Michelle She Her (00:00.642)

Hello, hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Empowered to Advocate podcast. This is Michelle and I'm joined with, bye, Dana Marie.

Dana Marie (00:10.528)

Hi, everybody.

Michelle She Her (00:12.31)

And we have a fun little episode today to break up all the serious topics that we've been talking about. And I mean, I guess it's still a serious topic. It's about accessibility of summer activities. Today, we're going to be primarily focusing on activities in the greater Boston area, the New England area. So if you are listening outside of that area and you're planning on coming to Boston,

You might even want to bookmark this for when you make a trip or to share with somebody that you know in the area. But tune in, stick around because we might have some ideas for you to then be able to ask other museums and places around you when going to visit. So we're going to be talking about some of the amazing places in the Boston area that have made themselves accessible for folks with a variety of cognitive, developmental, emotional, physical disabilities. We're just going to kind of highlight them and then mostly direct you to the link in the show notes and in the bio on our Instagram, at Empowered to Advocate on Instagram, so that you can download our free Boston summer accessibility guide. So with that, I'm going to toss it right over to Dana Marie to highlight our first of five that we're going to highlight. The accessibility guide has a lot more on it, but we're going to highlight five today.

Dana Marie (01:37.948)

Yeah, I was going to say we can't go through. I think we have almost 25 in our accessibility guide, 25 activities with links and information, and we certainly can't go through all of them today. So we chose five that we think our listeners would like, would appreciate. And like Michelle said, I'm going to jump right in. So if you are in the Boston area, in Massachusetts, one of the things that we recommend that you do is actually go to mass.gov in our accessibility guide that you can get your hands on. But when you head to mass.gov, you can actually get a list of accessible hiking trails, accessible pools and spray decks. You can get a list of which beaches have accessible, not just access, but also the ability to rent a beach wheelchair for the day and things like that. So you'll find in our guide, there are a few different links, but there are many ways that you can check in on the accessibility features of sort of outdoor spaces in the summertime. And that's why we are primarily focusing on the summertime here. So when we're thinking about pools and beaches and trails, there's some information also in the guide about if you're planning to go to like the Boston Harbor Islands or, you know, somewhere a little bit further out.

All of this information can be found at mass.gov with these links and you can see which are the accessible beaches, which are the accessible pools, spray decks, et cetera. And so that's one thing that we recommend, especially for low cost or no cost options for summer activities. That's one thing that we recommend starting with and looking at.

Michelle She Her (03:26.722)

I think it's really amazing that Mass.gov has that compilation because I can imagine how challenging it is for families to find really fun outdoor activities and how disappointing it could be to get somewhere and find that that trail that you thought was going to be a accessible trail maybe is not or that it's closed or something like that. So I'm sure folks in other states, your state government website probably has something similar. If you are unsure how to find that, or you need some help with that, let us know. Send us an email so we can help you try to navigate your state's website, if that would be helpful for you. So with that, we're going to talk about the Museum of Science. And I absolutely love the Museum of Science for, first of all, they're

really make it as easy as possible for folks with a variety of different disabilities, vision disabilities, hearing disabilities, sensory needs, all these pieces, to have an enjoyable and relaxing time at the museum. And one of the things that first really drew my attention to how true this is, because you know, people, there can be a lot of lip service out there on the internet, right? About, well, we are accessible, we are inclusive, and sometimes it's, they're not putting the actions behind the words, but in this case, Bernadette Henry, who is somebody that I follow, particularly for her jump rope styling and fitness on Instagram, she's credible woman, but she was just recently here in the Boston area visiting with her son, who has I believe he has autism. And I'm going to actually link her blog because she wrote a blog about her experience at the Museum of Science and huge kudos to them for being so accepting and welcoming of all. So she wrote a blog about during her visit, her son was having a hard time regulating and they like, the staff members were totally understanding, helped get him into a quiet space, helped calm him down, helped work with her and him

you know, there was no judgment or, you know, like, I can't believe he's acting like this in this space. So they really had the action behind what their statement when they say that they are accepting and welcoming of all. They offer a variety of accessibility features for hearing, vision and mobility needs. They also have an accessibility coordinator that you can contact ahead of time to help plan out your visit, including

They'll give you information and suggestions to really tailor your visit to you and your family's needs. And they also give suggestions on quieter times to visit, because they know that sometimes during a high peak time, visitation time can be challenging for a lot of folks with disabilities. So I think that huge shout out to the Boston Museum of Science for the work that they do to truly be as accessible as possible.

and it sounds like they also take feedback and take it seriously.

