Tag: accessibility

Tips for inclusivity

If you’ve got a kid with special needs, it can be hard to find the right learning experiences and it can require extra work to make them accessible. (image from clker-free-vector-images (pixabay.com))

All Jewish kids deserve to have access to wonderful summer camp experiences. However, if you’ve got a kid with special needs, it can be hard to find the right learning experiences and it can require extra work to make them accessible. Every kid is different, so these tips are only a start, and from just one parent. Here’s to hoping your child has a great experience with Jewish camping, and that you do, too.

Start early. Finding the right situation takes research. For us, the best advice came from the parents of other special needs kids. Every special needs parent I’ve met wants to help others, as well. Taking care of a kid with challenges can be a struggle.

Even if your child isn’t ready for camp now, listen carefully, as advice may make it easier when the time comes. Starting early might mean gathering information years in advance or just signing up early in the new year to get into the summer program that is the best fit for your kid.

Ask for more information. Many camps say they work to meet every kid’s needs, but their program descriptions may not offer details. Contact the camp office to ask how they can meet your specific child’s needs. Be polite and detailed. The camp director should demonstrate professional competence that shows they can rise to any challenges that may occur.

Ask for a tour. If a child has physical disabilities or sensory challenges, for example, the physical environment can make or break the kid’s experience. Some places give lip-service to accessibility but haven’t tested it. Maybe a kid using a wheelchair can’t use the bathroom, or the hiking trails are too rugged for the wheelchair to manage. If a child uses an iPad assistive communication device that requires charging, check that the camp’s got adequate plugs to recharge it.

Walk through the grounds. Imagine your child on a camp day. If your child is open to it, bring the kid along. How will this environment work physically for him or her? Is it truly accessible?

Ask about professional supports. Many camps are staffed with eager but inexperienced young adults. These counselors are often full of energy and great ideas but many have never encountered special needs situations. Does this camp have a professional on staff who works with kids with challenges? Does this person have any training or experience?

In some school environments, even the teachers aren’t expected to have special education training. If it isn’t required at school, it may not be available at camp.

While professionals are essential, sometimes the best support can be an older student or even another parent who has experience with a sibling, child or friend with special needs. If the camp looks like a possibility, see if your child can be paired with an assistant who really knows what she or he is doing. Sometimes, you need to pay extra to get this help.

Good communication is key. A camp that doesn’t respond to questions isn’t likely to work out well. This is particularly true if your child isn’t verbal or can’t advocate for themself. You should feel reassured that, from start to finish, the camp is willing and able to connect with you, let you know about the successes and difficulties each day, and even ask you for advice about your kid.

It doesn’t have to be formal, it can be a few words at pick up and drop off, but communication needs to be good to keep your kid safe.

Ask if you can observe or drop in. If you can see camp in session, with or without your camper present, you may have a much better idea of whether it will work. For instance, a kid who is sensitive to noise may need accommodation to cope with common camp experiences like bunk cheers or song sessions, as these frequently offer an opportunity for over-the-top yelling. You cannot hear that noise unless you are there when the campers and counselors are, too.

Compromise. The best Jewish environment for your child may not be the one you planned on. If your family is traditional but the Reform day camp has the most accessible campus, you might choose that camp. Or, if your local Chabad provides the most supportive environment in terms of counselor/camper ratio, but you’re raising an egalitarian Conservative family, you may need to decide which values are most important. For many, there are the things that their special needs camper must have, and then there are many other compromises along the way. Do what is best for your child. Sort out the theological discrepancies later.

Trust your gut. Sometimes, we don’t have all the information in advance, but we know the people involved and their good relationship with our children. If you feel confident and trust those in charge, that’s a great start. On the other hand, if you get a bad feeling from an interaction, pay attention! Your child is dependent on the adults in charge at camp. If you doubt their ability to meet your kid’s needs, don’t sign up, or take your kid out of the camp.

Your kid (and every kid) is precious. Do your homework. A good camp is more than daycare. It’s powerful enrichment that boosts Jewish identity and enthusiasm for the whole year.

Joanne Seiff has written regularly for CBC Manitoba and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com.

Trying to increase inclusion

Alisa Polsky, left, and Leamore Cohen attended the Jewish Federations of Canada-United Israel Appeal’s Pushing the Boundaries: Disability, Inclusion and Jewish Community conference in Toronto April 15-17. (photo by Liora Kogan)

Jewish Federations of Canada-United Israel Appeal’s Pushing the Boundaries: Disability, Inclusion and Jewish Community conference took place in Toronto April 15-17. It was the first national Jewish conference on these topics, and two representatives of the Jewish Commmunity Centre of Greater Vancouver attended.

