Inclusion

Issues of inclusion can arise in relation to a wide range of needs. These include disability, general physical and mental health, concerns about race, gender identity, sexual orientation, neurodiversity, and personal life event history.  When we talk about barriers to inclusion, we mean anything that you experience as a barrier to your participation in a retreat that we can reasonably ease with accommodations or supports within the resources we have available to us, and in the context of the delivery of the retreat for the retreat group as a whole.
 

General inclusion statement

At Dhanakosa we believe that the Buddha’s teachings should be available to all.  And we are committed to playing our part in making them so.  A retreat is a special opportunity, and we recognise that for some people there will barriers to attending retreats, both visible and invisible.  We are committed to working to minimise these barriers organisationally in order to provide an environment that is as fully inclusive as we can.  However, we recognise that not all barriers to inclusivity will have been removed at this level.  Sometimes we may simply have missed something or not foreseen your individual needs.  Also, we do not wish to impose our perception of what may be experienced as a barrier by you.  Therefore, we also invite you to engage with us directly to help us address your specific access and inclusion concerns to enable your full and effective participation in retreats.
In the first instance we suggest you discuss your access and inclusion needs with our office team at the point of booking.  However, if you would rather discuss your concerns with our inclusion advocate, Subhanaya, who can be contacted by e-mail at info@dhanakosa.com
 

When might we not be inclusive

Not every aspect of our programme is open to everyone.  Some retreats are only open to specific groups of people.  We do this to create contexts that support engagement and depth of practice amongst those people.  This will be transparent in our programme.  There will always be other aspects of our programme that are open to everyone.  

Occasionally individual’s needs will conflict either with the legitimate needs of another individual or the legitimate needs of the retreat as a whole. Or, we may simply not have the resources available to meet the presented needs.  When this happens, we will work to resolve the conflict as best we can or provide / suggest alternatives.  However, please be understanding that it might not always be possible to meet every need.  If this happens we will do our best to explain clearly why we have not been able to meet your needs, or why we feel they are incompatible with the conditions we need to deliver the proposed retreat.  If you do not agree with our given reasons we will give you recourse to appeal through our concerns procedure.