Inclusion Concierge Training

  • Role: Training Consultant

  • Timeline: 3 months (Contract)

  • Tools: Google Workspace, Slack, Keynote

  • Stakeholders: CEO, Inclusion Concierge, Resident Services

  • Problem: The previous curriculum designer had made lecture-based learnings that lacked engagement and left learners feeling inundated. They wanted someone to come in and focus on the need-to-know, as well as incorporating more of The Kelsey’s voice and core values. They identified new modules they needed added to the curriculum, as well.

  • Outcome: I delivered a complete curriculum that worked as a coherent learning experience or as individualized modules, depending on the audience. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

Prep

They shared the first module with me so I could see what I’d be working with and build out a proposal and (later) a project plan. I approached reviewing the existing content from two sides, and did individual passes to review for:

  1. What can be cut? - This helped me chisel the content down to the “need to know”

  2. What can be replaced? - This is where I started brainstorming new activities and hands-on engagements

I also felt I could clean up the existing content hierarchy and make it easier to facilitate. For this, I mocked up a proposal of my template changes to The Kelsey’s deck and facilitator guides and shared it, along with my reasoning.

Here’s a before and after of the lecture vs. facilitation approach in the instructor guide, along with some of my changes to the formatting for clarity:

Before

Topic 1 (Session 1): Introduction to Disability

Types of Disabilities

(Directly from the CDC webpage on Disability and Health Overview)

What is disability?

A disability is any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities (activity limitation) and interact with the world around them (participation restrictions).

There are many types of disabilities, such as those that affect a person’s:

  • Vision

  • Movement

  • Thinking

  • Remembering

  • Learning

  • Communicating

  • Hearing

  • Mental health

  • Social relationships

Although “people with disabilities” sometimes refers to a single population, this is actually a diverse group of people with a wide range of needs. Two people with the same type of disability can be affected in very different ways. Some disabilities may be hidden or not easy to see.

According to the World Health Organization, disability has three dimensions:

  1. Impairment in a person’s body structure or function, or mental functioning; examples of impairments include loss of a limb, loss of vision or memory loss.

  2. Activity limitation, such as difficulty seeing, hearing, walking, or problem solving.

  3. Participation restrictions in normal daily activities, such as working, engaging in social and recreational activities, and obtaining health care and preventive services.

Disability can be:

  • Related to conditions that are present at birth and may affect functions later in life, including cognition (memory, learning, and understanding), mobility (moving around in the environment), vision, hearing, behavior, and other areas. These conditions may be

    • Disorders in single genes (for example, Duchenne muscular dystrophy);

    • Disorders of chromosomes (for example, Down syndrome); and

    • The result of the mother’s exposure during pregnancy to infections (for example, rubella) or substances, such as alcohol or cigarettes.

  • Associated with developmental conditions that become apparent during childhood (for example, autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or ADHD)

  • Related to an injury (for example, traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury).

  • Associated with a long standing condition (for example, diabetes), which can cause a disability such as vision loss, nerve damage, or limb loss.

  • Progressive (for example, muscular dystrophy), static (for example, limb loss), or intermittent (for example, some forms of multiple sclerosis).

After

Topic 1: Understanding Disability - 60 minutes 

Discussion: What do you already know? (5-10 minutes)

Before going straight into sharing knowledge, let’s get an idea of where the learners are in their journey. If necessary, remind them that this is a safe space for learning and that they’re not expected to have all this knowledge already!

  1. If someone asked you to explain the concept of “disability,” how would you define it?

  2. Who do you think can be affected by disabilities?

  3. There are a few different types of disabilities. Can you think of the categories we use to discuss them?

  4. Do you know any common misconceptions about disabilities? What are they?

  5. How might disability intersect with other aspects of identity, like race, gender, or socioeconomic status?

  6. Can you think of any other challenges that might arise from the intersection with other identities?

For the following slides, review the answers to the questions. Use your best judgment for pacing on each slide based on the learners’ individual needs for additional context based on the discussion.

Presentation: Defining Disability (1-2 minutes)

The United Nations defines disability as, “Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”

This definition is also called the “social model” of disability, because it focuses on the barriers that exist between an individual and society, instead of on the medical side.

Development

We started with an iterative review process where I’d work on editing the existing content while developing outlines for new modules. While the updated content was in review, I’d work on early drafts of new modules so they could be reviewed while I implemented feedback in the existing modules.

This worked as designed until I realized some of the existing content no longer met the objectives as they’d been explained to me — and I’d need to rework those from scratch, which I hadn’t anticipated when we scoped the project. There’s always something!

We moved from having specific deadlines for each stage of each piece of content to a weekly review cadence: anytime something was done, I sent it to the CEO, and we met weekly to discuss feedback and changes. This was much more sustainable than expecting her to keep track of what was in each stage of review by date, and just left a clear backlog for her to review.

Here are the original expected deliverables versus the final output from the project:

Expected deliverables

Project plan

Revisions:

  • Disability 101: Disability Rights, Services, and Community Inclusion - Including case studies to discuss how to handle certain inclusive situations

  • Disability Rights Laws Training Module for Affordable Housing

  • Service Coordination - Regional Center System & Services

  • Service Coordination - SSI & Home and Community Based Services (HCBS)

  • Service Coordination - Informal Support & Circles of Support Meeting

  • A Disability-Forward Housing First Framework

Outlines, decks, and facilitator guides for new modules:

  • Serving Residents

  • Managing IC Budget: Purchasing, Budgets Tracking, Credit Card Usage

  • Fostering a Connected Community

  • Setting Healthy Boundaries

  • Responding to Crisis I

Final deliverables

Project plan

Revisions:

  • Disability 101 deck & facilitator guide

Outlines, decks, and facilitator guides for:

  • Creating Safety & Personal Well-Being (formerly “Setting Healthy Boundaries”)

  • Fostering a Connected Community

  • Responding to a Crisis

  • Serving Residents

Adjusted scope:

  • Welcome to The Kelsey - new facilitator guide

  • Service coordination - combined topics and created a new module

  • Disability Rights Laws Training Module for Affordable Housing - combined into Disability 101 for brevity

  • A Disability-Forward Housing First Framework - combined into Disability 101 for brevity

  • Managing IC Budget: removed from scope due to resource readiness

  • Facilitator’s guide template - made from the original Disability 101 and shared with updated formatting

  • How We Work Together - new facilitator guide

  • Learner guide inclusive of all modules

  • CARE Model - plain text

CARE

Ever since I worked at Apple, I’ve loved the idea of a simple pneumonic to help customer service advisors ensure every interaction is meeting the company’s standards.

I’ve created one at Airbnb (AIRCARE), Spotify (EARS), and now, The Kelsey (CARE). While it doesn’t cover every individual scenario—and we should still have processes in place!—the idea is to quickly and efficiently review an interaction.

Download the handout by clicking this image:
Next

Accessibility at Spotify