According to Oxford Languages online dictionary, inclusion is defined as, “The practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or intellectual disabilities and members of other minority groups.”
I – and the power wheelchair I need to for mobility purposes – have made no secret to being part of the group of people this definition describes.
So there. I am included in this definition of “Inclusion.” Yay me!
No, I’m serious.
This definition offers the springboard and justification I need to empower myself to make life better and more inclusionary for me and others like me who are living with physical disabilities. While pushing for positive change is important in Dan and my work as Multiple Sclerosis and disability activists, part of our efforts includes drawing attention to when disability inclusion is done right.
As the summer is winding down, Dan and I were reflecting back on everything we did these past three months where I was able to participate because businesses, organizations and venues made it their priority to ensure people with physical disabilities have equal access.
I am excited to show you and tell you more about my summer experiences at places that serve as models for such inclusion.
Literally rolling through the intersection
Whatever the event or activity, there always needs to be a way to include everyone. Even people like me who rely on a wheelchair.
Thanks to Art Reach of Mid Michigan, I had the opportunity in early June to paint the downtown streets of Mt. Pleasant beautiful. Such fun!
Check out my essay Painting the Downtown Beautiful Despite MS that appeared on multiplesclerosis.net to read about my empowering experience.
In line with the ADA in Madison, Indiana
We ventured to the very southern tip of Indiana at the end of June to see Kieran Simmer, the son of our dear friend and Best Man from our wedding (Stacy Simmer), get married. As with any trip to a new city, we were worried about how well it would meet our needs.
Madison, Indiana, did not disappoint.
We should have known it was going to just fine when four weeks before the wedding Stacy sent us a hand-sketched map of the church sanctuary so we could select where the church would remove a chair to accommodate my power wheelchair.
In addition to the church, we found that even the historic downtown, our recently renovated hotel (that was a historic Eagle Cotton Mill built in 1884), and a trendy restaurant near our hotel fully fit our bill for wheelchair accessibility.
Great Lakes Loons Inclusion Day
I can’t say enough about Dow Diamond – home of the Los Angeles Dodgers High-A Affiliate Great Lakes Loons – and all that it does to accommodate people who are living with disabilities. Dan and I experience it each time we go to cheer on our Loons, but we see it even more at the Loons’ annual Inclusion Day.
This game is a highlight of our annual summer visit from Dan’s sister, Dawn, and her husband, Mike, and their daughter, Elizabeth, who drive from Iowa to spend a few days with us here in Michigan.
Elizabeth has a health condition (Caudal Regression Syndrome) where she needs to use braces and a wheelchair for mobility, but she had never let it stop her! She is active in many sports and thrives in Miracle League baseball back in Iowa.
So, of course, Elizabeth was all in when she learned about Inclusion Day three years ago and its opportunity for youth with disabilities to participate in a post-game All-Star exhibition with Loons players.
But there was something extra special about this year’s Inclusion Day! The morning of the event, the Loons front office texted Dawn to see if Elizabeth was interested in throwing out the first pitch of the Loons’ game against the Dayton Dragons.
I think the entire hotel where we were staying could have heard our 11-year-old niece scream with excitement!!
I’ll let her first pitch speak for itself and why Inclusion Day is such a big hit for so many people.
Boarding the Interlochen Train experience
For as much as we (more Dan than me!) obsess over Bruce Springsteen and his music, we realized this summer that we are almost as obsessed with the rock group Train and its music.
This summer marked the seventh time we’ve seen Train in concert together. It’s always a fun and forget-all-your-worries kind of concert! And this was a totally different sort of concert for us as it was the first time we ever saw a concert at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in northern Michigan.
Interlochen had it all covered for wheelchair accommodations, from an abundance of handicapped-accessible parking spaces near the scenic outdoor concert venue (right next to a beautiful lake) to its ample rows of accessible seating and nearby accessible restrooms.
I still can hear the usher as he guided us to our seats, “You truly have some of the best seats available for this concert.” He wasn’t kidding.
And what made it even better for me was that the rows for accessible seats were marked with numbers, just like every other row in the venue. No wheelchair designators needed. Rather than calling out that we were in disabled seating, we were just in our seats, same as everyone else.
This subtlety, at least for me, is inclusion at its best.
