Inclusion starts with a willingness to learn and make mistakes
Creative arts facilitator Tania on how most accommodations don't require additional funds but a commitment to slowing down and being mindful of everyone's needs. Available in English text & audio.
Greetings from a very pleasant Bengaluru!
I’m taking a break, among other reasons, to plan for the future editions of Reframing Disability. Some of you have shared your input by filling out this 5-minute survey. If you haven’t already, now’s the time, so I can include it in my planning.
I’ll be in Pune and would love to meet you on Sunday, 8th June, between 6 pm and 8 pm at The Daily All Day in Koregaon Park. The eatery has wheelchair-accessibility facilitated by my friend Prateek Khandelwal’s organisation, Ramp My City. Do make it to this Reframing Disability meet-up if you’re around.
[Logo ID: Since Substack doesn’t permit alt-text on logos, I’ll describe it here: “On a bright purple background, two white hand illustrations form an open rectangular frame. Inside the frame, the words ‘Reframing Disability’ are written in white text, symbolising a fresh perspective on disability.]
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Recently, I received an email from the NGO, Dream A Dream – which works in the field of education – to register for their flagship event ‘Change the Script’. Among other questions, the registration form had one about access needs. Just a small, intentional change, but one that can make a big difference to people who have access needs. They feel heard, and accommodated, and safe, and welcome!
Today, I’ve dug out a piece by Tania, a trauma-informed mental health practitioner and a creative arts facilitator at Dream a Dream who tells Reframing Disability how her team prepared to make ‘Change the Script’ 2024 inclusive.
I’ve experimented with AI for this edition. Using NotebookLM, I created a podcast based on Tania’s piece. It breaks it down into an easy-to-follow conversation in English, is accurate, and has been approved by Tania! Give it a listen and let me know if it resonates with you. For the deaf and hard of hearing folx, the piece is available below in English text. Would you like more editions translated into this format? Which other formats would you like to see the newsletter in? Hit reply to let me know your thoughts.
Photo courtesy: Dream A Dream
[Image Description: Tania is an Indian woman with long black hair pulled back. She is dressed in a beige saree with ‘kantha’ embroidery and is signing along with Parmeet Singh who is wearing a grey T-shirt. Both have taken the stage and are smiling at the audience at the Change the Script 2024 event. The stage setup includes a banner that says “Change the Script” and a visible drum kit off to the side.]
The journey of making Change the Script Inclusive
By Tania
At Dream a Dream, we have always been skilled at the "art of gathering": creating spaces where everyone feels seen, heard, and empowered to take creative risks in a safe, non-hierarchical environment. We have consistently achieved this by thoughtfully designing the physical space to feel welcoming, incorporating creative check-ins, and utilising various art forms, such as movement, music, art, and theatre. We craft experiences that include pauses and interactive activities, allowing participants to process, share, and exercise their agency. Even small choices, like selecting a colour or choosing a partner for discussion, contribute to this intentional design.
When the journey of hosting Change the Script (CTS) 2024 started, we were very confident about holding the space with the core value of care, supported by our facilitative approach. We began with a two-day residential meeting internally, and called it "Pre-Change the Script". Our agenda was clear: we needed to put our design into practice with our internal team first.
This meant confronting our own stories and changing our scripts about privilege, oppression and power. We recognised that this inner work was crucial for us to effectively hold space at CTS. During these intense discussions, we had a realisation. If we wanted to hear stories from the marginalised sections of society, we needed to ensure their safety wasn't compromised. We also understood that to create a sense of safety and solidarity, we needed more diverse participants. This led us to intentionally curate our guest list, focusing on bringing in voices of people with marginalised identities from historically disadvantaged castes, religious minorities, non-binary genders, socio-economic class, and with visible and invisible disabilities, who hold positions of power or influence, even in small ways.
As we began expanding our guest list, new names emerged, including some d/Deaf and visually impaired individuals—groups we hadn't previously worked with. It wasn't due to a lack of intention but rather because we thought we lacked the necessary expertise.
