Adapting a simple technique like mulching illustrates how to create opportunities for people with I/DD to have a real impact while staying engaged, fit, and connected to the community
At KAN, we want to identify meaningful volunteer activities that can be tailored to the interests and abilities of people like Margot who have Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) or related conditions (like Autism). Our ideal activity meets 8 criteria for impact: it is (1) important, (2) effective, (3) closes known gaps in community, (4) easy, (5) low-cost, (6) risk-free, (7) environmentally friendly, and (8) scalable.
We also recognize that this will always entail working in least 5 areas of change: (1) teaching new skills (by drawing on research-based practices whenever possible), (2) identifying important accommodations, (3) adapting equipment and techniques to the skills and interests of the individual, (4) breaking tasks down so that people with and without disabilities can work together, (5) all through relationships with a community partner.
We have been applying these principles to our work developing the Open to All inclusion guidelines with the Land Trust Alliance to answer the question: what are important gaps in environmental conservation that people with disabilities can help to close? It turns out that mulching to help plants thrive can be adapted to fit the bill! By mulching, we mean laying down materials around existing plants (or just-planted ones) to control weeds and help native pants thrive.
Impact
Important: When we help native plants thrive, we capture carbon, create healthy habitats for wildlife, and sometimes also clean our streams. Mulch can be one of the strategies used the battle to control invasive plants that crowd out the native plants that our ecosystem needs to stay in balance. Mulch can be especially important to new plants, giving them an opportunity to become established without being stressed by the sun or competing weeds, at least until they are strong enough to cope on their own.
Effective: Everyone mulches because it works! A thick layer of compost, wood chips, or other materials combined with some kind of weed barrier keeps light from reaching existing weeds and blocks seeds from rooting. The mulch also helps the soil retain moisture in the heat of the summer and can help to nurture the soil to benefit whatever plants you hope to protect, depending on the material used. Guided by tests, we aim for a mulch that combines 1 part coffee/tea grounds (the latter provided graciously by Chaikhana Chai in Kennett) with 2-3 parts wood chips to yield a 30:1 Carbon:Nitrogen ratio. This magic mulch really helped out accessible garden to take off this year! We will also be exploring how effective an extra thick layer of mulch (6" or more) is in getting more established invasives under control.
Closes gaps: Our work with land conservancies and local and state parks makes it clear that there is ALOT of very important work to do and rarely enough resources. Fortunately, state and federal governments work hard to close these gaps, and conservancies are very creative in marshalling volunteers and donations - they just need our help! Consider the 100+ acre Anson B. Nixon park in our town of Kennett that includes streams, woods, trails, playgrounds, playing fields, picnic areas, and even a stage for concerts! It operates with 2 full-time staff and a small annual supplement from the municipality: remarkably, the majority of the work is accomplished by volunteers supported by donations and grants. There are countless parks and preserves like this across the country that exist largely on gifts of time and money, so we are glad to help!
Easy: Mulching itself is pretty easy: once the area is identified and any larger weeds or invasives are cut back, you just lay down a weed barrier of cardboard, taking care to make sure that there are no gaps by overlapping pieces as needed. Then you lay down a healthy . layer of materials (3-4" of woodchips as a minimum). This should help keep new seeds from sprouting, and kill other plants, or at least weaken them so that the new plants (or old ones you mulch around) can get established before the cardboard breaks down (in 3-5 months). These activities that can be readily adapted to the skills of most individuals with some tweaks (described below). It does require assembling materials (mulch, cardboard, pitchforks, crates) on site, gathering and preparing carboard beforehand (breaking down boxes, removing tape, and cutting the cardboard into smaller pieces if mulching a ring around an individual bush or tree), and then finding ways to get lots of mulch to the area to be mulched itself. Removal of weeds is more complex, and may require the involvement of non-disabled volunteers capable of distinguishing good from bad plants and utilizing the necessary tools. If the plan includes designing and then maintaining a bed of new plants is a separate task, this will require much more commitment, which is why we have learned to favor trees and bushes over clusters of smaller plants.
Low-cost: Over time, we have identified local sources for free materials: Cardboard from our local food cupboard, and elsewhere (yes, we will sometimes trash pick and dumpster dive!); wood chips from local landscaping companies, and; spent coffee and tea grounds from local shops (see below). When we are able to clear and mulch around existing native species, we do not even need to buy plants! Tools and crates (see below), are easily acquired. Greater expenses can center on what you use to transport mulch from the pile to the site if the pile is on site but further away.
Risk-free: We became especially interested in mulching as a tool for conservation because of the risks involved in other other stewardship activities, especially for those like Margot who face relatively more challenges. Risks can include the use of cutting (let alone power) tools, any chemicals (even organic ones), and exposure to noxious weeds, and we are interested in working with individuals with I/DD facing relatively fewer challenges to explore what is possible. Transporting and then laying down cardboard and then mulch is entirely risk free, and using a pitchfork to load mulch into crates for transport just a bit more risky.
