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THE MARCH GOES ON: COMMUNITY ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Author(s) -
McDonald Katherine E.,
Williamson Pamela,
Weiss Sally,
Adya Meera,
Blanck Peter
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.21683
Subject(s) - inclusion (mineral) , universal design , participatory action research , government (linguistics) , legislation , feeling , citizen journalism , public relations , state (computer science) , political science , psychology , business , economic growth , social psychology , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , algorithm , world wide web , law , economics
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.