Promising Directions - Georgia

Research Report on Civic Access:
A Tale of Two Cities - Savannah and Athens, Georgia

In the first year of the Southeast ADA research project: Examining the Civic, Social and Economic Participation of Persons with Disabilities, which is directed by our research partners at the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, we looked at the actual impact that a project from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) —Project Civic Access—had on improving access for people with disabilities in various cities throughout the United States.

Background of Research Project

In Project Civic Access, the Department of Justice visited different cities, identified barriers to access, and reached signed agreements with these communities to remove barriers and come into compliance with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In the Southeast ADA project, we are looking at public accessibility in two cities in each of the eight southeast U.S. states served by the Southeast ADA Center —one city will have a signed Project Civic Access agreement, the other similar city will not have been examined by Project Civic Access. One question to be answered is whether or not the cities with signed settlement agreements are more accessible than the cities that do not have those agreements.

The research project involves the leadership of the Southeast ADA Affiliate in each state, as well as a team of people with disabilities, who will survey both cities, looking at three major areas:

1. Physical and programmatic accessibility of public facilities – for example, how accessible are the city hall, the civic center, parks and the public library? Is information available in alternative formats? Are web sites accessible? Is their staff trained to serve all citizens?
2. Policy change – for example, is there an ADA coordinator and a complaint mechanism in the community? Are people with disabilities involved in committees and decision making regarding accessibility issues?
3. Actual participation of people with disability – In what extent do people in communities with and without signed agreements visit and participate in public programs, facilities and activities in their community?

In the first year of our research, Nancy Duncan, Southeast ADA State Affiliate for Georgia, and two teams of individuals with and without disabilities surveyed five facilities in Savannah (which has signed an agreement) and Athens (with no agreement). In these two communities, the research teams visited and evaluated the accessibility of information, the physical accessibility and the services provided at the City Hall, a library, a civic center, and a park. They also evaluated the ability of the police to provide information about emergency evacuation services as well as the accessibility of public transportation services.

Information from these two surveys is being analyzed. The site surveys will be followed by a telephone survey of individuals with disabilities in Savannah and Athens, asking about where, how, and how often they take part in public programs and activities or visit public agencies in their city. Information from Year One will be added to information gained from surveys in the other Southeast States in Years Two and Three. Results from this research will guide people with disabilities, other advocates and policymakers in proposing policy changes that could lead to greater social, civic, and economic participation by people with disabilities.

Insights from the Research Project

One of the best things about this research experience was the camaraderie that arose instantly among the five (5) researchers. One person with a visual impairment, one with a hearing impairment, one person with a mobility impairment and two people without disabilities.

Perhaps the saddest finding is that many city county agencies have accessible services and programs, but the front line people do not know about them.

For example: When searching for accommodations at the Police Department, we were referred to the Special Victims Unit. Pretty sad.

Another awareness from our experience is how anxiety-producing it is to call or visit organizations in order to ask pointed questions.

For example: ’Do you have any services for people with my disability?’

A third significant discovery we made is that organizations frequently have very knowledgeable employees concerning disability but these people are not in a department that has any contact with the disability community.

For example: In our research at the library in one city, we (accidentally!) came to the genealogy department. The woman working there was a former rehabilitation teacher for people with visual impairments but she is not working in the reference area of the library that has talking computers. As a result, her expertise in serving people with visual impairments is never called upon.

And in one city park, we realized that what is accessible on paper is NOT accessible in reality.