Let's Make the Prom Inclusive

I recently gave a TEDx talk where I shared my thoughts about how high school proms should invite, include and support students of all abilities. I think that holding separate proms for students with special needs means they may not feel invited to attend the prom at their own high school, and I believe they should have choice. I would like to create a project called #InclusiveProm where we would encourage high schools around the country to commit to an Inclusive Prom by taking a pledge. We would provide tools and resources to help schools overcome any barriers to participation- like a series of YouTube videos teaching prom skills (Did you know that a barrier to attending prom for some students with autism is not understanding the social rules around the event? Dancing, dress code, how to ask for a dance). My partner in developing this project is Stephen Hinkle, noted disability advocate and speaker who has a developed training materials on school dances for students with autism, based on his own experience. We will also partner with other inclusion and disability organizations to promote the campaign using social media. The money we raise will go to adapting the training materials for this project (Stephen's time and expertise), building a webpage (Kids Included Together staff), hiring a dance teacher or other professionals to be in the videos, a videographer to produce the videos, and any graphic design needed for downloadable guides and resource materials. Kids Included Together, a national non-profit with a mission to help organizations include children of all abilities, will administer this project, and once created it will be available for free to any high school, disability or inclusion organization, PTA, etc. 

Would you like to be a part of this social change effort? We will list the names of all contributors in our videos and on a campaign webpage. Who knows, we may even say your name in the video! We will also send you updates about the project's progress and how many high schools committed to an inclusive prom in 2016. 

By helping with this project, you help us make sure that a milestone event in a child's life is available to everyone.