Heart of Stark: Local nonprofits provide sensory-friendly community activities
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For Stark County families seeking accessible, sensory-friendly experiences, many organizations in our community offer inclusive activities. These accommodations provide safe environments for individuals with physical, developmental, cognitive or learning disabilities to learn, play and enjoy
The Sensory Room at the Massillon Museum removes barriers to learning and provides ways for engagement in the museum space in a multitude of ways. The designated area on the lower level of the museum is open during all museum hours, and it features multiple types of seating, a yoga ball and mat, a weighted blanket, a sound machine, an eye mask, noise-canceling headphones, a tactile felt and Lego wall, sensory toys and wheelchair-accessible sensory bins.
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The Canton Palace Theatre’s Sensory Cinema is a movie theater experience tailored to patrons with sensory processing disorders and their families. This program utilizes assistive listening technology called hearing induction loops to reduce background noise experienced in a typical movie theater setting and send sound directly into an individual’s hearing aid. Each month, tickets can be purchased for the family movie featuring dim lights, lowered sound and dietary-sensitive offerings at the concession stand.
The Canton Museum of Art partners with KultureCity, the nation’s leading sensory accessibility nonprofit, to better assist and accommodate guests with sensory needs and educate museum staff through continuous training. Found at the front desk, guests can utilize sensory bags containing special KultureCity badges, fidget tools, noise-canceling headphones and other resources.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame offers American Sign Language (ASL) tours for deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals who visit. ASL interpreters are on-hand to provide “Insider Tours” on the first and third Saturdays of every month. Guests who are blind or have low vision can request a Hall of Fame Touch Tour prior to their visit, and a guide will lead them through the galleries while providing detailed descriptions and tactile football pieces to experience.
In addition to these initiatives, many other organizations in our community offer similar sensory-friendly experiences, including sensory-inclusive jump times at Sky Zone Trampoline Park in Belden Village, a sensory room at the Akron-Canton Airport and an inclusive playground at Dogwood Park in North Canton.
Learn more about all of these sensory-friendly experiences at www.visitcanton.com.
The Stark Community Foundation helps individuals, families, businesses and nonprofits achieve their philanthropic goals through a variety of charitable funds and strategic initiatives. Ranked in the top 10% of community foundations in the country, the foundation and its family of donors have granted $230 million to nonprofits since 1963. Learn more at www.starkcf.org.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Heart of Stark: Nonprofits provide sensory-friendly activities
