remove the legal language of reasonable accommodations and simply ask "what do you need to get maximum value from our program?". And then do whatever is reasonable for your resources and communicate the decisions made clearly. Never assume that you know better than the person with a disability as to what they need to be able to fully benefit from your program, always ask them what they need. There is nothing wrong with listing the efforts you have made to accommodate, but keep an open mind that you may not have taken every barrier possible.

Examining the understanding of the role and work is necessary. As well as looking at how we use language - reasonable accommodations can mean many things to various people. Who is to say what is reasonable. Instead, Make intention accommodations to support the individual(s) with the disability. No one accommodation is going to help the entirety of the disability community. Accommodations need to be made with intention and individuality for the unique environment and situation in which work, communication, and life happens.

A culture of inclusion is a journey, not a destination. Always striving to be more inclusive is a noble pursuit. your programs should demonstrate inclusive principles but do not be disappointed if someone points out ways to be more inclusive. They are just trying to help you achieve the goals of your program. It isn't personal.

Ensure that your program evaluation and monitoring is inclusive of asking everyone their experience and feedback, not just asking those with disclosed disabilities. Know that, in the beginning, people with disabilities are not likely to disclose their disability, but their opinions and feedback is still valuable. Be creative. Instead of asking "do you have a disability?" (and weighing their feedback with that lens) ask questions like "Do you think our program is accessible? What can we do better to create a positive impact on people disabilities". Of course, you can offer them a chance to identify as a person with a disability, but don't heavily consider that a true reflection of how many people with disabilities are in your program.

Being an Army veteran the first thing I was trained to do was evaluate. Prior preparation prevents poor performance. Know your target and individualise your feed back to get the maximum of your resource invested. Of course there is adapt, improvise and overcome which is crucial to tweaking the system.

Remember that inclusion is a journey, not a destination, you can always improve! Encourage innovative ways to aim for equity not equality. Each person with a disability has unique skills, characteristics, needs and opinions.

I treat every student individually and cater to their individual needs. I give everyone space to talk freely and always have an open ear. When someone addresses a disability, I make sure to inform them of all the services available to support them and follow up to see if the issues are addressed.

Develope the right attitude. Inclusion comes from the heart It is the mindset. The mind of a fool is the devil’s workshop. People may have the resources, the knowledge and everything but bad attitude! When programming, first assess your attitude towards Inclusion. Many people who have the right attitude will always create an inclusive program. They always reflect and think about Inclusion in their work Where there's a wil there's a way. Inculcate in you the positive attitude and all things move up!