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Inclusion

Actively and fully participating in community

History shows that when accessibility is built into products, services, facilities, and homes, everyone benefits. When transportation, housing, and public accommodations are fully accessible, the community flourishes from the skills, talents, and economic power (estimated at $500B) of people with disabilities.\

Challenges: There is not enough inclusive housing to meet the need, accessible parking and public transportation are inadequately available, and the accessibility of community spaces is not sufficient for full inclusion.

Although 1 in 4 people have a disability and 1 in 7 have a mobility disability, only about .15% of housing units in the U.S. are wheelchair accessible according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, which analyzed the Census Bureau’s 2019

American Housing Survey. Connect to our Fall newsletter and/or the links in that newsletter.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18lOOo3Top6f0rtAG5ojUjwMSKNovGWKE/view?usp=sharing

69% of people with disabilities report having trouble finding adequate parking. 96% say that parking availability is important to leading an independent life. 2018 report: National survey on Accessible Parking.

https://accessibleparkingcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/0492_IPI_APC_Survey_Infographic_print-1.pdf

Accessible Parking

“Most cities were not built with access for people with disabilities in mind. As such, people with disabilities experience barriers to walking/rolling their communities, accessing public buildings, using transportation, and finding accessible housing. These physical access barriers can affect access to services, social participation, and health among people with disabilities.” Are communities in the United States planning for pedestrians with disabilities? Findings from a systematic evaluation of local government barrier removal plans. Cities 102 (2020) 102720. Yochai Eisenberg et al. This study found that only 13% of 401 localities studied had the ADA-required barrier removal plan readily available.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275119302501

A white man in a power wheelchair is sitting on the lift of his adapted van.
A Black man is sitting in a manual wheelchair at the bottom of a stairway looking up.
A young black man and young white woman are sitting in manual wheelchairs at a public park.

Classes

Gathering Strength YOutube page

Gathering Strength Solutions:

  • Affordable and accessible housing. People with disabilities partner with housing funders and developers to create and market accessible housing. (Todd – create Click through takes to recent Fall newsletter or other info we already have on website (or that I include).
  • Transportation – Include PWD as leaders in policy-making
  • Expand and enforce accessible parking laws (Todd – Click through to our already existing info WAVE story and the ordinance)
  • Assure effective paratransit services from public transportation providers
  • Educate and inform. Accessibility is not merely altruistic, people with disabilities are a “hidden market” with an estimated $500 billion in spending power in the U.S.