Dana Marie (06:53.504)

Mm-hmm. I think you bring up a good point before we get into number three. I think we're highlighting places that we have found to be accessible from our perspective, right? But we do not know what it feels like for every child, for every family to be in these spaces and to be in these places, right? From our vantage point, from our perspective, they are accessible spaces from what the, you know, museum is saying, to what the garden is saying, to what the farm is saying, what's on their website. Our experience is visiting some of these places, but we also recognize that our experience is just one experience. And so I think that that's important too, and one reason that I like the method of the Museum of Science, that you can contact the coordinator, the accessibility coordinator, ahead of time if that feels good to you, because every single child obviously is different, every family's experience is different, and you may be able to give them some background information about your child and your family that's helpful to plan a trip or visit that's more tailored to you. And I think that goes for any of the ones that we're highlighting today. While they may be more accessible than other spaces or might have the resources available to you and your family, it's going to look different obviously for every child and every family. So don't obviously be afraid to reach out to these places, to email, to get in contact with somebody like the accessibility coordinator to see if it's really a good fit for you and your family. So with that said, I'm gonna jump into number three, and I'm gonna talk a little bit about the Botanic Gardens in Boylston, Mass. So another sort of outdoor activity. Now, I'm gonna talk specifically about the Botanic Gardens and something that they have coming up at the end of this month.

But know that many places actually do something similar to this or something like this. We highlight more in our guide. This is just one example. But the Botanic Gardens offers a sensory friendly night. So it's at the end of the month, it's June 28th. There is a rain date. So if for some reason it rains on that date, they do have a second date set aside. And on that evening, the gardens are closed sort of to the general public and it's specifically for children and their families who might experience sensory overwhelm and might need a less sensory experience, right? Like Michelle was saying earlier, less crowded experience, less lights, less noise, et cetera. And so that particular night at the beginning of the summer is set aside just for that experience. And that's something that you can plan ahead of time, you can get tickets to. And we have found in our research over the last year,

We put together this guide last year and then updated it for this year. And we have found that many organizations, many places have something like this where they set aside some time for some more sensory friendly experiences, especially for folks who can't go during the day. Or like I said, one, it's too noisy or bright or too many, quite frankly, moving pieces. So I really wanted to highlight this one.

Like I said, the Botanic Gardens, Boylston Mass, if you're in and around the Boston area, it's not too, too far out. And that's June 28th with a rain date of I think early July. So we will link that in the guide too so that you have all the information if that's something that would be interesting to you. So, hi now.

Michelle She Her (10:23.218)

That sounds fun. And yeah, I know that one of the, at least one of the zoos has a sensory friendly night. And some places even do things like sensory kits. So they'll put, you can go and when you come in, you can ask for a sensory kit and it'll have like fidgets and things in it that could be useful for kids. So yeah, awesome. So number three today, we're going to talk about.

Windrush Farm up in North Andover, Mass. And they are the oldest and largest therapeutic riding center for adults and children with physical, cognitive, and or emotional challenges. And what they do is they provide children and adults with special needs with hippotherapy for ages two and up, and from ages six and up, therapeutic riding and horse-related activities with a variety of folks with disabilities, everything from ADHD to cerebral palsy to Down syndrome to traumatic brain injury. And what's really nice about them is like this, they were built for folks with special needs, right? So they're not a horse farm that then added on accessibility. So they are built with accessibility in mind.

And they do offer writing lessons for those without special needs and offer integrated classes when they can. So you know that there is even opportunities if you perhaps have a child with special needs and without who could perhaps take writing lessons together. So that is an option. I'm not sure on the financial accessibility. I did see something on their website about like sponsors and scholarships. So if I'm not, I would have to imagine that any sort of horse riding equine therapy is probably expensive, but it does seem like they do have opportunities for.

to make it more financially accessible if you need that. So contact them if you are interested in having your child take some horse lessons, equine therapy, reach out to them and that is also linked in the summer accessibility guide.

