{"id":356059,"date":"2019-03-19T08:39:49","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T12:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmusicusa.wpengine.com\/?p=356059"},"modified":"2021-06-01T21:34:01","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T21:34:01","slug":"qa-autistic-accessibility-in-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmusicusa.org\/nmbx\/qa-autistic-accessibility-in-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Autistic Accessibility in Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Part 3 of my Introductory Course to Improving Autistic Accessibility in Music<\/em>. In this post, I will answer a selection of the wonderful reader-submitted questions, covering topics like sensory-friendly rooms, classroom techniques, wheelchair accessibility, stimming, and more. I have condensed, edited, and combined several questions.<\/p>\n

As always, my answers represent solely my own opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of other autistic people, whom you should learn from as well.<\/p>\n

If you need to catch up, you can check out: <\/strong><\/p>\n

Part 1: An Open Letter From Your Autistic Colleague<\/a>
\nPart 2: Master Guide to Improving Autistic Accessibility in Music<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are all the questions in this post.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If an autistic student has challenges with speaking up in class, how can I help?<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. How can educators make musical groups more accessible to those on the spectrum?<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. How can I provide better guidance for autistic students interested in performance careers?<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. How can we navigate situations that welcome some autistic people but exclude others?<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Is it okay to ask audience members what their needs are?<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. What are some good ways to tell audience members that stimming is okay?<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. How can we accommodate audience members in louder genres like rock, pop, metal, etc.?<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. What autistic needs can I be more aware of when designing virtual experiences like webinars?<\/a><\/li>\n
  9. In sensitivity training, I learned to use person-first language, but you use identity-first. So which is it?<\/a><\/li>\n
  10. What do I need for my sensory-friendly room?<\/a><\/li>\n
  11. What are your thoughts on traditional \u201caccommodations conversations\u201d and the fact that autistic musicians are often left out of discussions?<\/a><\/li>\n
  12. Would you be able to consult with us?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    [banneradvert]<\/p>\n

    Education:<\/h2>\n

    <\/a><\/p>\n

    1.\u00a0Comfort and participation<\/h4>\n

    If an autistic student has challenges with speaking up in class in discussions, how should the instructor react? Should we call them out by name, i.e. \u201c…and Kathy, how do you feel about that?\u201d Should we get even more specific, i.e. \u201cKathy, what kind of chord is in measure 4?\u201d I\u2019m curious how the neurotypical teacher + autistic student relationship can be developed comfortably so as to optimize the student\u2019s learning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Great question. It seems your key goal and thus, guiding principle, lies at the end of your last sentence: The goal in mind is to optimize the autistic student\u2019s learning. <\/em>For the purposes of my answer and this audience, I\u2019m going to assume that you mean \u201clearning\u201d in a holistic sense that prioritizes every student\u2019s individualized experience with the material, accounts for different paces, and embraces each person\u2019s unique synthesis of information. I\u2019m also going to assume that you have not<\/em> already spoken with the student privately about this.<\/p>\n

    Anyway, you\u2019ve posed a question here about how to compassionately handle an autistic student that has challenges speaking up. First, you might determine whether the autistic student is actually having<\/em> challenges <\/em>speaking up, or whether they are simply not <\/em>speaking up (for whatever reason). Perhaps the student simply does not realize that speaking up is expected, useful, or serves a purpose other than \u201cgetting my participation points\u201d or \u201cmaking the teacher happy.\u201d Moreover, the student may not realize they are being quiet in the first place. I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve stopped mid-conversation while talking to a loved one; I simply do not realize that the words have stopped coming out of my mouth, because my thoughts and feelings continue in my brain. Students who are not aware of their silence may respond better when specifically invited to talk.<\/p>\n

    If the student has challenges with speaking up, I would approach this from a broader viewpoint: In order for any student to speak up in class, they must first feel safe and supported. Thus, if I were a teacher, I would do everything within my power to established a safe learning environment in the classroom from the outset. Safe environment means not only safety from harassment and bullying but also explicit normalization of autistic needs and behaviors. To be clear, I don\u2019t mean specifically naming autism and calling people out, but establishing right at the beginning of the semester that your classroom is neurodiversity-positive, that stimming is welcome, and that you support everyone\u2019s need to take care of themselves, would be a great first step. Throughout the semester, it would then be important to avoid singling the autistic person out. This includes imposing rules on the rest of the class that don\u2019t apply to the autistic person, because as soon as the autistic person \u201cbreaks the rule,\u201d other students call it into question (\u201chow come Kathy can do it?\u201d), which prompts the student or teacher to awkwardly justify \u201cbecause Kathy is autistic and needs an exception.\u201d Yikes.<\/p>\n

    It would also help to address your expectations with class discussion head-on, give specific reasons why individual contributions may add to the greater whole, and lay out any protocol you have in mind for conducting discussion. You could even ask students to weigh in on the agreed-upon discussion requirements and protocol, though if you let students influence the decision, make sure to hear from every person, not just the dominant few. Do they want to pass a baton around? Engage in discussion loosely? Hear from every person during every class? Allow for ebb and flow? While this may not be possible for all classrooms, it\u2019s an idea to consider when appropriate. This is also a good time to establish hard lines for respect and affirmation during discussion, to note that people have different speaking styles and that while some people speak quickly, others may take a longer time to get their words out.<\/p>\n

    Now to address your specific, in-the-moment question! Here are some tips.<\/p>\n