Join Julie and Kristie, two accessibility consultants, as they provide a foundation on what Disability Justice is and how it can be used to create accessible and inclusive learning experiences in nature. Disability Justice is a movement and a framework that can guide educators on how to assess and create inclusive nature experiences, as well as how to support disabled and neurodivergent learners. This virtual workshop will review one of the disability justice principles and show you step-by-step how to incorporate the principle into your work. Audience members are encouraged to come with all of their accessibility and inclusion questions! Julie and Kristie’s favorite part of presenting is providing support during Q&A.

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Julie Nowak (she/they) is a multiply-disabled and neuroqueer educator, consultant, and writer with an M.Ed. in Adult Education and Community Development. Through their project “The Seasonal Body”, Julie explores the intersection of disability justice, nature connection, food justice, and body liberation. She helps institutions and individuals learn how to make nature connection more accessible. Julie is a white person with Celtic and Germanic ancestry, based near Tkaronto (Toronto, Canada). They view both the #LandBack movement and ancestral connection as important for nature-related work. You can follow Julie at SeasonalBody.org and @TheSeasonalBody on social media.

Kristie Cabrera (they/them) is a queer, non-binary, Latine, disabled and neurodivergent, accessibility and inclusivity consultant with a background in occupational therapy. Kristie guides organizations on how to improve their internal practices around accessibility and inclusivity. Kristie is primarily passionate about working with nature and food based spaces. Having access to land and food can promote healing, wellness, and ancestral connection and it is important that everyone, including disabled and neurodivergent people, have equal opportunities to these benefits. Kristie’s work is centered around unpacking ableism, helping others to understand accessibility and inclusivity practices, and creating improvements to a site’s physical design, educational programs/curriculums, and work culture. You can follow Kristie’s work through their website KristieCabrera.com.

Explore how Nature can be ‘Naturally Inclusive’ with Dr. Ruth Wilson’s book, Naturally Inclusive: Engaging Children of All Abilities Outdoors.