THE MARCH GOES ON: COMMUNITY ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Although civil rights legislation designed to remove barriers to and promote full and equal participation in communities has led to some improvements, barriers remain. These barriers create participation disparities among people with disabilities, which in turn contribute to feelings of isolation an...

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Published inJournal of community psychology Vol. 43; no. 3; pp. 348 - 363
Main Authors McDonald, Katherine E., Williamson, Pamela, Weiss, Sally, Adya, Meera, Blanck, Peter
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.04.2015
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects
Action research
Emotional disorders
Health care access
People with disabilities
Public health
Social services
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Summary:Although civil rights legislation designed to remove barriers to and promote full and equal participation in communities has led to some improvements, barriers remain. These barriers create participation disparities among people with disabilities, which in turn contribute to feelings of isolation and poorer health. We used participatory action research to understand present‐day accessibility of important and understudied community settings, namely, state and local government facilities, programs, and services. Using an innovative approach to examining accessibility, we were able to compare the experiences of researchers with and without disabilities, thereby allowing us to identify disparities between the two groups. We found that some progress in providing access has been achieved but that other barriers persist; access for individuals with vision‐related disabilities may be most problematic. Findings indicate that more needs to be done to achieve full accessibility and inclusion.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-4Q9M5SVV-6
ArticleID:JCOP21683
istex:71DCD2DEEC36003007E8D81859501493000B8CA3
The DBTAC: Southeast ADA Center Participatory Action Research (PAR) Consortium comprises Julia Brock, Rene Cummins, Donna DeStefano, Christy Dunaway, Karen Hamilton, Nancy Duncan, Camille Fallaw, Dan Kessler, Barry Whaley, Christine Woodell and members of the State Cross‐Disability Research Teams from the Southeast ADA Center Affiliate Network. (Members of the State Cross‐Disability Research Teams are as follows: Amanda Alford, Joyce Allen, Rickey Anderson, Michael Atkins, Sammie Barstow, Michelle Bazeley, Joan Black, Vicki Black, G. Dylan Brown, Loretta Bryan, Carla Conte, Kenton Dickerson, Stuart Favre, Connie Givens, Bob Habas, Fred Johnson, Rob Kennedy, Randy Lavender, Herbert Leysth, Sofia Maneschi, Sharon McCurry, Mark Montgomery, Amanda Neiman, Daniel Nelson, Cindy Paulding, Nancy Pendegraph, Alex Perry, Annis Platt, Theresa Redding, Stacy Ridgway, Christian Rivera, Patricia Jane Shirley, Augusta Smith, Katie Wolf Smith, James Stuart, Jr., Michael Sullivan, Gabriela Villegas, Katie Weaver, Ray Williams, Pam Wilkerson, Carl Wilson, and Stacy Youngman.)
We also appreciate Shelley Kaplan, Mary Morder, Tal Araten‐Bergman, Naomi Schreuer, Kaitlin Powers, Kari Inners, Julia Sain, and William Myhill.
We would like to acknowledge the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) for providing funding for this research (grant # H133A060094). The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of the funder.
ISSN:0090-4392
1520-6629
DOI:10.1002/jcop.21683