Dominican University Researchers get Grant to Improve Arts Access for Neurodivergent

People with autism or other sensory conditions might find attending cultural events less stressful thanks to researchers at Dominican University of California in San Rafael.

Associate professor Caroline Umeda and a team of doctoral students in occupational therapy have received a three-year, $600,000 federal grant to study solutions for people who experience so-called neurodivergent disabilities.

“There’s a small but growing body of research documenting that neurodivergent individuals and their families are positively impacted by sensory-friendly and other access programs developed with occupational therapy consultation,” Umeda said.

Umeda, 47, of San Rafael said the work is part of a new focus on occupational therapy research in the disability access movement empowered by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

“We consider it an emerging practice area,” said Umeda, a six-year member of Dominican’s faculty. “It’s an area that not that many occupational therapists are involved in.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act has always focused on serving people with all disabilities, physical or mental, Umeda said. However, she said, physical disabilities have received most of the attention in terms of adding wheelchair ramps, accessible bathrooms and other accommodations.

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“What has now become more visible, and what is getting more attention, is that we, as a society, have not been as good at serving people with intellectual disabilities or developmental disabilities,” Umeda said.

She attributes that to the fact that neurodivergent conditions such as autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, for example, might not be as apparent at first glance as the impairments of people using wheelchairs or crutches.

“The needs of those individuals are sometimes less visible, less concrete,” Umeda said. “It’s been a little easier to say we can make a theater accessible to someone in a wheelchair than to make it more accessible for someone with autism.”

Neurodivergent disability interventions in theaters, for example, could include adding a “chill space” in the lobby where children or adults could sit in a quiet room, perhaps in a comforting bean bag chair, to escape the anxiety of being overwhelmed by large groups of people.

Also, in the audience section, therapists could add a special tech-friendly seating area for children or adults who need to use cellphones, tablets or headphones during a performance in order to be better engaged. Other special audience sections could include movement-friendly seating areas for fidgety children or adults with ADHD.

At the Seattle Children’s Theatre, where Umeda added such accommodations while doing research for the University of Washington prior to coming to Dominican, the venue has incorporated a series of “sensory sensitive” performances into its 2024 schedule.

“We are excited to share this special performance series specially modified for children and groups with sensory needs,” the theater says on its website.

In Marin, Umeda and her students added similar interventions at the Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley for a performance of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and at the 23 Elephants Theatre Co. in San Anselmo for a performance of “Mamma Mia!”

In addition to theaters, students researched ways to make the planetarium and volunteer services department more accessible at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. They determined that visual cues, such as guidebooks with words and pictures, could be added to make the center more engaging to those with sensory needs, Umeda said.

“When someone with an intellectual disability or a sensory processing challenge attends a show, it may be difficult to engage just by listening to the words coming at them,” Umeda said. “Research shows that visual guides can support engagement and understanding of some people who engage better with written words and pictures versus listening to spoken words.”

In the new three-year grant project, Umeda will work with three Bay Area cultural organizations, including one in Marin. Citing research protocol, she declined to name the organizations.

Dominican is leading the new project, which also involves George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee.

The funding is from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research. The funding is directly related to Dominican’s status as a minority-serving institution, according to Sarah Gardner, a spokesperson for the university.

Gardner said the three goals of the grant are to build a foundation for occupational therapists working in arts access; evaluate the impact of occupational therapy consultations on the capacity of arts and cultural organizations to support access and inclusion; and improve inclusion for people with disabilities in cultural settings.

“While occupational therapists typically work in clinics, hospitals and nursing facilities, there’s growing demand for their services in other settings, including cultural arts organizations seeking to increase accessibility through programming, materials and resources for the neurodivergent population,” Gardner said.

Dominican offers doctoral and master’s degrees in occupational therapy, Gardner said.

Umeda said part of the grant project will involve giving staff at cultural venues special training on disability access. Researchers will administer surveys before and after the training to assess whether the sessions enhanced staff understanding of neurodivergent conditions.

Later, surveys will also be administered to performance attendees with disabilities to see if the accommodations made their arts experiences more enjoyable and relaxing.

“From an occupational therapy lens, the idea is to figure out how do we help organizations create an environment that will potentially meet a number of different needs,” Umeda said. “No two groups or individuals with disabilities will have the same needs.”