By Wendy Sarubbi | April 29, 2014 2:48 pm

Actors using the art of Inclusion Theater will help College of Medicine faculty, staff and students learn how to better engage with individuals with disabilities at the next Council on Diversity and Inclusion Lunch & Learn May 6.

The session, “Engaging Disabled People More Fully in our Culture,” will feature actors from Had To Be Productions, who have provided unique theatrical documentary plays and workshops across the country. The experience is designed to help participants experience the issues people with disabilities face and to help us come up with resourceful ways to make the College of Medicine culture more inclusive.

The May 6 event is the third in a yearlong series of Lunch & Learns that focus on understanding, communicating and engaging in an ever-changing world. Previous session dealt with intergenerational communication – “Young People Are Speaking a Foreign Language” – and gender identity.

“These dynamic sessions provide all of us with useful tools on making our College of Medicine more inclusive and engaged and ways we can make our medical school a more inclusive environment where we can all learn, thrive and grow,” said Dr. Lisa Barkley, assistant dean of diversity and inclusion.

The Lunch & Learns are held in Room 101 of the medical education building at Lake Nona from 12:30 to 1 p.m. and are open to all. Please bring your lunch. Participants are asked to arrive between 12:15 and 12:30 p.m. since the sessions will begin promptly at 12:30 p.m.

As part of the Lunch & Learns, the College of Medicine is beginning a new program where the college will formally recognize as Diversity Champions individuals who take specific steps in committing to diversity and inclusion. To be eligible for the designation, participants must attend at least four of the six Lunch & Learns and make a short presentation to the medical school’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion on how the series challenged their beliefs or behaviors. Diversity Champions will receive an honorary certificate and lapel pin and the designation will be part of their personnel file and can be used in their annual evaluations, resumes and vitas.

For more information, please contact Sarah-Vaughn Dottin at svdottin@ucf.edu or at 407-266-1023.

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