Walking Equity: Including People with Disabilities in Planning and Programs

By Whitney E. Gray



Flickr.com/photos/lejaz

Many transit agencies have well-developed coalitions or advisory committees focused

on accessibility that include representatives from the disability community. As communities across the U.S. expand transportation options beyond fixed-route buses and trains to incorporate new or updated bicycling and walking facilities, one important thing communities can do is include people with disabilities in planning and project discussions. Listening to the comments and suggestions of future users is one way to make sure that transportation modes are accessible to as many people as possible.

Walking is a form of transportation which can be overlooked but is especially important as Americans’ daily lives have become more sedentary than those of past generations. At the recent Every Body Walk! Walking Summit held in Washington, D.C., October 1-3, walking advocates from across the country gathered "as part of a movement to boost the prevalence of walking and increase the ease of walking or walkability" (Oct. 1 Press Release). Participants included professionals from the fields of advocacy, development, business, education, and government.  

www.pedbikesimages.org / Dan Burden

Walking equity was a main point of conversation, and many participants emphasized the need to consider the abilities of all members of a community when planning walking paths and trails. In her AARP Blog posting, The Infrastructure of Inequality, senior strategic policy adviser Jana Lynott acknowledges the Summit for their focus on equity. “[W]e, as a society, need to put pedestrian accessibility on equal footing with funding for other transportation improvements,” Lynott writes.

At the Summit, Easter Seals Project ACTION was pleased to take part in the discussion of how communities can increase the amount of walking that people do for fun, for exercise, and to get around. At the Community Share Fair on October 2, ESPA staff spoke with Summit participants about walking projects in their communities. One participant was looking to expand a walking program for older adults to include the use of indoor spaces in cases of rain. ESPA staff also spoke to two featured guest speakers, Justin Skeesuck and Patrick Gray, who will be videotaping their 500-mile trek across northern Spain (visit www.IllPushYou.com). As Skeesuck uses a wheelchair, the friends seek to promote physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and wellness through the documentary. Overall, participants at the fair seemed motivated to making walking a reality for everyone regardless of age or ability.

ESPA encourages cities and towns to help make their communities walkable/navigable for all, and perhaps most importantly, make sure children both with and without disabilities understand the importance of access to and participation in outdoor activities. Together, we can create livable cities that are inclusive for all. For more information, see ESPA’s webpages on Accessible Pathways, Livability, and Wayfinding.

Greenville, NC Increases Inclusive Transportation Options with the Purchase of an Accessible Taxi

By Whitney E. Gray

To meet the transportation needs of all residents, communities must consider a variety of options and taxis can be an important part of that mix. Taxis can not only provide support as part of paratransit services but also increase services to all community residents regardless of ability.  Many cities and towns across the country are looking to expand their taxi services for these reasons but may need help with acquiring accessible vehicles.  With perseverance, community partnerships, and technical assistance from Easter Seals Project ACTION, Journey Transportation of Greenville, North Carolina purchased its first accessible taxi this summer―and their story is an example for other areas of how to work with taxi providers and the city to accomplish this goal.



Bob Thompson, Advocacy Coordinator for

Disability Advocates and Resource Center and
chairman of the Pitt Area Transit System, and
Monica Hunter, owner and manager of Journey
Transportation Services (2013)

In March 2005, a team of people from Greenville, N.C. traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in ESPA’s Mobility Planning Institute (See Retrospective from the event). Mr. Bob Thompson, Advocacy Coordinator for Disability Advocates and Resource Center and chairman of the Pitt Area Transit System, was part of the group as was Rhonda Phillips the manager of Pitt Area Transit System (PATS), Nancy Harrington, the manager of Greenville Area Transit System (GREAT) City of Greenville, and Mickey Boykin, another advocate. At MPS Institute, advocates and service providers from Greenville worked together to see what their community’s needs were and how they could work to meet those needs.

Taxis and ADA compliance remained an issue for Greenville, N.C., however. In 2009, a man who used a wheelchair called Mr. Thompson to report that he had been charged $150 to take a taxi to work roundtrip on a Sunday. He could have easily rolled to work if the street had a sidewalk, but it didn’t. At different points, Mr. Thompson himself had been charged around $25 for a 3-mile trip. These high prices most likely included extra charges that are not allowed under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

With great determination, Mr. Thompson started working to get an ordinance passed for ADA compliance. Bill Little, the city attorney, provided him with legal assistance and Ken Thompson, veterans transportation community living initiative and technical assistance coordinator at ESPA, helped by providing technical assistance. In 2010, the ordinance was successfully passed, and the local police department now inspects taxis and looks for compliance issues. Going one step further, the city of Greenville hosted a mandatory meeting on March 26, 2013 and required transportation providers to attend or else forfeit their licenses. At the meeting, ESPA technical assistance specialists Kristi McLaughlin and Krystian Boreyko presented on ADA and taxi service via webinar. ESPA also provided packets on ADA and taxi service, helping to clearly explain how taxi drivers should interact with customers with disabilities.


