Accessibility awareness begins in how we conceptualize and design an EBMC class or program. In order to fulfill EBMC’s commitment to radical inclusivity, please carefully consider if the class your wish to teach can meet the broadest range of access needs possible, given our capacity at this time. This begins with writing the event title and description and choosing an image & image description that will be used to publicize this EBMC class or event. Please be careful not to use language that uses words such as “blind,” “deaf and dumb,” “lame,” “insane,” etc. in a metaphorical manner that has a negative or diminishing meaning.

If EBMC is informed that someone has needs for accommodation due to accessibility issues, we will try to inform the teacher in advance. However, this is not always possible, so we ask our teachers to practice awareness and to ask students in a sensitive and appropriate manner what they need regarding reasonable accommodations. It’s also important to be aware that you can’t tell by looking what ability levels people have, so it’s good practice to keep accessibility in mind whenever you are teaching, regardless of what you know about the people in the room.

EBMC has AMAZING, free of charge resources available from our website for download. To get to them, go to www.eastbaymeditation.org > About EBMC > Hover cursor over “Radical Inclusivity.” You’ll then see a drop-down menu that has loads of resources for: 
  • Some general resources
  • Resources for white people
  • Resources for men
  • Resources on disability and ableism 

Topics found on this page

SETTING UP THE ROOM

For every event at East Bay Meditation Center:

Important! At all times, please leave three corridors of open space that are at least four and a half feet wide, one between the entry way and the altar, and one along each side of the room. The corridors are needed to accommodate people in wheelchairs and scooters and those with mobility issues, and so that people of *all* abilities are less likely to trip over something when they’re on the way to the bathroom, kitchen, dana basket table. Whether or not there are people present who have visible disabilities that restrict their mobility, we are committed to doing what we can to create a space that is accommodating, safe and welcoming to everyone at all times.

When the corridor space as described above is observed, we estimate that we can seat a maximum of 120 people in EBMC’s main meditation hall. If 120 people are expected, place the rectangular meditation mats so that the shorter side is facing toward the altar, rather than the longer side.

ROOM ORIENTATION/LOCATION DIRECTIONS

The location of things at EBMC should be verbally noted by orienting them in space as “in front of you,” “behind you,” “the kitchen is in front of you and to your right,” and so on once people are seated and facing the altar, if that’s the way they are seated.

Therefore, instead of saying, “The Library is on the other side of the purple wall,” say: “The Library is behind you. If you turn around and go back toward the front doors of the Center, the Library is to your left, on the other side of the purple wall.”

Instead of gesturing toward the bathrooms and saying, “The bathrooms are that way,” we can say: “If you go forward, a bit to your right and then turn left, you’re in the corridor with our first all-gender bathroom, and to get to the second bathroom, you pass the first bathroom on your right, turn right, and the bathroom is on your right.”

PARTICIPATION IN DISCUSSIONS AND VERBAL SHARING

Due to cognitive disabilities, some people may need a longer time than others to process verbal instructions and to express themselves verbally. Please take this into account and be prepared to provide accommodation for those who self-identify as having a cognitive disability when giving instructions for sharing in small groups, where usually everyone has an equal amount of time (e.g., three minutes) to share what they have to say. One way to handle this would be to instruct that people form breakout groups with three or four people, and suggest that anyone who needs additional time to process discussions to pair with only one other person, so that they have more time.

WRITTEN HANDOUTS

If possible, handouts should be in 14 pt. Times Roman to accommodate people who have difficulty reading small type sizes.

HEARING DIFFICULTIES

Please use the microphones at all times. This is important, as people who may be having a hard time hearing may find it exhausting and difficult to express that they cannot hear what is being said. Please invite people to signal or speak up if they cannot hear what is being said. If the microphones and PA system are not working, you may invite people who might have difficulty hearing the teacher(s) to sit up front and close to you. During Question and Answer or discussion sessions, if the person asking the question or offering a comment does not wish to use the hand-held microphone, please repeat and/or summarize the question or comment at the beginning of your response to the question.

WORKING WITH ASL INTERPRETERS

We invite all our EBMC teachers to begin to practice some new behaviors to facilitate a good partnership with ASL interpreters and to better serve our Deaf mindfulness / Buddhist community who are finding their way to EBMC’s classes. These behaviors include: 
  • communicate with the ASL interpreters beforehand to give them sections of Buddhist or other texts you might be using that contain non-English words and terms; give them a list of non-English words and terms, also proper nouns, titles of books, etc. you’ll be referencing in your teaching
  • speak slowly and if possible face the camera and have good lighting so that your mouth and facial expressions can be seen for those who are speech-reading
  • pause often to give the interpreters a chance to catch up with you
  • spell out terms, non-English words and terms, names of people, places, etc. 
  • use phrases such as “if you’re a hearing person” if you say something that assumes ability to hear 

WORKING WITH BLIND PARTICIPANTS

To give more access to Blind persons, our teachers might: 

  • Include visual descriptions of themselves (evidently, a standard best practice: describe what you’re wearing, etc.) and any objects or PowerPoint slide images used
  • Again, speak more slowly 
  • Use phrases such as, “If you’re a seeing person / person with sight” if you say something that assumes visual ability. 

