To commemorate Disability Awareness Month, United Spinal will present a series of snapshots of our programs and services throughout October. For over 60 years, our proactive approach to increasing awareness and facilitating progress on issues affecting the disability community has been the driving force of our mission. Here is a look at some of the work we’ve done to increase disability awareness, not only this month, but throughout the year.

Disability Awareness Series––Accessibility of the Built Environment

If you aren’t living with a disability, such as a spinal cord injury or disorder, you may never stop to think about the accessibility of the built environment around you. For people who use wheelchairs or have mobility impairments, however, accessibility is always of major concern. Without wheelchair ramps, curb cuts, accessible building entrances and other universal design concepts, people with disabilities would lose a great deal of their freedom and independence.

United Spinal Association’s Accessibility Services is devoted exclusively to making our built environment accessible and increasing awareness about accessibility issues commonly encountered by individuals with disabilities across the country.

“Our clients are businesses and architects who understand the importance of accessibility and have come to us to ensure that accessibility is provided in their business, store, stadium, park, and other facilities,” said Kleo King, senior vice president of Accessibility Services at United Spinal Association. “For example, we are working with the Minnesota Twins and their architects, Populous (formerly HOK Sport), and the Minneapolis disability community to ensure the Twins new ballpark is state of the art when it comes to access for people with disabilities.”

United Spinal’s Accessibility Services staff is hard at work to guarantee and protect the civil rights of all citizens so that they can fully participate in our culture and our society. We helped write the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986; we are active participants in writing building codes at the local, state, and federal level; and we helped make New York, the largest city in the country, provide fully accessible buses and subways and cut every curb in all five boroughs to allow wheelchair access––an achievement that inspired dozens of other municipalities to follow suit.

To learn more, please visit http://www.accessibility-services.com

Tom Scott
Editor Marketing & Communications
United Spinal Association