Jennifer LeGrand Reiter has worked in the theater community for over 20 years. A Minnesota native, she studied with Royal Courts Young Playwrights Workshop and worked with the Ordway Theater on several of their original productions before joining the staff of the Guthrie Theater in 1999. She was the theater's development manager until early 2007. After her daughter's diagnosis with autism, Reiter shifted to focus on disability advocacy and the creation of sensory friendly arts events. She is a graduate of Partners in Policymaking Class 30, an innovative leadership training program created by the Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities to teach parents and self-advocates the power of advocacy to change the way people with disabilities are supported, viewed, taught, live, and work. She was also a member of the Walker's Community Advisory Group for Sensory Friendly Sundays, a group comprised of professionals, parents, and self advocates who aided in the development of SFS by providing input on structure, programming and staffing.
In Her Own Way and Time: A Mom and Disability Advocate Reflects on Sensory Friendly Sunday
A fixture in the Twin Cities theater scene, Jennifer LeGrand Reiter made a career shift a decade ago, one that matched a shift in her personal life: her daughter was diagnosed with autism. Now a disability advocate, she shares her thoughts on the power of art as an expressive tool for her daughter; the need for the right training, tools, and pacing to better welcome visitors with sensory processing differences; and the Walker’s Sensory Friendly Sunday, the monthly event that has quickly become a regular on the Reiter family calendar.