Promising Directions - North Carolina

Accessible Guide to Shopping Center

The Alliance Center for Independent Living (CIL), located in Raleigh, North Carolina, was contacted by a consumer with vision loss who said that she would like a list of the stores in Crabtree Valley Mall so she could go there by herself and find a specific store. Her problem was that she did not know where specific stores were located because all the maps were in print and they followed a print key that was inaccessible to her. Like the directory in the mall, she wanted a listing of the stores, but in Braille, and listed in order as the stores went around the mall.

Alliance CIL contacted Crabtree Valley Mall, but they had no such listing. So, the Girl Scout Council was contacted, and they assigned the project to a Girl Scout troop which visited the mall and put the list of stores on tape in the order as one would walk around the mall. This list was transcribed into a Word document and sent to Susan Barnes in the Communication Unit at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind to be put into Braille. Alliance CIL is currently working on the same type of list as an accessible guide for Triangle Town Center.

Consumers can request this accessible guide to Crabtree Valley Mall in Braille, large print, or as a Word document to be sent by email. To request a copy in your preferred format, contact Alliance CIL via email at alliance@alliancecil.org or by phone at 919-833-1117.

Reprinted with permission from the Alliance of Disability Advocates Center for Independent Living Spring 2005 Newsletter.