Inclusive Programming
Pathways for Implementation
There are many evidence-based practices to help you develop and implement inclusive programming with your municipality. They are divided into these four interrelated groups:
Assessing and Building Capacity
This section explains how to evaluate your department’s ability to offer inclusive recreation by identifying key staff, understanding resource needs, and addressing barriers to participation. This includes strategies for recruitment, training, and ensuring facilities and programs are accessible to all participants.
Involving Key Parties in Program Development
Here, you will learn how to engage persons with disabilities and their caregivers in shaping programs that meet their needs and preferences. This includes consulting with them about interests, accommodations, and communication methods, as well as ensuring their involvement throughout the process, from planning to evaluation.
Program Mix and Logistics
This section covers the aspects to consider in creating affordable, consistent, and accessible programs, such as costs, scheduling, equipment, and transportation. This includes designing inclusive programs that meet community needs and providing support for all participants.
Program Implementation
This section provides information for implementing a culture of inclusion in the delivery of programs.
Assessing and Building Capacity
General Practices
- Identify an inclusive recreation champion within the recreation department to align community needs with municipal plans.
- Planning programs should prioritize the needs of participants, using feedback and community input to guide development. Emphasize universal design to ensure all levels of participation are considered.
- Evaluate past programs to identify and address barriers to participation.
- Conduct an accessibility audit of facilities. Refer to Appendix B — Accessibility Audits for additional resources.
- Identify budgetary requirements for program logistics and human resources.
Staff Recruitment and Capacity-Building
- Hire instructors/staff with certification and or experience related to disability.
- Partner with colleges and universities to hire professional staff.
- Team up and meet regularly with other nearby municipalities to share resources for inclusive recreation.
- Connect with community groups, disability organizations, or other recreation departments.
Different Roles for Inclusive Programming
- Inclusion Facilitators
- Inclusion facilitators play a crucial role in providing individualized support to neurodivergent individuals in recreation settings. They should be sympathetic, patient, and friendly. They should have a background or expertise in the specific activity, such as a fitness background for exercise programs or an art degree for art programs. They should be able to adjust their communication style to meet the needs of each participant and have strong advocacy skills.
- Instructors (staff or volunteers)
- Instructors should offer praise for the effort exerted by participants. They need to be able to adapt skill levels and provide alternatives to achieve results. It is best that they have experience working with persons with disabilities and/or certifications relating to adapted recreation. They should recognize class and program dynamics and provide help if needed.
- Others
- Individuals, such as day camp staff and coaches, who interact directly with participants, play a vital role in creating a welcoming and inclusive environment. They should be kind, approachable, and friendly, making participants feel comfortable and supported. They should be informed about participants’ disabilities and understand how each individual prefers to communicate. They should respect participants’ space and choices, recognizing that silence can be a form of communication indicating a lack of understanding, comfort, or interest. Finally, they should learn about participants’ likes and interests to tailor activities that engage them.
Training for Inclusive Programming
- Teach staff, volunteers, and instructors how to build strong communication skills within a group. This includes showing others how to interact with people who use nonverbal communication. This can be done in clear ways, such as teaching them how to use tools or devices that help with communication, or through indirect methods, such as demonstrating helpful behaviours for others to follow.
- Ask community groups and organizations that support people with disabilities to come and share ideas on how to interact and help with your program staff. Make sure to thank them properly for their time and the valuable information they share by giving them fair compensation.
- When people with disabilities are asked to help with a project, such as contributing to staff training, it’s important to offer them something in return for their time and expertise. The compensation should be fair based on how much they are involved. It can be money or something else, such as gift cards or a letter saying they did a great job. It’s also important to ask them what kind of compensation they would prefer.
- When people with disabilities are asked to help with a project, such as contributing to staff training, they should not have to pay any costs For example, if there are meetings during mealtimes, food should be provided. If they need to travel to participate, they should be given help with transportation costs.
- Make sure that staff and volunteers have regular talks with senior staff before, during, and after each program session.
- Encourage positive social interactions and behaviours among all participants, whether they have disabilities or not. This should happen during planned activities, free time, and when moving from one activity to another.
- For exercise programs, training should cover how to adapt common exercises, what to expect when working with persons with disabilities, and disability awareness.
- Other training topics:
- Motivating Persons with Disabilities
- Assisting Persons With Disabilities When Necessary
- Communicating With Persons With Disabilities
- Providing Accommodations
- Fostering Social Responsibility
- Personal Care, Lifts, and Transfers
- Managing and Supporting Difficult Situations
Involving Key Parties in Program Development
Designing Programs
- Ask people with disabilities who use your facility about their interests, what’s missing, and what they need.
