Advancing Disability Inclusion Through Dance

K-12 STEAM education

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Approximately 1 million Angelenos – 10% of the LA County population – live with a disability. It is a minority group anyone can join at any time, yet the inequalities are vast. The Harvard Business Review has stated that while 97% of companies have diversity programs or statements in place, only 59% consider disability in those initiatives. For disabled people, the gap in access to education, employment, and recreational opportunities continues to widen. For example, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the 2019 employment rate for people with disabilities to be 19.3%, compared to 66.3% for those without disabilities.
Children with disabilities are 2-3 times more likely to be bullied than their non-disabled peers and children with perceived differences are more likely to be socially isolated. One cause for these inequities is the lack of disability history, disability awareness, and disability inclusion education in mainstream school curricula in the US and globally.

Infinite Flow Dance is an award-winning Los Angeles based nonprofit and professional dance company that employs disabled and nondisabled dancers with diverse, intersectional identities with a mission to advance disability inclusion, one dance at a time. Infinite Flow’s school assembly program educates youth about disability inclusion, fosters empathy, and cultivates inclusive leadership skills from an early age. Children learn to embrace disability as a natural part of human existence while also learning to celebrate differences and their own uniqueness. View our School Assembly Video Digest.
We have held 80 school assemblies, serving over 15,000 school children. During the pandemic we turned our in-person school assembly program into a virtual program by creating Scoops of Inclusion, a 47-minute short film, and online learning platform, free for anyone to access.
We want to ensure our assembly program is also available to everyone, including schools in low-income neighborhoods in LA County. Disability inclusion is a topic that spans across race, color, gender, sexual orientation, age, geography, social economic status, immigration status, etc. With funding from this grant we will: Sponsor school assemblies at 20 public elementary schools located in low-income neighborhoods in LA County, impacting 10,000+ school children. Pilot a K-8 online learning platform where educators can access grade-specific lesson plans that are easily adaptable to diverse learning styles.

Some of the greatest inventions in the world were initially designed for and by people with disabilities. The typewriter was invented in the early 1800s as a result of a blind woman seeking to write a love letter in her privacy. Email was invented by a deaf engineer finding a way to communicate with his deaf wife at a distance. The touch screen was invented by a software engineer suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome. What seemed like a limitation turned into an opportunity for creativity and innovation. What would LA County look like if we placed disability inclusion first, not last across all sectors?
We envision LA County to be a place where we all belong and thrive, regardless of race, ethnicity, immigration status, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other identity. Imagine all children in LA County receiving a solid education on disability inclusion and growing up confident in their own unique identities and celebrating each other’s differences.

Since our first elementary school assembly in 2017, we have held over 80 school assemblies at over 30 elementary schools, serving over 15,000 school children. To assess the impact of our assemblies we have taken survey data for both our in-person school assembly and Scoops of Inclusion. When we surveyed 60 4-5th grade students who engaged with Scoops of Inclusion, our virtual school assembly, 100% of students responded with “Agree” or “Strongly Agree” to the statement: “Scoops of Inclusion addresses important topics that all kids should know about.” When we asked, “When you think of “disability,” what are the first 3 words that come to mind?” Our surveys revealed that children's views on disability shift significantly from negative to positive after experiencing our in-person school assembly program. View the Survey Reference Image for some results. Video References:
View Testimonials from students View Testimonial from a school principal