To be honest, I initially felt nervous. However, as we progressed in designing the event, we clarified our intention: this was not an inclusivity workshop. These individuals are just like all our other guests and we are committed to accommodating them as anyone else. This journey was about "doing differently" than merely "doing more." Instead of viewing this as a hurdle, we saw it as an opportunity to deepen our commitment to inclusion and ensure everyone is included and we are taking everyone along.
The shift began with a mindset change - moving from feeling nervous to confident that we could make it work. This required letting go of any guilt, shame or preconceptions which are often used as reasons to opt out or leave a few behind, and instead approaching it with compassion and a willingness to learn. The team recognised that true inclusion doesn't require reinventing the wheel, but rather a thoughtful adaptation of existing practices to remove barriers.
The questions we began to explore were: How can we sign with deaf participants? How can a visually impaired person engage with art? This is when we started to focus on the intention of ensuring accessible engagement, approaching it with the mindset of "doing differently."
For instance, we thought, “Let’s sign and sing along together.”
“Let’s use clay so that a blind person can experience the art through touch.”
“Let’s all use pronouns to normalise and welcome nonbinary genders.”
“Let’s ensure we have prayer rooms for namaz.”
“Let’s have unisex restrooms.”
“Let’s create an art village with diverse activities and materials like braille board games and tactile painting boards for everyone’s access.”
Our goal was to make everyone feel included. We also acknowledged that we might make mistakes and we accepted that learning from these experiences was part of the process.
The key was shifting from a mindset of "convenience over belonging" to one where making everyone feel genuinely included and able to participate fully took precedence, without highlighting their differences.
We used simple measures such as providing the agenda, a welcome note, notebook titles, and the inclusion guidelines in braille. We asked all participants to download Cardzilla, an app that helps to facilitate communication with deaf attendees by displaying messages in large text.
We also integrated sign language interpretation into the entire event’s agenda, including the activities that were art-based, movement-based, music-based, or had speaking engagements, to help the team seamlessly incorporate accessibility. With the help of Indian Sign Language (ISL) Interpreters we even had a Deaf participant teaching us how to sign the lyrics of a song, as the audience followed along. Rather than treating these accommodations as separate elements, they were embedded into the event’s structure.
In the design phase, we collaborated with ISL interpreters to address the needs of d/Deaf participants. We reviewed each activity, brainstorming potential challenges and exploring ways to include everyone. Our ISL interpreters, Renuka, Saurav and Rajesh were rather excited to support how all the games unfolded particularly, for example, the “anti-name-game”, where each participant went around the room to do a magic handshake with a new person and exchange their identity with them, without speaking, only typing on Cardzilla. With this, we invited everyone to step out of their hearing culture and experience something different.
While planning these activities, we had an important realisation: Making simple adjustments, like describing oneself for blind and low vision persons, didn't require additional funds but rather a commitment to slowing down and being mindful.
By taking the time to slow down, welcome interruptions, remain attentive and adjust based on feedback, we delivered an inclusive experience that maintained the core spirit and design of Change the Script. Investing time in understanding the community's needs—through one-on-one interactions with persons with disabilities, asking questions about what would make their participation easy, conducting research, and sourcing braille games like snakes and ladders, word builder and accessible arts like tactile geometry, braille abacus, was a saviour.
Our interactions with persons with disabilities were heartwarming. They were kind to us, by allowing us to try, make mistakes, and learn. Our confidence was boosted because of their faith in us.
This journey helped us understand that true inclusion is not about doing more, but about doing things differently - with intention, empathy and a willingness to learn and make mistakes. It's about creating spaces where everyone can show up as their authentic selves and contribute in meaningful ways.
Thanks for reading today’s issue. As always, share your thoughts by hitting reply or engaging with me on LinkedIn and Instagram. Reframing Disability has an Instagram account now - follow and engage!
Until soon.
Warmly,
Priti
Thank you, Tania, for taking the initiative to make your event inclusive! I believe taking these steps for accessibility should not be restricted to disability-related topics.
Thank you, Priti, for sharing this piece!
One feedback for the AI-created audio - although it successfully replicated how conversations take place in a podcast, it sounded off. For me, there was no trace of humanity in this audio (which is ironic since it has two AI bots), and that didn't bode well with the spirit of this article.