Eppley’s Ross Edelstein, Visiting Research Assistant in the National Center on Accessibility program, recently attended and spoke at the Kennedy Center’s Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD) AWS conference in Seattle, Washington. This is the third year Ross has attended, and the third that Ross has been on the team presenting the Neurodiversity session of the Foundations Series, a group of introductory sessions at the conference on topics around disability.
In addition, Ross also helped present a session on pre-visit materials, as well as a short talk on sensory room spaces. Previously, he had won the Kennedy Center’s emerging leaders award for his work in inclusion for people with disabilities and continues to be heavily involved in the conference. He’s looking forward to attending LEAD in Cleveland in 2025!
Ross is leading Eppley’s Indiana State Park Accessibility Assessment project and contributes regularly to other Eppley projects as a visiting research associate-project manager. The Indiana State Park Accessibility Project, funded by AWS Foundation, focus on identifying key experiences at Pokagon State Park, Lake Salamonie, Lake Mississinewa, Chain O’Lakes State Park, and Ouabache State Park and assessing accessibility to these key experiences. The project is nearing completion and should set up improved access for all people to these NE Indiana State parks.
Ross’s expertise in accessibility and focus on neurodivergent experiences in parks, visitor centers, museums, and other locations is an emerging expertise area for Eppley’s National Center on Accessibility (NCA) program.
Want to get some of this knowledge for yourself or your organization? The Eppley Center for Parks and Public Lands has several trainings around accessibility, and more, including our PMT program, interpretation program, and others. You can find more information at our website or reach out to us directly!