1. Ask for or Request your Accommodations. 
This may be the most important thing I talk about in this blog. In public schools, students receive accommodations through a 504 plan or an IEP. For parents whose students still have a 504 plan or an IEP, now is the time to review those plans before the school year begins. In higher learning, universities and community colleges have an ADA office where students set up a meeting and accommodations are given to students. This meeting should be set up a few weeks before the semester starts. Students with disabilities at my community college are responsible for filling out a form with the ADA office every semester to receive accommodations that are on file. At my community college, students are then responsible for giving professors the letter of accommodation on the first day of class. However, due to coronavirus my ADA office has been emailing letters to professors and copying students on the email.  

​2. Routine, Routine, Routine.
With all the changes due to coronavirus, it is important to have a routine. Some schools are teaching executively online while others are using a hybrid model where students are coming in only on certain days. It doesn't have to be a strict one or where every second of the day is scheduled. Important things to include in a routine: wake time and bedtime, mealtimes (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks), work and/or school, homework, hygiene (showering, brushing teeth, etc.), and chores. Not all of these elements need to be included as everyone's needs are different. If your into technology, putting events into a calendar on your phone is a good idea. There are hundreds of apps that have a calendar function in them as well as scheduling apps for people with disabilities. There is also an app called Tiimo specifically designed for people with disabilities to help with schedules. It can be used across multiple devices. More information can be found here: Tiimo website. Choiceworks is another great app used for scheduling for people with disabilities. Choiceworks allows you to create an unlimited amount of schedules. There is a waiting board for people with disabilities to practice waiting skills. It also includes feelings boards and feelings scales. The user is allow to choose an emotion they are feeling and two coping strategies are shown to pick from. More information can be found here: Choiceworks in the App Store.

3.  Get Organized. 
This will vary person to person depending on your needs. Some might need a planner or a checklist. Others might need color coded binders, notebooks, and folders. Some might need a tidy desk space. There are also many apps out there that can function as a planner or to help you plan out your assignments. An app I use to help plan out assignments is iStudiez Pro. iStudiez Pro allows you to create multiple types of schedules, input professor's contact information and office hours, keep track of assignments and tests, calendar integration with third party calendar events, export your schedule to share it with others, and to keep track of your grades and GPA. More information can be found here: iStudiez Pro in the App Store.  

​4. Get Connected. 
​In this time of coronavirus, it's very easy to get lonely. If you're in high school, look into your school clubs. If none interest you consider starting your own. If you are in higher learning, get connected with your school's student life office. They usually have a list of events scheduled throughout the semester. Student life offices are open to student ideas or starting a club of your own. If you are working, look into your local parks and rec. Many community support groups are now online, including Barrier-Free's monthly Zoom Social Clubs!  These social clubs are free to attend and provide opportunities to meet people from all over the world who share some of the struggles you do. Facebook groups, Facebook events, non-profit organizations, and disability are great places to look for social events. 


This is an all inclusive resource. It includes visuals, posters, lesson plans, videos, social stories/narratives, sequences, and communication boards with all things needed to know about coronavirus. 
https://www.smore.com/udqm2-covid-19-preparedness?fbclid=IwAR210UyxysPjKZ73gwpsJ2SI-BWtDwwSZHG3nTR--ARQGSsLu8Q8kfTWg30

"The 30 anniversary of the signing of the American with Disabilities Act was a few days ago, July 26th, 2020. The ADA was signed July 26, 1990. The ADA put simply is a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. The ADA includes those with physical and mental disabilities. It requires reasonable accommodations be provided to those employees with disabilities as well as accessibility to public places. The ADA is often referred to as “ The Emancipation of the Disabled.”

Crip Camp is a documentary film about Camp Jened, a camp where non disabled and disabled people came together in a care free environment. The film shows the perspectives of people with lived disabled experiences. “Crip Camp” also shows disability history in the way our disability ancestors fought for disability rights like they did for civil rights. Many people with and without disabilities are unaware of disability history. People with disabilities are often discriminated against, unable to access public places, and isolated from others. This happened both in history and now.

