by Jennifer DePaul and John Rooney
As you probably know, an important part of our advocacy work is to provide training for architects and building code officials. By providing training on the accessibility requirements in state building codes and federal civil rights legislation (i.e. the Americans with Disabilities and Fair Housing Amendments Acts), we are able to ensure that our members and all people with disabilities have access to the built environment.
Over the years we have provided training in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Since January 2004, when Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association became United Spinal Association, the Advocacy p rogram has been re s e a rching training opportunities throughout the United States. Recently we have held trainings in Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri and South Dakota. As we grow, we believe it is important to reach as many architects and building code officials as possible. In order to successfully expand our training p rograms, it is essential that we connect with professional organizations to make them aware of the accessibility services that United Spinal offers.
The annual convention of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), held in Chicago this past June, presented an excellent opportunity to make United Spinal known to AIA chapters throughout the United States.
As Senior Regional Advocates from the Philadelphia and Buffalo regional offices, we attended the portion of the convention geared toward continuing education providers. We attended workshops that focused on topics such as expanding training possibilities, Web-based training and learning styles. We were also able to participate in the Continuing Education Services (CES) Marketplace, a networking event for CES-registered providers. The Marketplace gave us an opportunity to describe our organizational mission and training services to attending architects and code officials.
During our time in Chicago, we discovered a tremendous amount of interest in our organization. At the Marketplace, many attendees stopped to talk about the accessibility services that United Spinal Association offers. Look for future articles about the accessibility training and consulting that we will be working on throughout the country.
As always, should you have any accessibility related questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Jennifer in Philadelphia at 800-795-3628 or John in Buffalo at 800-795-3619.
Jennifer DePaul and John Rooney are Senior Regional Advocates.
