How We Help

Educators

Boy with walker playing in a school gym; He is talking to a woman who is on her knees on the gym floor, and to another woman in a manual wheelchair. A third woman is seated in a manual wheelchair listening.

K-12

Elementary and High School settings are foundational to shaping a value of inclusion in our next generations of children. RAA Inclusion Specialists will empower your team to ensure you are including all students in PE, field trips, recess, school-sponsored events, and more.

Let RAA work with YOUR school and truly make it a place where students are participating together in these crucial moments of health and wellness!

  • Empower your staff and students to create a culture of inclusion
  • Enhance your services by learning to include all students in sports/recreation times
  • Energize and invigorate your active and social engagement times

Join us as we expand our model developed with School 29: Adlai E. Stevenson, supported by a Greater Rochester Health Foundation grant!

Higher Education

Our Inclusion Specialists work closely with area colleges and universities to bring a lens of inclusion to your curricula and enable your students to Make Inclusion Happen!

Let us enhance your classes with

  • Inclusion presentations
  • Hands-on, experiential education
  • Community volunteer opportunities

Some organizations we work with:

  • Nazareth College
  • The University of Rochester Warner School of Education & Human Development
  • Rochester Institute of Technology 
  • St. John Fisher University
  • SUNY Brockport
  • SUNY Geneseo
  • Daemen University

Types of Disciplines we work with:

  • Social Work
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Physical Therapy
  • Adapted PE
  • Tourism
  • Recreation
  • Therapeutic Recreation
  • Diversity/DEI
  • Disability Related Coursework
  • Sports Marketing
  • Photojournalism
  • and more!
A row of 10 teachers is lined up on a stage, curtains are open. Most of seated in manual wheelchairs. Several have their hands raised, participating in a discussion.

Impact Story

Institution
Nazareth College

Challenge:
Occupational Therapists (OT) work closely with people with a variety of diagnoses to increase their functioning and quality of life. Skills are practiced in the clinic with a goal of transitioning them to the person’s home and community.

But how does an OT encourage a person to become active in their community if it is not physically accessible and welcoming in their services?

How can OTs be a part of advocating for active recreation opportunities for their clients?

Solution:
Dr. Julie Kunish, OTD, OTR/L, CSRS, is a Clinical Associate Professor and Certified Stroke Rehabilitation Specialist who teaches at Nazareth College. Julie has been asking those questions and seeking solutions over the past several years. She knew her students were receiving rich, concentrated, experiential learning through her current curriculum, but she worried about this challenge of encouraging people to stay active in the community if the community spaces are not expecting them to be there.

Julie partnered with RAA to find a solution—and help her students make inclusion happen.

First, she added a course requirement for
first semester students—an in-depth training called Inclusion U. Developed by the Inclusive Recreation Resource Center at SUNY Cortland, it provides discovery tools to determine the accessibility of a community. Students are awarded a certificate as a Certified Inclusivity Assessor upon completion.

Second, Julie began using the principles students learned in the training to create a narrative around disability/diagnoses that includes advocacy for their future clients to be fully engaged in their home communities. A course assignment developed with RAA provided hands-on engagement as students conducted assessments in a variety of settings to help them better understand the kinds of physical and attitudinal barriers that would impede the full participation of their future clients.

Empowered by this experience, each student becomes an agent of change as they continue their professional journeys.

“Working with RAA to expand inclusivity of community recreation resources for all,” says Julie, “has significantly helped me and my students have a much better understanding of the strides that have been made for inclusion in Rochester, along with the significant limitations that still exist. It has strengthened our resolve to advocate for and support the mission of RAA through this collaborative project and throughout our careers as occupational therapists.”

A group of 22 people poses in a classroom with a few desks in front of the group and whiteboard on the wall behind them.

Working with RAA to expand inclusivity of community recreation resources for all has significantly helped me and my students have a much better understanding of the strides that have been made in Rochester, along with the significant limitations that still exist.

person with brown hair in a blue shirt and brown pants in wheelchair and manual wheelchair, arms extended out on either side, smiling.

Additional Impact Stories

A wide angle shot of a group of people in a basketball gym posing for a group photo; some people are seated in sports chairs; others are standing.

Brockport

Challenge: Higher Education spaces are a perfect place for experiential learning. Teachers are tasked with creating learning environments that can...

Read More
"What will your inclusion story be?" graphic with purple circle

Your Inclusion Story
Learn More

YOU can help
#MakeInclusionHappen

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