Dana Marie (12:52.648)

Awesome, and that was number four for folks that are following along. And I'm really glad that you, I am glad that you brought up financial diversity and sort of just financial accessibility, right? Because I think that's an important piece here too. In our guide, you will find everything from no cost to low cost to obviously slightly more expensive.

things like the equine therapy. So if you are thinking, I can't, you know, pay for tickets to every sensory experience or sensory night at a museum or, you know, tickets to even the museum of science can be expensive if you can't get them through the library or, you know, another organization. So keeping in mind that there are options sort of at all pay levels for the summer because we understand how the summer can get very, very expensive for all families.

when school is not in session full time. So with that said, number five is actually really not, it's not a specific place or a specific event, so we misled you a little bit with saying these were the top five, but this we wanted to just highlight that kind of like we've been saying all along, many of these websites for these places, whether it's a museum or a beach or a hiking trail, or a garden or a farm, whatever the case may be, you can find accessibility information on many of their websites or contact person that you can reach out to and ask about specific futures that would be helpful to your child, children, your family. So we really encourage you to do that if you are able. Like Michelle said, we're also happy to help dig a little for you, whether you're in the Boston area or outside, but most of the places that we've been sort of researching over the last year, pretty easily to find the information. It was pretty easy to find the information, but many of them at least list on their websites what the features are, what the accessibility features are. I'll give you one example in our guide. We talk a little bit about the Boston Public Library, right, the downtown Boston Public Library, a beautiful space. If you go to their website and you dig a little, obviously,

There's some things that folks might not know. They have entire collections in Braille. So entire collections of not just books, but magazines and newspapers that you can access in Braille. They have a separate accessible entrance. So if you are unable to go through the main entrance, there is an accessible entrance. There are options for audio, for headphones, all sorts of things, but those are things that you might not know or that people might not generally know. I know when I was on that particular website, I was like, oh, I didn't even know there was another entrance that folks could get through. I just assumed everyone had to go into that main entrance, which by the way, is not accessible. So when you go to the website of any of these places, dig around a little bit, because you might find more information and it might not be super readily available on the front page, but you might find what you're looking for or what would feel helpful for your child and for your family. And

With all of that said, we know that the summer can be just as busy as the school year. Your child might be in extended school year services. Most school districts run extended school year services Monday through Thursday, at least through lunchtime. We know that folks have trips planned and vacations. It can be just as busy as this school year. So we do also encourage you to do things that, you know,

feel good and feel relaxing as much as possible and feel like you're not having to pack your schedule and do all the activities and all the things. There are some things on this list that are significantly more low key than other things. And if you're like, I can't add one more thing to my summer, we encourage you to just maybe look at some of the lower key options because those are there as well.

So like Michelle said, we are going to link our accessibility guide, our summer accessibility guide. We're going to link some of the folks that we talked about today. And when you get that guide, you'll see that there are actually over 20 different activities or places that we're highlighting. And we should also note that we could have had 50, we could have had 75. We picked the 20 or so that felt the most useful, that felt like people would enjoy and want to go to, but if you have other ideas, please drop them in the comments, reach out to us by email. Let us know what else has been a good experience. That's how we find things too, by people telling us the good experiences that they've had at different places, museums, libraries, et cetera.

Michelle She Her (17:59.062)

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say is, you know, please reach out and let us know of any places where you feel you were, that was very welcoming, that really went above and beyond. And because then we can add those reviews and those recommendations to the guide, even if it's a place that's already on the guide, having kind of that real life review. Cause like Dana Marie said, everybody's experience is gonna be different. And you as a family with somebody who needs certain accessibility features is gonna be different than when Dana-Marie and I go places and you're gonna see things through a different lens than perhaps we see things through. So, you know, reach out to us in powertoadvocate at gmail.com and go download that guide, share it with your friends, give us feedback and have a super fun and safe summer. But before we let you go for the summer, just wanna give a little plug that our last episode of season two is going to go live hopefully next week with a really special guest. And I mean, all of our guests have been really special, but I don't even want to say who it is yet until we introduce her next week. You're just going to have to wait and find out who she is. But you are going to love her as much as I do. So with that, unless you have anything else to add,

We'll see you next week.

Dana Marie (19:29.516)

Bye everybody.