Access to Inclusion: Incorporating Family-centered Beliefs in the Community

Purpose: Though public venues are required to meet accessibility standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act, families and individuals with developmental disabilities (DD) still struggle with accessibility and inclusion concerns in community spaces. To promote a culture of inclusion, environmental barriers to access and inclusion need to be identified as well as using universal design to make environments accessible and inclusive for all individuals. The Cincinnati Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) Training Program is part of a national network promoting education and leadership in order to improve the health of infants, children, and adults with or at risk of having DD. A previous LEND group orchestrated a scorecard for local communities to self-assess their levels of accessibility and inclusion and generate future plans for full inclusion in their spaces based on opinions from healthcare professionals. However, there is a need for stakeholders’ input to determine key areas of focus for optimal improvement. Our LEND research group found it imperative to further include both individuals with DD and their family’s input to drive continued advancement in this area. The aim of this project was to develop a survey about accessibility and inclusion and use the stakeholder data to inform, previously created, community scorecards for local businesses.

Description: Our Vision. Our Vision is to transform our Greater Cincinnati area into the most accessible and inclusive region in the country for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. We want to serve as a national model for accessibility and inclusion in community settings.
Family-Centered Focus. To guide the development of the survey, the project’s goals and questions about accessibility and inclusion within the community were presented to a local family advisory council (FAC). By incorporating their feedback and counsel in our research and creation of our survey, we were able to better advocate with a family-centered perspective for improved accessibility in the community.
Survey Development. Qualitative and quantitative survey questions about inclusion in various community settings were developed based on the feedback from families of children with DD at the FAC.
Data Collection. Surveys will be sent to families of children with DD as well adults with DD and the data will be analyzed in the Fall of 2022.

Summary of Use: LEND trainees gained experience in developing a family and person-centered survey to measure physical accessibility and inclusion within the Greater Area of the Cincinnati community. The resulting data may allow for us to improve accessibility and inclusion for all families in the Greater Cincinnati area.

Importance to Members: Our survey development and vision may guide future advocacy efforts and assist pediatric physical therapists in helping to make our communities more accessible and inclusive. Gaining feedback from families in the community will further foster our profession’s values of family centered care.