- Make sure your programs meet what the community wants and needs. For example, offer programs that are just for people with disabilities or ones that include everyone. You might even offer both types of programs.
- Allow participants to bring their own caregivers or support workers into programs without charging them extra. Make sure to mention this in your promotional materials so everyone knows.
Preparing for Participants’ Needs
- Ask participants and their caregivers about their interests, skills, and what they need to participate. This includes things such as transportation schedules, special equipment, accommodations, and advice on how to keep them engaged.
- Offer different ways for participants and caregivers to share their needs, such as phone calls, emails, online forms, or paper questionnaires.
- Before a program starts, make sure staff, volunteers, and support workers know about the participants’ needs and interests.
- Invite participants and their caregivers to visit the facility before the program starts.
- Create guides, videos, and social stories about the facility to help participants know what to expect.
- Arrange a meet-and-greet with staff before the program starts.
Building Relationships with Caregivers of Enrolled Participants
- Make sure staff and volunteers have time to meet and greet caregivers before programs start and check in with them afterwards.
Evaluation and Feedback
- Here’s how you can get feedback from participants and their caregivers during a program:
- Make It Easy to Share Thoughts
- Create a suggestion box where people can leave anonymous notes.
- Send out online surveys to parents and caregivers at the end of each program.
- Form an Advisory Team
- Start with a casual group that can grow into a more formal committee. You could use an existing committee, like a youth advisory committee for kids and teens.
- Have regular meetings or direct contact with managers to hear and act on feedback from these committees.
- Make It Easy to Share Thoughts
- When possible, give caregivers the option to watch the programs. As they get to know and trust the program and staff, they might not need to observe as much anymore.
- Consider hiring an outside organization to look at your programs and find areas that need improvement.
- Think about gathering feedback from staff about their safety and wellbeing after they finish a program. Ask them to share both good and bad experiences.
Program Mix and Logistics
Affordability
- Consider offering affordable programs with options like these:
- Flexible Payment Plans (let participants pay in installments before the program starts)
- Free Trials
- Subsidized Activities
- Finding Extra Funding (grants or other sources)
- Sliding Fee Scale
- Family Discounts (running programs for parents and kids at the same time). When checking participants’ income, you can use different methods. Some ways include looking at their financial documents, or you can trust them to be honest about their situation.
- Try to partner with other groups to share resources and costs.
- Work with other organizations or public bodies to reduce costs. For example, you can share equipment or provide training together.
- Offer flexible membership plans that let people pause or freeze their subscriptions if they need to.
- Instead of hiring full-time staff, recruit high school students for volunteer hours or students from colleges and universities who want to gain experience.
- You might need to limit the number of programs you offer. To decide which ones to keep, ask the community and regular participants for their input. This way, you can prioritize the programs that are most important to them.
Consistency
- When possible, run programs at the same time on the same days and during the same seasons.
- Try to have the same staff members and volunteers work on the same programs regularly.
Adapted Equipment
- Consider teaming up with rehabilitation or occupational therapists to figure out what equipment participants need.
- Determine what equipment is necessary for different activities, such as swimming or sports camps.
- Create a list of all the equipment you have.
- Partner with organizations that support people with disabilities or apply for funding to get adaptive equipment.
Mix of Program Offerings
- Provide programs that include both people with disabilities and those without, as well as programs just for people with disabilities. Consider the different types of disabilities (such as physical, sensory, or neurodivergence) and what your community needs and prefers. You might offer both integrated programs (where everyone participates together) and segregated programs (where people with similar needs are together).
- If possible, offer a range of programs such as arts, sports, and more. For example, an art program could include drawing, painting, and collaging, while a sports camp might include baseball, wheelchair basketball, and competitions. Make sure to have a mix of programs that teach skills, build abilities, and encourage socializing.
- Invite people with disabilities to help design materials such as program descriptions online or newsletters. Ensure these materials show a diverse group of participants, including those with disabilities and other underrepresented groups.
- Instead of just grouping by age, offer program levels based on skill or ability.
- Plan programs around what the community needs, such as making sure transportation is accessible. Consider things like bus schedules to help people get to programs easily.
- Refer to the inclusion spectrum, which factors in the composition of the group, the environment, the nature of the activity, the available equipment, and the number of coaches’ and/or trained staff present, when developing your program offerings.
- Design programs so everyone can participate together. Give participants the freedom to make choices and be part of activities that are meant for everyone.
- Here’s how you can develop a strong policy to support people in your programs:
- Allowing Personal Support Persons: Let participants bring their own support people to programs without charging them extra. Also, make sure these support people are welcome to attend programs with the participants.
- Fair Allocation of Support Staff: Create a fair and accessible way to decide who gets one-on-one support staff, based on what participants need.
