UIC researchers aim to improve accessibility in cities nationwide with new grant

With the help of a new federal grant, researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago want to advance the implementation of requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act in public agencies across the country.

The three-year, $750,000 grant will allow Yochai Eisenberg and Delphine Labbé and their team to develop tools and resources for urban planners and ADA coordinators and increase the involvement of people with disabilities in city planning and advisory committees. The grant comes from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research, under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The project is the culmination of eight years of work for Eisenberg and Labbé, both from the College of Applied Health Sciences, who sought a way to bring their research into communities. The pair's earlier research evaluated ADA transition plans, the plans cities need to improve the accessibility of their pedestrian infrastructure.

"These plans are intended to ensure safe walking and wheeling for everyone," said Eisenberg, an associate professor in the department of disability and human development. "A lot of time where there are ADA improvements, those improvements help everyone."

The goal is to make these resources highly usable and accessible so cities can more effectively incorporate input from people with disabilities in city planning and develop concrete plans to become more accessible.

"We identified that there are no trainings that support people with disabilities to be effective and have meaningful experiences on advisory boards for cities," Eisenberg said.

People with disabilities encounter numerous barriers in the public rights-of-way, which include missing sidewalks, broken curb ramps, faded crosswalks and inaudible pedestrian crossing signals.

June was the 25th anniversary of the ADA, the federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation and telecommunications.

Labbé said many cities have not followed an important element of Title II of the ADA: to include people with disabilities in the development of their ADA transition plans. This is important as the Public Right-of-Way Accessibility guidelines were adopted in 2023 to ensure public streets and sidewalks are accessible to people with disabilities. By addressing accessibility in public rights-of-way, the guidelines fill a gap that was not fully covered by previous guidelines.

"The need for training and more tools and resources was continuously being reinforced," said Labbé, associate professor in the department of disability and human development.

Labbé said that including and accommodating people with disabilities increases safety and health overall.

"Safer pedestrian infrastructure reduces accidents. It makes people more active and gives them the confidence to walk or wheel around in their community. There's even social cohesion. There are studies that show it helps create the feel of community," she said.

Eisenberg and Labbé are working with Disability Lead - a network of leaders with disabilities who build a more inclusive society through leadership - to develop tools to help people with disabilities participate more effectively in public agencies at any level, and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's Accessibility Planning Team to design tools that will better support ADA coordinators.

"They will be informing and sharing their experiences and bringing their perspective in a more effective way to improve accessibility in their community," Labbé said. "The other side is helping cities be better at engaging people with disabilities in the planning they need to do for accessibility."

In time, the pair hopes the materials they develop will be used by hundreds of people across the country to spur confidence in creating more accessible cities.

"Urban planners and ADA coordinators will gain confidence, gain skills and have a greater readiness to address the problem of inaccessible cities," Eisenberg said. "When you bring up the Americans with Disabilities Act, sometimes people start to shy away and feel nervous, as they fear lawsuits. So, we're really hoping to address that head-on through these trainings, materials and resources to proactively plan for accessibility."