Environmentally friendly: Not only does the activity help the environment, but the materials used keeps them out of landfills. We choose only boxes without wax coatings (these prevent water from getting through) or plastic coatings that will eventually leach into the soil (though most simple dyes though are now vegetable-based and so safe). Weed cloth might last for years but we choose cardboard that itself returns carbon instead of plastic to the soil, and it is ok that the cardboard will decompose within 3-6 months since our goal is to give native plants and trees a chance to get established. Landscapers are happy to just give us wood chips - they simply send their trucks with wood chips to us directly from local jobs, saving gas and time. And re-using spent coffee and tea grounds feeds the ground instead of going to the dump where they generate methane as they decompose in the mix with other materials.
Scalable: Scalability is important for several reasons. It is easier for Margot to learn a new skill when she has multiple opportunities to practice, so jobs that require doing the same thing a lot of times work well for her. Jobs that can potentially accommodate a group or that can stretch out over a period of months helps to pay off the upfront investment in training, identifying accommodations, adapting practices, and finding the right equipment And most important, a scalable job is more likely to create REAL change that you can see over time. One strategy is to find places where lots of new trees are being planted (especially where it might be difficult to mow around them). We can develop an effective work routine for one person even just mulching 3-4 a week (Margot's current goal), which keeping open the option for occasional events that pull in groups and community volunteers. The good news is that you can find lots of mulching projects in your neighborhood!
Areas of change
Once we find volunteer opportunities that can have an impact, we need to be able to identify ways to adapt these to the interests and abilities of the person with I/DD. In many cases, we can draw important lessons from special education techniques honed over decades in classrooms but still too rarely applied to the real world.
Teaching new skills: We almost always have to anticipate teaching new skills, and build these slowly over time until the person is able to work more independently and for longer periods. This is especially true for someone like Margot, and we have to carefully monitor and respond to any ways that Margot's behavior signals that something is just too hard or uninteresting. The good news is that there is a core set of research-based techniques developed through Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) that can be applied to almost every job for someone like Margot. For example, we use Task Analysis to break the job down into discrete steps that we can build into a functional sequence through Forward or Backward Chaining. We can begin with lots of Prompting and Reinforcement, and slowly fade this over time to increase independence. In each case, we can develop measurable goals to keep Margot moving forward. In this case, we set goals for carrying crates full of mulch, slowly building her endurance to carry heavier crates over longer distances and on more uneven terrain, and with less need for prompting and reinforcement.
Identifying important accommodations: In most cases, we need to make other adjustments to the setting and schedule. In general, flexibility is key! For example, we might need to restrict ourselves to places with easy access to a bathroom. We might need to avoid places (or adjust expectations) that the person cannot easily walk to - for example, we have to decrease our expectations about how far Margot can walk on ground that is uneven or gently sloped, and make allowances if the site to be mulched is far from the parking area. We might need to avoid mulching on days that are too hot or cold, or when it is raining. Taken together, the best arrangements require a community partner who understands that the work might taken time but WILL get done.
Adapting equipment and techniques: Choosing a simple task like mulching over other tasks already limits the number of questions about adapting equipment and techniques. Our biggest challenge was identifying how to carry the mulch. Margot does not have the strength and coordination to manage a wheelbarrow, or to wield a pitchfork. Even just carrying a 5 gallon bucket full of mulch made it hard for her to keep her balance. But we eventually discovered that she could comfortably manage carrying a milkcrate (lined with landscape fabric held in place with hot glue to keep mulch from falling out), or pull several on a handcart over a short distance. It turns out that a milkcrate is also easier to dump precisely. That led us to adapting an electric cargo bike for a wide range of milkcrate-based deliveries... including bringing mulch from the mulch pile directly to the site.
Job carving to help people with and without I/DD to work together: As we identify which skills to teach, which accommodations might be helpful, and which equipment we might adapt, we also start to identify the subset of tasks that the person cannot do. This tells us how one person with a disability and another without can work alongside one another. Sometimes this work occurs at a different time (e.g., a volunteer might clear weeds before Margot arrives). Other times this work occurs at the same time - in the picture above. partners helped to carefully rake the mulch Margot delivered around the plants needing protection, something Margot would find difficult to do.
Building relationships with a community partner: In virtually all cases, a partner agency is involved. In this case, this might involve a park, preserve, or other community site looking to improve the environment. Our first partner was the Meadowitos program at the Kennett Library, launched as part of their Environmental Literacy initiative. Working with a partner helps to identify areas of critical need, and partners can be a source of expertise, materials, and non-disabled volunteers. Partners who recognize the value of engaging people with disabilities will have the flexibility you need. Meadowitos did that - and more - allowing us to piggyback onto the great work they had already done!
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