Mr. Thompson enters Journey
Transportation’s accessible taxi (2013)

More than simply wanting to improve customer service and ADA compliance, Bob Thompson saw taxis as an alternative transportation mode that riders could access 24 hours a day. After the meeting with taxi providers, Mr. Thompson started working with Journey Transportation Service, owned and managed by Monica Hunter, to attain accessible taxis. Journey Transportation was an ideal company to work with as they were well-acquainted with the area’s transit needs: they already provided Medicaid transportation for Pitt County and the NC Department of Social Services and assisted PATS with overflow paratransit rides
 

In 2013, the city started working to apply for a grant to get accessible taxis. Not wanting to wait to obtain the grant, Journey Transportation went ahead and purchased an accessible van. On July 21, 2013, the day of Greenville’s ADA celebration during “Sunday in the Park,” Mr. Thompson took the first ride in the new vehicle. Acquisition of the accessible taxi was monumental for the city and its residents with disabilities.

Now those who use larger wheelchairs and other mobility devices from which the user is not able to transfer to the seat of a vehicle can get wherever they need to go in Greenville at any time of day. Thanks to an ADA advocate’s perseverance, the city’s efforts to work with providers, and a private company’s initiative to purchase a vehicle, the community of Greenville has become more inclusive for all. Partnerships and a willingness to work together were key to the success of improving taxi service in Greenville. The city and Journey Transportation are working to attain more accessible vehicles in an effort to make transportation in Greenville inclusive for all.

WMATA Recognizes ESPA for Serving the Disability Community

By Whitney E. Gray

Dr. Rosalyn Simon

Over the past 25 years, Easter Seals Project ACTION has worked to make accessible community transportation a reality for all. ESPA’s third director, Dr. Rosalyn Simon, was one of the many champions who pushed for the empowerment of people with disabilities through inclusion in public transportation. From 1992 to 1996, Simon guided ESPA’s activities at a pivotal time when the Americans with Disabilities Act was still new yet dramatically opening up public transportation access to people with disabilities. As Simon stated, “Everybody in transit was surprised that the numbers were growing. I don’t think anybody was prepared for the cost and the demand” (The Road More Traveled, 2008).

After leading ESPA’s service to communities across the country, Simon worked at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to help make the system more accessible. After she passed away in 2011, WMATA dedicated its Transit Accessibility Center in honor of her and presented the first Dr. Rosalyn Simon Award to Simon’s daughter, Monica Simon. The award is presented each year “to an industry professional or organization serving the disability community” (Event program). At the Center’s dedication in 2011, Christian T. Kent, WMATA’s assistant general manager for access services, stated, “Dr. Simon was a friend, mentor, and an inspiration to many in the field of transportation, and her renowned expertise enabled the transportation industry to provide safe, accessible, and quality transportation to people with disabilities” (WMATA Press Release, 2011).

This year at the Second Annual Accessibility Excellence Awards, held October 8th in Washington, D.C., WMATA chose ESPA to receive the Dr. Rosalyn Simon Award. Monica Simon presented the award to Mary A. Leary, PhD, vice president of the Easter Seals Transportation Group, and Randall Rutta, chief strategy officer at Easter Seals. Upon formally accepting the award, Rutta spoke about Simon’s impact on the field of accessible transportation, and Easter Seals commitment to continuing to support increases in accessible transportation both through ESPA and Easter Seals’ advocacy efforts. In addition, Leary acknowledged the work of Michael A. Winter, who passed away this summer, and his efforts to achieve equal rights for people with disabilities, including in access to transit. Winter was awarded the Richard W. Heddinger award, which is presented each year to an advocate and member of the disability community who has significantly helped increase WMATA’s accessibility, and his family accepted on his behalf.

ESPA was honored to receive the Dr. Rosalyn Simon Award and would like to thank and acknowledge those across the country working to further accessible transportation. Countless community leaders, disability advocates, and transit professionals have greatly increased accessible transportation options in their local areas since the passage of ADA. ESPA looks forward to continued support of and partnership with communities as they to push ahead and become fully-inclusive for all regardless of ability.

