"Meet, Haben Girma, a BIPOC,  Ethiopian woman who is the first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, Haben Girma is a human rights lawyer advancing disability justice. President Obama named her a White House Champion of Change. She received the Helen Keller Achievement Award, a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and TIME100 Talks. President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Chancellor Angela Merkel have all honored Haben. Haben believes disability is an opportunity for innovation, and she teaches organizations the importance of choosing inclusion." -

Website: Haben Girma

"Founded in 1974, Creative Growth is a leader in the field of arts and disabilities, establishing a model for a creative community guided by the principle that art is fundamental to human expression and that all people are entitled to its tools of communication." The Creative Growth Studio is home to over 140 artists who work in a variety of media. Facilitated by professional artists, the studio provides artistic support, high-quality materials, and space for painting, drawing, ceramics, woodwork, fiber arts, printmaking, and digital media. The studio is an open space, converted 12,000 square foot former auto repair shop."

Website: Creative Growth

Mary Dignan was born with moderate to severe hearing loss, but her deafness was not diagnosed until she was almost 5 years old, after she had been diagnosed as having a cognitive disability. A routine eye test for reading glasses during her college years revealed the onset of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) symptoms. Eventually she would learn that she had Usher syndrome, Type 2, which is characterized by moderate to severe deafness at birth, and blindness from RP later in life.  After ten years of increasing deafness, she received a cochlear implant in 2008 and is delighted to be back in the hearing world again. Mary has shared her mosaic technique with blind and deaf-blind students in the US, Canada and India, and teaches mosaic classes in her home studio and through Creative Edge (www.creative-edge.org). Mary’s community service work includes six years on the Disability Advisory Committee to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, more than a decade of support and service to Bread of Life and Spirit in the Arts (www.breadoflife.org), and five years on the board of directors of the Sacramento Chapter of Foundation Fighting Blindness. 

WEBSITE: RIT/MARY DIGNAN

Judith Scott was an American fiber sculptor, born with Down Syndrome and deaf. She was internationally renowned for her art. In 1987, Judith was enrolled at the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California, which supports people with developmental disabilities. There, Judith discovered her passion and talent for abstract fiber art, and she was able to communicate in a new form. On April 1, 1987, Judith Scott began attending the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, one of the first organizations in the world to provide studio space for artists with disabilities. Her creative gifts and absolute focus were quickly recognized, and she was given complete freedom to choose her own materials. Taking whatever objects she found, regardless of ownership, she would wrap them in carefully selected colored yarns to create diverse sculptures of many different shapes. Some resemble cocoons or body parts, while others are elongated totemic poles. Many of her works also feature pairs, reflecting Scott's experience as a twin. Judith worked on her art five days a week for eighteen years, producing over 200 pieces in total. WEBSITE: JUDITH SCOTT

ACCESSIBILITY/INCLUSION CHECKLIST RESOURCES: 

• GIVE: Accessibility & Inclusion Resources

• KIT: Disability Inclusion Support Training 

• NYU: Disability Accessibility Checklist 

*Meeting accessibility needs requires creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. It may be a new experience for both you and your student, stay curious and be open to learning!