"Ugly Laws" and State Institutions 
Many cities passed "ugly laws" which made it illegal for any person diseased, mutilated , or disfigured were not allowed to show themselves in the public view. Many people with disabilities were institutionalized because their family was embarrassed of them and/or couldn't take care of them. These institutions were state run, had large barbed wire fences, and were forgotten about in society. 

Passage of the Civil Rights Act 
The passage of the civil rights act laid the groundwork for disability rights legislation. 

Center for Independence Living 
The first Center for Independent Living is formed in Berkley, California in 1972. It is the first center to be recognized for independent living. 

Passage of the Rehabilitation Act 
In 1973, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was passed. The law states, “No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States, shall solely by reason of his handicap, be subject to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” This law was intended to prohibit discrimination in federally funded programs and services. 
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Passage of Education for All Handicapped Act 
In 1975, the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Act permitted disabled children to be integrated into the public school environment. This act was later renamed into Individuals with Disabilities Act or IDEA. In the same year, the supreme court ruled  that people could not be held against their will, or placed in a psychiatric hospital institution, unless they are proven to be a threat to themselves or to others. In the court case named O’Connor v. Donaldson. 

Section 504 Sit-ins
In 1977, protesters and disability activists in ten cities demonstrations and occupants of the federal department of Health Education and Welfare or HEW to force the Carter Administration to issue regulations to implement Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The longest demonstration was held in San Francisco, California it lasted a month long. On April 28, 1977, HEW secretary Joseph Califano signed the regulation. 
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Passage of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act 
In 1980, congress passes the civil rights of Institutionalized Persons Act which allows the justice department to file suit if a person institutionalized rights were violated. ​

Crip Crawl
The Capitol Crawl or Crip Crawl was a protest of more than 1,000 disabled people who crawled up the Capitol steps. Jennifer Keelan, an eight year old with cerebral palsy said " I'll take all night if I have to." The Capital Crawl gained much attention and political pressure. This lead Congress passed the ADA within four months and George H.W. Bush signed the ADA into law July 26, 1990. 

​Why is it important to know disability history? 
I think it's important to raise awareness around these events in history because not many people with or without disabilities have knowledge of what happened. Also, if we as people with disabilities don't understand our history we are bound to repeat it. 
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Now and Moving Forward

• The United States still houses people with disabilities in institutions like nursing homes, group homes, and prisons. These places have been deeply impacted due to COVID and is a way to still warehouse people with disabilities.
• The United States needs to ratify the international treaty of the convention for people with disabilities also known as CRPD. The National Council on Disability states, “[t]he CRPD is a vital framework for creating legislation and policies around the works that embraces the rights and dignity of all people with disabilities.” 
• Kids with disabilities are still discriminated against and segregated from other students. If you go into any middle school or high school, you are likely to find students with disabilities being taught in a separate classroom away from students their own age. This sets students up to have difficulties with neurotypical children. Schools are good at early intervention for kids with disabilities. Schools lack preparing students with disabilities, especially those in the mainstream preparing them for going to college and obtaining a job.
• Obtaining serves such as Medicaid and Social Security Income should be easier to obtain. People with disabilities are on waiting lists for a long time to obtain these services. People with disabilities have to fight the system if they are denied. People with disabilities may have to hire advocates or lawyers to help them fight the system.
• Please go out and vote for people in power who support issues that are important to you. The Arc put out a resource for people with disabilities to educate them on the election. This resource can be found here: http://thearc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Policy_Issues_Fact_Sheet_ENGLISH.pdf

​I strongly encourage anyone who is interested in this topic to go watch Crip Camp on Netflix. It is well worth the time you put in to watch it. The video below covers much of the history discussed in this blog. This documentary was created by a student in high school and has won awards.

On July 25, 2020, Barrier-Free joined forces with Blue Apple Theatre to share a co-presented "hands across the ocean" workshop.  Blue Apple Theatre is a non-profit company in the UK that "produces high-quality theatre, dance and film to challenge prejudice and transform the lives of people with a learning disability."