ESPA staff receive the Dr. Rosalyn Simon Award. From left to right, Carol Dillon Kissal (WMATA), NiKette Banks (ESPA), Ken Thompson (ESPA), Whitney E. Gray (ESPA), Judy Shanley (ESPA), Rachel Beyerle (ESPA), Donna Smith (ESPA), Carol Wright & Marie Maus (ESPA - not seen), Mary A. Leary (Easter Seals), Monica Simon (Simon and Simon Consulting), Patrick Sheehan (WMATA), Randy Rutta (Easter Seals), and Christian T. Kent (WMATA). In foreground, Atsuko Kuwana (Wife of Michael Winter).

Align transportation training with Common Core to foster independent living

Key points:

• Transportation know-how enables students with disabilities to achieve post-school goals
• Aligning transportation education with Common Core enhances college-, career-readiness
• Free curriculum teaches staff to embed transportation content across grade levels

Transportation can provide students with disabilities the freedom and independence they need to achieve their college and career goals. But if they can’t drive and don’t know how to use public transit systems, how many meaningful postsecondary opportunities will they have?

Students with disabilities who know how to get around town are more likely to have better outcomes related to college, career, and independent living than those who must rely on rides from family or friends.

For example, a Staten Island man with severe cerebral palsy was "terrified" to be out on the street alone because he had never traveled before, said Margaret Groce, director of the District 75 Office of Travel Training at the New York City Department of Education. Once he had learned to use public transportation, however, he was able to land a job in Manhattan, she said, despite the fact that getting to work in his motorized wheelchair required him to ride the bus, ferry, and subway.

His story illustrates why infusing travel education into your curriculum is crucial to prepare special needs students for adult life. To start, "administrators and teachers need to have some content understanding about transportation," says Judy Shanley, director of student engagement and mobility management with Easter Seals Project ACTION.

Consider sharing the following transportation training advice from Shanley and Groce, which includes tips to align travel education with the Common Core State Standards.

Begin transportation education early

Districts often don’t consider how students with disabilities are going to get to college or work until they’re leaving high school at age 21 or 22, Shanley said. To best prepare your special needs students for college, career, and independent living, she recommends you consider teaching transportation education in the early grades.

"Transportation education is so much more than just travel instruction," she says; it must connect students, families, educators, pupil transporters, and public transit professionals to ensure students with disabilities have accessible transportation options.

By embedding such education throughout your K-12 curriculum, you can address changing transportation needs as students transition from elementary to middle school, middle school to high school, and high school to college and career, Shanley said.

Ensure your special needs students have knowledge and choice of accessible transportation options as they transition to college and career by having your staff complete ESPA’s free, downloadable transportation education curriculum, launched in August. The curriculum will help your teachers align transportation education with the Common Core State Standards.

Align transportation content with Common Core

Both transportation education and the Common Core standards are intended to provide special needs students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed at post-school life in the 21st century. For that reason, align transportation education with the CCSS, Shanley said.

For example, "When you’re teaching math, why not use a bus schedule to teach students subtraction and addition?" she said. "If you’re teaching literacy and comprehension, why not use a story about traveling on a public transit system as the story for student reflection on reading comprehension?" A big emphasis of the Common Core is ensuring students understand informational text, Groce said. "You’re reading informational text all the time because everything in [your] environment gives you information." Therefore, she recommends you have students with disabilities read, use, and demonstrate their understanding of informational text related to transportation.

What’s more, students with disabilities must learn how to safely navigate vehicular traffic at street intersections. "It’s all angles, curves, speed, [and] distance," Groce said. "You can build math and science in. It doesn’t have to be that divorced" from the CCSS.

According to Shanley, transportation education also is suitable for teaching the learning and innovation skills -- critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity -- emphasized in the CCSS.

For example, "If you want to teach students communication, why not take them to a transit agency and let them interact and communicate with the transit operator?" she said. "If you’re teaching critical thinking, set up a scenario where the bus doesn’t come and the student has to get to a job. What do they do? What’s the problem-solving approach that they take?"

What’s more, use online bus or train schedules to teach information and technology skills required by the CCSS, Shanley said.

ESPA’s travel education curriculum "elaborates on how teachers can address all of the elements of the Common Core by using transportation examples," she said.

See also:

• Launch a ‘travel training’ initiative to improve postsecondary outcomes (Oct. 17, 2012)
• Ensure transition planning addresses community living needs (July 25)
• Focus on self-advocacy, 21st century skills to improve college, career readiness (Nov. 19, 2012)

For more stories and guidance on this topic, see the Postsecondary Transition Roundup.

Paul James covers postsecondary transition and charter school issues for LRP Publications.

September 24, 2013

Reprinted with Permission from: SpecialEdConnection® Copyright © 2013 by LRP Publications, 360 Hiatt Drive, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418. All rights reserved. For more information on this or other products published by LRP Publications, please call 1-800-341-7874 or visit our website at www.specialedconnection.com.