CHEMICAL AND FRAGRANCE SENSITIVITIES

Regarding accommodations for students who are both chemical-sensitive and fragrance-sensitive: although we request that people arrive at EBMC fragrance free, we cannot guarantee that they will do so. Being entirely fragrance free is not easy for most people to do – and they might, in particular, be unaware that most laundry detergents and products contain strong chemical fragrances. Dry cleaning solvents can also trigger reactions for those who are chemically sensitive.

One way to address this would be to make an announcement at the beginning of the event, encouraging people to change their place in the room if they need to – for reasons of temperature comfort, chemical sensitivity, if they need to be in a place where they can stand up often, need to be in a place where they can lie down sometimes because of a back injury, etc. – and if this cannot easily be done, to raise their hands and request to move. In other words, try to make it OK for people to request to move their seating at any point (they don’t need to state reason why unless they want to), and try to make it OK for the people they’ve been next to not to take it personally or make assumptions.

An air purifier will be available if people with chemical sensitivities or asthma wish to sit near it. [More Fragrance Free Info]

MOVEMENT MEDITATION
(walking meditation, yoga, tai chi, qigong, etc.)

Please be sensitive and aware that some people may have limitations or disabilities that impact their ability to do some kinds of mindful movement. Please don’t assume that you will know by looking! Please assume there are some folks in the room with limitations, and provide alternatives and options when giving instructions for any movement practice.

Often when movement meditation is taught without an accessible alternative, Sangha members who can’t do the movements feel excluded from the practice. You might not be aware this is happening if they don’t speak up. The Dharma is for everyone, regardless of what type of body or level of ability they have, and it’s important for our teachings to convey this as much as possible. Providing movement practices that are accessible to all really helps Sangha members feel included in the practice, and understand that the Dharma is for all bodies, regardless of level of ability.

If there is a student or students using a wheelchair or motorized scooter, please ensure that there is adequate space for them to move comfortably back and forth in the hallway by the bathrooms and to move around in the main meditation hall area.

ALTERNATIVES TO WALKING MEDITATION:

Some EBMC teachers who teach walking meditation have been giving instructions for Dynamic Meditation, also known as Mahasati Meditation. This is a type of movement meditation developed by Luangpor Teean, a teacher of Thai Buddhism. It involves movements that can be done while seated, lying down or standing, and can be done by anyone who can move their arms or hands. Instructions can be provided to the whole group, then people can be invited to choose which type of movement they’d like to do. [More info about Accessible Movement Meditation instructions]

Other alternatives to Mahasati Meditation could be to do stretches of upper body: relaxing jaw, neck, shoulders, arms, then if they feel they’ve stretched enough, to sit quietly in meditation for the remainder of the walking meditation period.

You can also suggest that people who are unable to do certain movements can visualize the movements as you give instructions. Recent studies show that people can benefit from visualizing doing physical movements and exercises.

A meditation instruction suggestion from a member of the Every Body Every Mind Sangha:

“Walking meditation allows us to focus on an everyday action.  This might mean [the way you usually give instructions for walking meditation].  It could also mean focusing on how we use our joysticks to guide our power chairs, becoming aware of the subtle shifts in our hands and our bodies as we move.  It could also mean thinking about the placement of our hands on the rim of a manual chair, moving forward, shifting our arms to place them again.”

RAPID BREATHING MEDITATION TECHNIQUES

We have been informed that rapid breathing meditation techniques may not be good for people with bipolar disorder. Please do not use rapid breathing techniques at EBMC unless you are a certified yoga teacher who has been trained in these techniques, and you have included this in your program proposal, and received an okay from the Program Committee. Thank you.

DEVELOPING A GLOBAL LENS

Although this is not about disability, in order to be more inclusive of non-United Statesian people, our teachers might: 

  • State “United States” if they say something like, “Nashville” — adding in, “Nashville is a city in the state of Tennessee in the United States
  • Be aware of idioms that are from U.S. English and refrain from using them, or better yet, explain them. (Example from another culture:  my diversity equity inclusion colleague Gamiel Yafai, who is from Scotland, likes to say, “I’m totally cream-crackered” at the end of Zoom calls, meaning that he’s exhausted and depleted. Very nice, that! Once it’s explained, that is.) 
  • Filter everything through a more global lens, in order to refrain from “American exceptionalism.” 

OTHER RESOURCES


Access-Centered Movement ®

Jess Schlesinger and Mushim offered a wonderful training  at the March, 2017 Teacher Sangha meeting about accessibility. Here are some of the handouts, which you might find helpful.

Article:  Access Intimacy, Interdependence, and Disability Justice

Audio recording of KPFA radio show hosted by EBMC Sangha member Marlena Willis, with guests Jess Dene Schlesinger and Mushim Ikeda

Article: What You’re Saying When You Say “I Don’t Need a Mic”

Article: Creating Dyslexia Friendly Materials