Boston University’s “Project Team” is recruiting for their spring program

The barrier could be as simple as getting through a crowded room using a wheelchair or as complex as getting across a crowded city street using a wheelchair, using public transportation (using that same wheelchair) and navigating to the counter of popular city coffee bar to order your favorite cup of joe.

Whether the barriers are (seemingly) simple or obviously complicated, people with disabilities (those who use wheelchairs or those who don’t), face barriers in their everyday environment that many of us who do not have the same disabilities do not recognize as barriers. And that’s okay – as long as we listen when we are informed of the barriers and move to action to help eradicate said barriers.

My daughter Marianne recently participated in a program, called Project Team, that was designed to help people with disabilities advocate for the removal of barriers they encounter in their daily lives.

Project Team was developed by Jessica Kramer and her team at the Boston University Department of Occupational Therapy to work with young people with intellectual or physical disabilities to name barriers in their environment that keep them from reaching their goals and to be proactive in making changes so that the barriers are removed. The participants, aged 14 to 21, meet twice weekly for 8 weeks with peer mentors and team leaders to name barriers that they confront and to create game plans to change the environment. The goal is for these young people to learn to externalize challenges so that the obstacles can be removed – rather than simply giving up on one’s goals because it’s easier.

Marianne, who is 14 and uses a wheelchair, participated in Project Team this fall in Newton, and let me assure you, she is using her newly-developed advocacy skills daily!

There will be a group running in the Dedham/Sharon area after the February public school break, and if you are a young adult with developmental disabilities or know one who could benefit, please contact Jessica Kramer to find out more information. Both Marianne and I recommend Project Team highly.

Click here for more information on the spring recruitment: Recruitment Flyer_Trainee_v1.1

One thought on “Boston University’s “Project Team” is recruiting for their spring program

  1. Joanne & Marianne – thanks SO much for posting this!

    One minor change is that we will be offering Project TEAM during the Spring of 2014 in the Needham area! We are currently recruiting – please check out the flier posted for information!

    Happy New Year!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>