Similar to Barrier-Free, Blue Apple's programming has been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 health crisis in our world.  These shutdowns didn't stop Blue Apple Theatre's artistic director, Richard Conlon, from getting creative and seeking new opportunities for his actors.  Richard began contacting inclusive theater companies from around the world, and in his research he found Barrier-Free!  Richard, Britt, and Lauren began communicating via email and set-up a Zoom meeting to lay the groundwork for co-presented theatre workshop. ​

​Once the date was set, we needed actors to share in this incredible opportunity.  Christopher Anderson, Michael Eaton, Nicole Hurley, Jenny Laatsch, Jared Parrish, and Jen Shillingburg jumped onboard.  These  Barrier-Free stars committed to two workshop rehearsals, prepared costumes, practiced lines, and more!  

On the big day, we spent a fantastic 75 minutes with Blue Apple Theatre, learning about their company, sharing in some of their favorite warm-ups, and hearing speeches and scenes that ranged from Shakespeare to Charles Dickens.  Barrier-Free had the opportunity to share our story, inclusive theater process, warm-ups, actor insights, and a modified scene from Cosmic Crime!  

We are thankful to Blue Apple Theatre's talented actors for sharing a creative space with us.  Using virtual tools, we were able to break down distance barriers and accomplish what may have felt "impossible" just a few months ago.  We now have friends and inclusive theater connections across the ocean!

Have you ever wondered what is so special about inclusive theater?  You've seen our posts, pictures, and maybe even a show, but here's the inside scoop as to what we think sets inclusive theater apart from the rest.

​Barrier-Free inclusive theater companies are comprised of approximately 25 people.  Our actors are self-advocates who self-identify as having down syndrome, intellectual disabilities, autism, and/or developmental disabilities.  Our actors work alongside our teaching artists who also act in our shows.  In addition, Barrier-Free has a partnership with McDaniel College to welcome student interns into our companies.  Our interns are pursuing a variety of degrees that include but are not limited to, psychology, theater, education, counseling, or biology (genetics).  Our student interns have the opportunity to earn credit through their internships with Barrier-Free.  

When our company members come together in an inclusive space, we are all equal contributors to the inclusive theater process.  Barrier-Free uses equitable practices to ensure all of our actors can succeed to their highest potential while working together towards our final production goal of bringing our show to the stage.

​At Barrier-Free our tagline is "Create. Express. Achieve." for a reason.  The musicals our inclusive theater companies create are all original.  We spend many weeks of our Inclusive Theater season exploring "improvisational acting."  This means that our actors work together in small groups to create scenes.  This scene-work begins with the instruction to "make an improv scene with a beginning, middle, and end."  There is no given direction as to what setting, characters, or plot elements to include as our director is waiting to see what ideas our actors bring to the creative table.

As these scenes are created, we discover common, reoccurring ideas.  For example, we may see many scenes taking place on an island, or in outer space.  Once we've determined a setting, we explore these in our improv scenes.  We start to see actors connect to certain characters, and we encourage them to explore and develop these ideas.

After we have settings and characters, we begin to explore plot lines.  Our improv scenes now have more direction from the director.  For example, the direction may be, "Your scene begins with lost travelers arriving to an island, finish the scene with your improv group."  Every step of the improvisational acting is intentional and leads us to creating our final show.

Once we've landed on a setting, characters, and plot our director brings the ideas to life with a final written script, and our music composer creates the original songs and scores for the shows.  Next stop - rehearsing with our script!

​Inclusive theater rehearsals begin with everyone sitting in a circle, greeting one another.  When you enter the space, before rehearsal starts you'll hear the room buzzing with conversations and excitement.  These organic conversations are proof of the relationships and connections formed between actors.  When rehearsal officially starts, we check-in about our weeks and share updates before warming-up.  Check-ins are a time to practice conversation skills such as active listening, asking follow-up questions, and sharing responses of support for one another. 

