Mastercard Foundation We Can work
In partnership with Light for the World
Partnership with African Disability Forum
In partnership with Light for the World
Partnership with African Disability Forum

Removal of Barriers to Mainstreaming

Including youth with disabilities in mainstream requires a careful consideration of potential barriers they may face that could limit their participation and creating a systematic approach to eliminating these as much as possible. 

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Removal of Barriers to Mainstreaming

Including youth with disabilities in mainstream requires a careful consideration of potential barriers they may face that could limit their participation and creating a systematic approach to eliminating these as much as possible. 

Through these efforts, mainstreaming can change how communities view persons with disabilities and promote their social inclusion beyond the program. This can boost self-confidence and pave the way to better lives for young women and men with disabilities.  

Understanding Barriers

Barriers are obstacles that prevent young men and women with disabilities from fully participating in programs. These types of barriers can be categorized into four main groups: Attitudes, Communication, Accessibility and Policy. 

The following are examples of how these common barriers can be addressed in mainstream programs to enable meaningful participation of persons with disabilities.

What can you find in this section?

Attitude

  • Negative attitudes and doubts on the potential of young men and women with disabilities affect how program staff engage with or include them in program activities.

 

  • Facing negative attitudes leads to self-doubt among young men and women with disabilities and often results in low confidence, esteem and self-exclusion.
Attitude
  • Awareness training sessions for staff, as well as families and communities, to increase their knowledge on inclusion, and foster a mindset shift on disability.
  • Engage role models with disabilities in activities involving program participants, as well as program staff supports mindset change and showcases ability in action.

Accessibility

  • Inaccessible physical premises (e.g. training venues), transportation and sanitary areas.
Accessibility
  • Ensuring physical premises to be accesses by program participants are accessible; this may include modifications to existing premises or shifting locations to more favorable ones.

  • Budgeting to cover additional transportation costs incurred by program participants, especially those with physical disabilities.

Communication

  • Lack of sign language interpreters, captioning, braille materials and digital copies, and easy-read materials.
Communication
  • Budgeting sufficiently to avail materials in multiple formats (such as braille, digital copies, audiovisual, easy-read), and contract service providers to support accessible communication (such as sign language interpreters, illustrators, teaching and personal assistants)

Policies

  • Exclusion through policies that do not secure representation of persons with disabilities or commit to covering their inclusion needs.
Policies
  • Comprehensive disability inclusion policies that not only state commitment to inclusion but address provision of reasonable accommodation and other strategies to encourage participation of persons with disabilities.

Reasonable Accommodations 

Removing barriers in mainstream programming starts with creating individualized, practical solutions.  These solutions are called Reasonable Accommodations.  To provide reasonable accommodations, you will need to talk to program participants and staff with disabilities about the specific needs they may have to facilitate their participation. While some solutions can be put in place more generally, (e.g. physical adaptations to a building or hiring a sign language interpreter for trainings), others will need to be discussed and tailored to the individuals you work with.  

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Reflection

Picture a program in your community where everyone joins in, how could removing barriers make that real? It’s not extras they need, but an equal platform to participate and thrive alongside everyone else

Budgeting

Removal of barriers to mainstreaming comes with costs. It is advisable to reserve 30% percent of the disability inclusion budget for reasonable accommodations, as explained above.  These funds may go towards setting up ramps, sign language interpreters, braille resources and other quick fixes that ensure the full participation of young men and women with disabilities.

Procurement of Reasonable Accommodations

When program participants or staff require either a sign language interpreter (SLI) or personal assistant (PA) to support them in activities, especially on an ongoing, one to one basis, it is best practice to allow them to select their own interpreter or PA.  This best practice is referenced in the American’s with Disabilities act (ADA), more information found here. This is important as PAs and SLIs alike are often privy to sensitive information, or are involved in highly personal support functions.  Procurement based on individual preference not only upholds the rights of the person with disabilities, but also supports in safeguarding, as support staff are already known and trusted by the participant before joining the program.  

When Inclusion Needs are Beyond the Scope of a Program

Sometimes, the needs of an individual participant are complex and require support beyond what your program can provide (e.g. long term mental heath care or specialized rehabilitation support). This is why referral networks are important.  

Learn more about Partnerships for Inclusion here