Leamore Cohen, inclusion services coordinator at the JCCGV, was a panelist in a discussion on vibrant, inclusive communities and recreation. She was joined at the conference by Alisa Polsky, a member of the Bagel Club, a social group for adults with diverse needs.

“The Bagel Club community is very important for social interaction with other people, and to know there are other opportunities for learning and discovery,” Polsky told the Independent. “I got to discover the Vancouver I didn’t know before.

“The club inspires me to try new things that I’d never tried before. I’ve learned a lot about myself over the years and it has pushed me out of my shell. I’m grateful for this. I’m grateful for all the opportunities the club has provided, like going to Israel with my friends and this conference.”

Polsky has been an active member of the Vancouver Jewish community for years, with volunteering being a value her parents instilled in her as a child. At the time, the educational system had dubbed her “disabled.”

“When I was going to school, I was just pushed through,” said Polsky. “This was elementary school. I didn’t get the education I deserved. I was put into a special needs class. The education system segregated me away from the regular class. The teachers only wanted to work with the ‘normal’ kids.

“I would have liked more schooling. I deserved more schooling. I deserved to be in the classroom with the ‘normal’ kids. This still hurts. I am glad that things have changed, but it’s not enough. Some kids are still segregated today. We have to work together to change that. If not, more kids will feel like I did, which is not fair or right.”

Last year, on the trip to Israel with the Bagel Club, Polsky got to meet Member of Knesset Ilan Gilon, with whom she spoke about the struggles of people with diverse needs in Canada for proper benefit rates.

photo - Alisa Polsky at the Pushing the Boundaries: Disability, Inclusion and Jewish Community conference
Alisa Polsky at the Pushing the Boundaries: Disability, Inclusion and Jewish Community conference. (photo by Liora Kogan)

“When the Pushing the Boundaries conference came up, Leamore asked if I wanted to go,” said Polsky. “She told me that she was speaking with the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver about having someone from our community attend. She said the Federation believed this was very important. It’s important to see how other organizations work with people with all kinds of diverse abilities, and that people with diverse abilities get to be part of the national conversation.”

This was the first conference Polsky had ever attended. She was happy to discover that, while other organizations charge for various activities, including the Pushing the Boundaries conference, the JCCGV and Vancouver Federation take into account the financial barriers many people with diverse needs face, and do not charge for such programs.

“I loved learning more about the youth-led mentoring programs in Israel, Krembo Wings,” said Polsky. “We got to spend time with them when we visited Israel. When I was younger, I never went to programs like that. I did volunteer and helped kids with learning disabilities learn how to swim. Given the chance, I was able to show that we all have something to give. Organizations like Krembo Wings ensure that the next generation will help each other to learn and achieve their potential, no matter who they are.”

Polsky said it is very important to hear from other Jewish groups about what they offer in their communities and what their issues are. In this way, she said, she and others can be stronger self-advocates and more involved in the community.

Maybe most encouraging for Polsky was realizing that she has partners in her goal for equal rights for community participation, and also that Jewish organizations are beginning to work together across Canada to remove barriers.

“I am overcoming these barriers through my membership with the Bagel Club community, with my family, who have been there for me, through volunteering and through my spiritual community,” said Polsky. “I feel it is my time to give back to the community that has given me so much over the years.

“The conference was about the lives of Jewish people with diverse abilities – and they should be at the table. I am proud that I was at the table with Leamore.”

Polsky said there is a lot to be gained from attending gatherings like Pushing the Boundaries. In particular, there is the opportunity to “exchange ideas and share resources,” said Polsky. “It’s also important to understand our history as Jewish people, and as people with diverse needs in this country. I’d like readers to recognize that we’re all partners in making the community better.”

Some conference highlights for Polsky included the synagogue panel on creating inclusive communities and the recreation panel, in which Cohen took part. There were other topics covered, as well.

“As a Jewish woman and a woman with diverse needs, it was hard, but important to learn about the eugenics movement in Canada,” said Polsky. “This movement meant that a woman who had a pregnancy where a child who was mentally or physically challenged would be encouraged to abort the pregnancy. Families were also encouraged to institutionalize their disabled children. And they also forced sterilization.

“We learned about the denationalization movement and the development of community living.