Each rehearsal has built-in break time, another perfect opportunity for actors to socialize, take pictures, and spend time forming friendships and connections.  Barrier-Free teaching artists use this time to ensure any newcomers are included into conversations, and help to facilitate social connection between actors.  Just by engaging with one another during rehearsals, our actors are learning and enhancing their social skills.
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Barrier-Free's Creative Director, Britt Burr, earned her M.A. in Drama Therapy from Kansas State University.  While there, Britt studied under Sally Bailey RDT/BCT, MSW, MFA, and learned the Barrier-Free Theatre method.  Sally has dedicated her career to using drama therapy methods to serve recovering substance abusers and individuals with disabilities.  She now serves the field in her role as Director of Graduate Studies in Theatre and Director of the Drama Therapy Program, by educating future drama therapists on her Barrier-Free Theatre methodology.  

After graduating from K State, Britt returned home to Maryland and, with permission and continued guidance from Sally Bailey, brought Barrier-Free Theatre to her local community.  In 2019, "Barrier-Free Theatre Company of Maryland" became "Barrier-Free" you know today, as we expanded our staffing, programming, and mission. 

​While we have grown and expanded through the years, Barrier-Free will always be thankful for our roots and Sally Bailey for laying the foundation of this incredible work.
​
Learn more at Sally's website http://www.dramatherapycentral.com/

​Have you ever wanted to be 1920's flapper?  What about a permanent vacationer?  Inclusive theater is the perfect outlet for all of actor's creative desires.  As we develop a setting, our actors create a character that they enjoy.  During the improvisational acting portion of our process, the actors and staff work on character development through their improv scenes.  Our actors make intentional decisions about their character's personality, actions, and purpose in our show. 

​Oh, and the character's names - chosen by the actors!  As we say in our core values - no idea is too wacky, "we welcome it all at Barrier-Free!"

​Ask any actor, and they'll tell you that the curtain call (when the actors take their bows) is very special to conclusion of a show.  If you've never experienced a curtain call for an inclusive theater production - you're missing out and we recommend adding it to your bucket list immediately.  

Individuals with disabilities fight very hard for visibility, equality, and equitable treatment in society.  At our inclusive theater performances, our actors have the opportunity to show how truly talented they are as they sing, dance, and perform their hearts out on stage!  When our actors come center stage to take their bows, and hear the audience's applause, all for them, the reaction is priceless.  In that moment, our actors have been seen, heard, and appreciated for their abilities and work.  It is truly a magical moment.

​Our actors spend 7 months in our inclusive theater seasons, working to bring our shows to life. 

This means 7 months of:

• Joyful moments
• Laughter
• Creativity
• Togetherness
• Smiles
• Support
• Connection
• Teamwork
• And so much more....

Trust us... each inclusive theater rehearsal or show will leave your heart filled the brim with hope, love, and inspiration.

​So... if these seven reasons why inclusive theater is the best type of theater still haven't convinced you, we invite you to come check out our work for yourself.  We have a feeling that if you just come once, you'll be hooked.  So what's stopping you?  Find out about volunteering opportunities on our website or contact us at info@BarrierFreeMD.com to get started.

“Get those creative juices pumping!” said Lisa Feltz, owner and operator of Meltdown DiY Art Studio, as she welcomed each social clubber into her shop.

​Then, we stepped right up for a brief introduction to pottery glazing 101! “No lights on darks.  Darks on lights.” Got it. “Glaze is not paint. It will dry differently.” Understood.

​We were led back to our table and we glazed our bowls, plates, and mugs. Besides Lisa offering her continued expertise and support throughout the glazing process, the best part of the night was simply sitting, painting, and talking.

That is the purpose of social club, right?! Conversations are scary sometimes. What do I say?  How do I start? What do we even talk about? Sometimes connections are hard to make. Luckily, activities bring us together and help bridge that gap!
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“What are you painting?!”
“Hey! That looks cool!”
“Can I borrow that color?”
“You’re making a superman symbol?! I love superman!”

Social clubs, quite literally, give us something to talk about! From there, we can use these skills and apply them to the real world. Plus, it’s fun!
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Before you know it, the room is filled with chatter and laughter—with companionship and
camaraderie.

​The only sad part of all of this was that it had to end! Plus, we had to practice our patience
waiting to see our finished product after they were heated in the kiln!

All in all, an amazing social club!

Barrier-Free highly recommends Meltdown DiY Art Studio in Eldersburg!
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Thank you, Lisa, for a great experience!