Hi all, I am an occupational therapist by day and a mentor by night. I am wondering what supports your team has in place for those with disabilities? What kinds of reasonable accommodates do you provide for your members? Do you have a section in your handbook outlining what you can and cannot provide?
Our team (FRC Devil Tech 1559 Victor, NY) is updating our handbook and wanting to put information in about supporting members with reasonable accommodations. Thank you!
We don’t have a section in our handbook (but now we will after reading your post because we should).
In the past we have dealt with medical or physical disabilities on a case by case basis and always making sure to accommodate just about anything with or without a doctor’s note (we don’t need official paperwork for everything).
Typical accomodations have been leaving available seating at competitions or in build spaces for parents/mentors/people with mobility issues. We have a school van that’s compatible to transport students with powered wheelchairs if nessecary, but haven’t had the need arise yet.
We have had many students that are (at least in Michigan) “504” or have an I.E.P. for their school activities and we can be given those documents by their parents or counselors if we need to make adjustments for them. When our team ran a graded credit program this was a lot more relevant. We don’t “grade” anything or have assignments in the same way anymore so there aren’t extensions accomodations needed exactly. So usually the IEP or 504 plan isn’t relevant, but still useful to best understand how those students learn/feel/work their best.
Maybe have a section outlining that the team follows all school policies and procedures (if you are associated with a school district) as well as contact information for the dedicated disabilities staff at the school district for filing those plans and policies. If a student needs accomodations they can meet with a mentor/coach or reach out to them privately via electronic communication to arrange what’s needed.
Many people with disabilities would like accomodations sometimes but don’t like having to ask and don’t like feeling “different” than everybody else and needing “dumbed down and easier” things to do. They want to be part of the group and do the same things, so if you front end and very visibly offer up the accomodations en masse they are more likely to speak up about what they really need.
Thank you for sharing! We have a large population of students who have autism spectrum disorder or adhd that have nonvisable needs that are not always addressed. We notice their needs most at competition where the environment can be overwhelming amd they need areas to get away from being overstimulated. We know our students have IEP and 504 plans we just have to find a way for them to provide us with that and let them know their options.
Setting this up as a feeler for if it is a handbook statement or just a team culture change.
Both, culture starts with someone saying what the correct “societal” standard for your team is. If there isn’t something in writing it can’t be assumed it’ll be taught to new comers and veterans may just be unaware of how to correctly handle it. If it’s addressed to the team as a whole as part of the handbook you can have a larger discussion about it, the idea is already planted and there’s a definite path for them to follow.
We did have a student this season with sensitivity issues and needed access to the quiet room or the ability to walk out of the competition areas and take some mental breaks. For this we made sure to have a parent/mentor and a second student who could go and take breaks with them if they had to leave the building.
We attended Kettering #2 and Macomb which both had plenty of places to get some peace and quiet without walking miles away. Normally per team policy we don’t allow gaming devices, headphones, etc during matches because people should be scouting and ideally not in-between matches because you can talk to your team mates or analyze scouting data. However, we have allowed headphones and personal devices for people who need a break and don’t want to leave the stands. Of course then the rest of the students want to do that as well so it’s definitely best if the team understands why some people need that and some don’t.
The more the team discusses it as a group the more it just becomes the culture. Maybe even make disability accomodations a focal point of your teams award submissions for Impact and Sustainability. In both cases having a comprehensive accomodations plan will be inviting to new students and will attract a larger population in that normally is excluded from most other extracurriculars by their disability. FIRST is one of the few things anyone can do despite any disability. The same can’t be said for football, marching band or even quiz bowl.
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