We also learned about integration into schools and housing developments that are currently being built, which are inclusive and accessible, in Ontario.”

Polsky said she is fortunate to be living in a cooperative, and living independently. She noted that some people with diverse needs, who may require semi-independent living, are still segregated in Canada today, due to zoning laws that keep them out of certain neighbourhoods, which she describes as “horrible.”

“Having participated in this conference,” she said, “I can tell other people what I have learned and I can encourage people in my community to vote and to get active in their communities. I can remind politicians how powerful we can be when we work together and that disabilities communities are large and strong, and that we can make a difference in all aspects of community life.”

For more information about the conference, visit jewishcanada.org.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

A fighter for human rights

At a Winnipeg Jets game, Judith Heumann, U.S. special advisor on international disability rights, speaks to hockey fans and draws the winning 50/50 ticket. (photo from Judith Heumann)

The journey of Judith Heumann, U.S. special advisor on international disability rights, is featured in the Canadian Museum of Human Rights’ (CMHR) exhibit Turning Points of Humanity. On Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, Heumann visited CMHR, which is located in Winnipeg, and gave a talk on the disability rights movement.

Heumann is an internationally recognized leader in the disability community and a lifelong civil rights advocate. For more than 30 years, she has worked with various organizations and governments to advance the human rights of people with disabilities.

A daughter of Holocaust survivors and the oldest sibling of three who grew up in Brooklyn, Heumann had polio in 1949, when she was 18 months old. She has used a wheelchair ever since.

“My parents were Jewish German immigrants who came over when they were teens from Germany,” Heumann told the Independent. “During the war, my parents lost both of their parents and other relatives. Being Jewish was a big part of our family life, and also addressing issues around the Holocaust was important.

“My parents didn’t speak that much directly about their experiences. I did find out later that they were doing classes at a junior high, talking about their experiences living in Germany in the ’30s.”

Heumann’s first experience with discrimination due to her disability happened when she was 5 years old. Her mother took her to school and the school principal denied her admission because she used a wheelchair. The city sent a teacher to her house for home schooling for a total of 2.5 hours per week up until halfway through Grade 4.

“In that time period, my parents were looking for opportunities for me to be able to get into school,” she said. “I finally was able to get into school when I was in the middle of the fourth grade, but it was just segregated classes for disabled kids.

“My mother learned to become an advocate over the years. Not just for me, but working with other parents, and she and my dad were very important role models for me.”

It was Heumann’s parents’ advocacy that spurred her onto her own path of advocacy work in different communities in the United States, to start, and then in countries around the world.

photo - Judith Heumann meets with Manitoba’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Kevin Brosseau to discuss issues around persons with disabilities and the challenges they face in traveling
Judith Heumann meets with Manitoba’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Kevin Brosseau to discuss issues around persons with disabilities and the challenges they face in traveling. (photo from Judith Heumann)

At CMHR, Heumann spoke to about 200 people about the types of human rights violations disabled people experience and the need for good and enforced laws. She encouraged Canada to look at having laws similar to the United States’ Disabilities Act.

“This is so that there could be more uniformity in the country as far as construction and non-discrimination,” Heumann explained.

She added, “I know the Trudeau administration is looking at this as a possibility and I think Manitoba and [British Columbia] are also looking at this as provinces.

“I think Canada is doing good work in the area of disability,” she said. “I know people are very hopeful that the Trudeau administration will allow Canada to be more of a player internationally than they have been in the past number of years in the area of disability.”

Heumann has had her share of experiences with the lack of construction standardization in Canada, recalling a time when she was visiting a Holiday Inn on one of her business trips. Heumann’s staff confirmed her reservation and made sure to request a roll-in shower. When she checked in, she made sure the roll-in shower request was noted on paper, yet, when she got to the room, there was no roll-in shower.

“I thought they’d mistakenly put me in the wrong room,” said Heumann. “When I called the front desk, they informed me that they didn’t have any roll-in showers. I was told that although I requested it, they don’t have one. I asked when they were planning on telling me that they don’t have one, then I called the 1-800 Holiday Inn number to express my deep concern, because Holiday Inns in the United States are accessible. It’s one of the hotels that you can make a reservation at and ask for what you need, and they will tell you if they have it or not. The woman on the phone said, ‘Oh no. That’s not possible that you couldn’t get a roll-in shower at a Holiday Inn.’ She asked where I was and I told her Canada, and she said, ‘Oh, Canada.’

