The Inclusive Possibilities Cluster meets the first Tuesday of every month from 1-2 pm:

February, 5—1-2, Gleason G335 Collins Room (Simon School. River Campus)
March 5—1-2, 1-7438 Hawkins (URMC)
April 2—1-2, Gleason G335 Collins Room (Simon School. River Campus)
May 7—1-2, 1-7438 Hawkins (URMC)

Anyone interested in being a member of the cluster or for further information, please contact: Bernadette Jackson at Bernadette_Jackson@urmc.rochester.edu

UPCOMING EVENTS

Who Cares About Kelsey? Documentary film screening and discussion
Tuesday, April 16, 7 pm

and conference--We Care: Supporting Students with Emotional and Behavioral Challenges to Succeed
Wednesday, April 17, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Both events at the Strong National Museum of Play

Mission
The mission of the Inclusive Possibilities Cluster (IPC, formerly the Interdisciplinary Disabilities Cluster) will be to inform, educate, and connect employees and students across the University of Rochester in order to provide a welcoming, comfortable, and inclusive environment for all people, with a particular emphasis on individuals with disabilities, who are traditionally marginalized in academic and other communities. The IPC is composed of staff, faculty, and students from all areas of the University, as well as community agencies and partners that represent people with disabilities, or that have an interest in contributing to the mission of this group.

Goals
The University of Rochester has undertaken a bold journey to define, establish, and maintain an inclusive and productive environment for all people; students, staff, faculty, volunteers, contractors, and vendors. Toward this end, the UR has several goals, one of which is to create an inclusive community. “Members of the University’s community come from different geographical areas, represent differences in ethnicities, religious beliefs, values, and points of view; they may be physically different, have different intellectual interests, or have different abilities.”† The Inclusive Possibilities Cluster (IPC) will:

• provide opportunities for increased awareness of the challenges faced by people with disabilities,
• dispel the myths while highlighting the achievements of people with disabilities,
• afford members of the University community ways to be allies to people with disabilities, and
• design the infrastructure necessary to create and sustain a university-based, interdisciplinary Center for Disability Studies.

Activities

• Seminars, workshops, symposia
• Guest speakers on topics of interest to the community
• Research and mentoring opportunities
• Increased awareness of the importance of including people with disabilities in all aspects of the medical, educational, and local communities

Background
The 2011 World Report on Disability produced jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, estimates that there are over one billion people with disabilities in the world today, of whom nearly 200 million experience significant difficulties. A common conceptual model for “disability” has been described by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) by the World Health Organization (WHO) whereby disability is an umbrella term for “impairments, activity limitations, or participation restrictions, which are defined as follows:

• Impairments: Problems in body function (the physiological, including psychological, functions of body systems) or body structure (the anatomical parts of the body such as organs, limbs, and their components). Impairments represent a deviation from certain generally accepted population standards in the biomedical status of the body and its functions. They can be temporary or permanent; progressive, regressive, or status; intermittent or continuous.
• Activity Limitations: Difficulties an individual may have in executing a task or action.
• Participation Restrictions: Problems that an individual may experience in involvement in life situations. Both activity limitations and participation restrictions are assessed against a generally accepted population standard … that of an individual without a similar health condition ….”

The ICF proposes a paradigm in which to view disability not as a state that separates a person from being healthy, or as a condition that only impacts a few specific types of people, but as a common experience across age, gender, and culture/ethnicity.

Despite numerous agencies, legislation, and policies focused on disability-related issues, people with disabilities in the US continue to experience discrimination in employment and social opportunities, unequal access to educational resources, disparities in health outcomes, and higher levels of poverty than do other minority groups (USDHHS, 2005; Fremstad, 2009). The conscious and unconscious attitudes of “ableism” in the US are entrenched in our environments, unspoken expectations, and institutionalized systems, (e.g. medical model) such that those who are not “normally or typically developing” are at a significant disadvantage. Thus, the experience of disability is one that isolates and denies people access to the places, services, relationships, and benefits experienced by people who are (temporarily) able-bodied.

† http://www.rochester.edu/diversity/mission.html

Past Meetings