- Ensuring Support is Available: Make sure one-on-one support is available for programs when participants need it.
Accessible Transportation
- Schedule programs so they fit with what the community needs, such as making sure transportation is accessible.
- Create or find safe and comfortable places for picking up and dropping off participants.
- If possible, arrange for accessible transportation for participants. This could mean setting up carpool services, using accessible buses, or offering a transportation subsidy.
- Make sure participants can bring their adapted recreation equipment with them when using public or special transportation.
- When planning programs and setting fees, think about the cost of accessible transportation.
Other Practices
- Depending on the program, consider having a special area where participants can relax and calm down.
- Recognize how important it is for staff, such as recreation directors, to have mentors who can guide them, provide resources, and help them grow in their roles.
- Create a detailed policy that promotes inclusion and doesn’t tolerate discrimination. Make sure this policy is easy for the public to access.
- If possible, plan for extra staffing support, like having one staff member for every participant or a low staff-to-participant ratio, when budgeting for staff.
- Set up a way for staff and volunteers to share what they learn from each program session. This could be through meetings after each session or a shared board in the staff room.
Developing and Implementing Programs for On-the-Ground Staff
Inclusive recreational programs are essential for fostering a sense of community and ensuring everyone can participate, regardless of their abilities. Here are some practices to help program managers, instructors, and staff create high-quality, inclusive programs:
Support Interactions Between Participants
- Unstructured Play Time
- When kids have free time to play, set some fun expectations to encourage everyone to join in. For example, you might say, “Try to move around and play with a friend,” or “Play a game you’ve never tried before or play with someone new.”
- After playtime, gather everyone together to talk about what happened. Ask questions like, “Who played with someone new today?” and have them raise their hands.
- Encourage staff to participate in playtime too. They can either join in fully or help make sure everyone is having a good time by facilitating activities.
General Practices
- Staff and volunteers play a big role in helping participants become friends, especially kids. They can invite people to join activities together, ask for help from each other, and encourage teamwork.
- If you’re doing art projects, place supplies in the middle of round tables. This helps people share and interact.
- Use round tables instead of square or rectangular ones. This makes it easier for anyone to join in.
- Keep extra art materials in open cabinets so everyone can explore and use them freely.
- Plan activities that require participants to work together to solve problems.
- For participants who might be neurodivergent, remember that some might take time to open up or prefer not to make friends. Always respect their choices.
- Create a culture where everyone feels included and encouraged to participate. Think about things in the environment that might make people feel left out, like strong smells or too much noise. Try to fix these issues so everyone can feel comfortable and join in.
Be Flexible
- Keep activities exciting by changing things up, such as adding new equipment or changing the rules. If participants seem bored, consider moving on to a different activity.
- Create activities that are tailored to each person’s abilities and strengths. Offer different levels of activities, such as beginner, advanced, group, or individual, so everyone can find something that suits them.
- When providing accommodations or leading activities, meet participants where they are.
- Ask participants what they are interested in and use their feedback to make activities more enjoyable. Take notes on their suggestions so you can use them for future activities.
Provide Structure
- Try to keep a similar routine for each program session based on participants’ needs and preferences. For example, you might end each session with a group cheer, some yoga, or mindfulness exercises. Keeping the same pairings between volunteers and participants can also be helpful, especially for some neurodivergent participants.
- Include time for informal socializing, like open play or special gatherings.
- Use activities that focus on the process, not just the result. For example, art projects where there’s no “right” way to create something.
- Give all participants a chance to take on leadership roles, such as being the timekeeper, snack helper, or first aid assistant.
- Let participants choose between different activities.
- Allow participants to help design activities with their peers and staff.
- Organize games where participants work together, like staff vs. participants. These games can be especially helpful for some neurodivergent participants.
- Let participants help create the rules for the program. Use a display with words and pictures to remind everyone of these expectations. This helps new participants learn the rules and feel welcome.
Set Goals
- Help participants set goals that are just right for them—goals they can achieve often.
- Encourage participants to push themselves a bit to reach their goals. Celebrate and praise every achievement, no matter how small it might seem.
- As participants get better, help them adjust their goals or create new ones. Encourage them to try new things and step out of their comfort zone.
Other Practices
- Give staff detailed information about each participant’s abilities and any special considerations they might need. This helps staff know how to best support them, without needing to know their diagnosis.
- Use positive reinforcement by giving participants lots of different kinds of feedback when they succeed or try hard. Encourage them to keep going even when things get tough and be proud of what they achieve.
- Listen to and respect what participants think and feel. Make sure they know their opinions matter.
- Allow participants with disabilities to bring a sibling or friend to programs.