“It’s not at all to say that we don’t have all kinds of problems in the United States, too, but the problem in Canada is you don’t have uniformity in your new construction or modifications.”

A similar situation happened at the hotel in which Heumann was staying in Winnipeg. The room was great, except that it had an adjoining room with a door between the two that was too narrow for her wheelchair. Heumann could not get from one room to the other without having to exit and enter through the front doors. She used this as an example during her talk at CMHR.

Also during her stay in Winnipeg, Heumann went to her first hockey game. “I really felt the spirit of people in Manitoba when I gave a very brief response to a question asked by the commentator right before I pulled the ticket for the 50/50,” said Heumann. “He asked me about the State Department and what we were doing in the area of disability. I thought, nobody is going to listen, but when I left and we were going back to the hotel at the end of the game, it was clear people were listening. Some people came over and said they liked what I’d said. I didn’t care if they liked what I said, but I was impressed that they actually listened and took the time to say something. Manitoba was a great experience.”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Inclusive and accessible playgrounds

Equipment like the Roller Table can help children develop their upper body muscles. (photo by Deborah Rubin Fields)

Not all playground equipment is created equal. Some equipment is accessible while some is not. Certain equipment is accessible to young wheelchair users, yet cannot be labeled inclusive play apparatus. However, some playground items are both accessible and inclusive and, notably, provide wheelchair-bound children with opportunities for either muscle toning and/or creative play.

Landscape Structures has designed a number of accessible and inclusive pieces of playground equipment. Take, for example, the new ZipKrooz. This is a scaled-down version of the popular adult zip line. The young passenger sits in a hard, high-back seat, secured with a harness. For safety, the chair runs fairly close to the ground. Gravity propels the child across the line. Close to the end of the line, the chair rocks back toward the centre before coming to a stop. The launching action is repeated, as many times as desired. A child using a wheelchair might need help from a grown escort to assist with the transfer to and from the wheelchair to the zip seat, to position the child at the beginning of the line, and to gently push the back of the chair to launch the occupant.

The Play Booster Sway Fun Glider is a roomy, communal “landed” boat that artificially creates wave motion. The “sailors” can either rock the boat from their seated positions or assistants can stand outside the bow or stern, swaying the boat. Wheelchair access is provided via a pull-down ramp. Sitting around a bolted-down table, two wheelchair-using youngsters may join in imagery play with other passengers. Wheelchairs are apparently not locked down; instead, wheelchair users either stabilize themselves with their chair’s brakes and with the table’s hand holds or have their attendants sit behind them, holding the chair’s back hand grips.

The next three play lot items not only promote inclusion and accessibility, but also muscle strengthening. The Accessible Stationary Cycler, the Accessible Power Lifter chinning bar and the Roller Table, for example, help children develop the muscles in their upper body – in their arms, upper back, neck and/or chest. Each apparatus is built low enough so that children using wheelchair mobility (and who have use of their arms and hands) can either reach up to raise themselves out of their chairs or sit in their chairs to comfortably play.

The following two pieces of equipment provide for inclusion and accessibility while focusing on creative enterprise.

Landscape Structures manufactures what it calls an Elevated Sand Table. This raised sandbox allows juvenile wheelchair users (who have use of their arms and hands) to build sandcastles from their chairs. From a standing position, children without physical disabilities play alongside.

The Chimes Reach Panel lets wheelchair users and non-physically challenged children to literally play harmoniously. They may make music together by ringing a row of chimes.

On the other side of the accessibility spectrum (and geographically on the other side of the world), there is the Australian-made Liberty Swing. With its design to accommodate most wheelchairs, this swing is apparently a big hit in Australia, yet this equipment sometimes stands off to the side of the other playground equipment, fenced off and under lock and key.

Admittedly, vandalism and theft are problems playground officials face worldwide. But this reality means that while the swing is accessible to children who use wheelchair mobility, it is not necessarily mainstream integrated.

Play is necessary for a child’s physical and mental development. In the Western world, playing with one’s peers, regardless of one’s physical or mental ability, has been deemed a child’s right. Overall, the surveyed play items show significant progress has been made in fulfilling this objective. Physical and occupational therapists who work with children would do well to encourage their young clients and their families to make use of such equipment, and to try and make playgrounds everywhere as accessible and inclusive as possible.

Deborah Rubin Fields is an Israel-based features writer. She is also the author of Take a Peek Inside: A Child’s Guide to Radiology Exams, published in English, Hebrew and Arabic (take-a-peek-inside.com).