Shift systems. Promote equity.
Do you care about opportunity?
Do you want to better understand disability rights and learn how to be a strong advocate?
Join The Arc of King County as we launch our 2024 cohort of the Inclusion Academy. This year, we are organizing this free academy into 3 sequences. You can sign up for 1, or all 3!
Applications are due May 27.
Our goal? Belonging, membership, and participation. For all.
Who should apply? Young adults and older. Folks with disabilities, family members, and allies.
Disability is a type of diversity, and whether folks with disabilities thrive depends on how accessible and inclusive their community is.
The Inclusion Academy
- Helps people make the connection between inclusion and well-being
- Identify barriers in systems that are supposed to help
- Explore disability history, rights, and justice; and
- Learn how to
shift systems through civic engagement
Classes are 2 hours and will be held online from 6 to 8 pm.
We hope you can join us for a community-building retreat beforehand and a graduation celebration after.
Sequence 1. Accessibility & Belonging in Public Education. (Preschool & K-12).
Thursday evenings, June 13 to July 18. No class the week of July 4.
- What kids need to thrive: The research basis for inclusive learning.
- Disability rights: The legal basis for inclusive learning
-
UDL &
MTSS (?!): Rethinking accessibility
- How school districts are organized
-
Building a
movement
Sequence 2. Unpacking Disability.
Thursday evenings, August 8 to September 5.
- Disability is diversity
- Understanding ableism (and taking on hate)
-
The goal:
Holistic, person-centered, and wrap-around supports
- Disability justice: A framework for activism
- Building a movement
Sequence 3. Disruption.
Wednesday evenings, September 25 to October 16
- Voting: What’s so critical about this year’s election?
- Persuasion: How the legislative process works
- Advocacy: How change happens
- Wrapping it up: Messaging, framing, and finding your people
We will launch the academy with a community-building retreat on Saturday, June 8, and celebrate graduation on Saturday, October 26. You are welcome to take all three sequences but are not required to.
ADVOCACY SKILLS COVERED: Listening; analysis; presentation; vision planning; policy development; data mining; collaboration; and community building.
WHAT TO EXPECT: Each sequence will include 15 to 20 people learning together and from each other. We use presentations, small and large group discussion, activities, and reflection in our classes, and we offer additional resources online. Participants also often share resources with each other.
Please let us know on the application if you need any accommodations or interpretation support.
