February 2024 - Parks and Recreation - 22

EQUITY
Every park and recreation
staff member
should have a role
and responsibility in
ensuring all belong.
Inclusion Includes All Staff:
Getting Your Team on Board
By Lisa Drennan
A
re you struggling to get your staff on board with inclusion?
The number one principle for creating successful disability inclusion
is organizational commitment, which means every position
within your recreation program should have a role and
responsibility to ensure all belong. Hiring a Certified Therapeutic Recreation
Specialist (CTRS) or appointing an inclusion specialist isn't the magic
wand to building a culture of inclusion. In fact, it may have the opposite
effect if not properly supported.
Moving Toward
Organizational Commitment
Whether you have therapeutic or
inclusion staff already on board
or are considering hiring for these
positions, to achieve organizational
commitment, their role should
be primarily consulting or mentoring
others on inclusive practices.
Their expertise should be inherent
to ensure inclusive practices are in
place in all settings and should not
necessarily be used as a reactive approach
to " handle every inclusion
situation. " They should have the
full support of your organization's
administrative team to lead an inclusion
initiative and should not be
relegated to only creating adaptive
or specialized programs.
If your department isn't
in a
place to hire a specialist, you still
can implement inclusive practices,
ensuring your team has the tools
22 Parks & Recreation | FEBR U AR Y 2 0 2 4 | PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
and confidence to welcome, engage
and support community members
with diverse abilities to successfully
participate and belong. In fact, it is
sometimes believed to be an advantage
to your organization if this is
a grassroots effort to create such an
environment. As author Stephanie
Perkins wrote, " A blank canvas has
unlimited possibilities. "
Let's paint a picture of what organizational
commitment looks like to
create an authentic culture of inclusion.
From a participant's position,
inclusion means that individuals
have a choice in how they participate
- whether that's a specialized,
integrated or buddy model or full
inclusion - and are supported to be
as independent as possible through
meaningful participation with their

February 2024 - Parks and Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2024 - Parks and Recreation

February 2024 - Parks and Recreation - Intro
February 2024 - Parks and Recreation - Cover1
February 2024 - Parks and Recreation - Cover2
February 2024 - Parks and Recreation - 1
February 2024 - Parks and Recreation - 2
February 2024 - Parks and Recreation - 3
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February 2024 - Parks and Recreation - 50
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February 2024 - Parks and Recreation - Cover3
February 2024 - Parks and Recreation - Cover4
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2021
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