Accessibility Students’ Advisory Panel (ASAP!) Top 10 Priorities

The Accessibility Student’s Advisory Panel (ASAP!) — a Citywide student group facilitated by ARISE and Parents for Inclusive Education that focuses on school accessibility issues  — has compiled a list of their Top 10 Priorities for schools to address.

Architectural:

1. The main entrance to each school must be accessible and must include automatic door access. If the front door is not accessible, there should be an alternative staffed accessible entrance for all individuals to use.
2. Stages, backstages, auditoriums, music rooms, art studios and all other talent-based areas must be fully accessible.
3. All buildings used by the DOE should be inspected once a year for ADA compliance and concerns must be addressed immediately.
4. Bathrooms on every floor of every school building should be large enough to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements and enable a second person to be present for individuals needing help.

Programmatic:

1. The Department of Education (DOE) should mandate annual training sessions or professional development for all school staff including administrators, teachers, guidance, special education support staff, and security on issues pertaining to working with students with physical disabilities.
   
2. All students should receive at least one lesson on interacting with people with disabilities each year.
   
3. All community-building trips for students must be accessible to students with physical disabilities and transportation on those trips must be accessible and inclusive so all students can travel together to off-site locations.
   
4. All buildings used by the DOE must develop policies to provide students and other individuals with physical needs access to all essential infrastructure in the building (E.g. easy access to bathrooms that need keys). 
   
5. All school curriculum must be presented using Universal Design for Learning standards to ensure that students with physical disabilities can access all materials.
   
6. The DOE should offer students with physical disabilities the opportunity to participate in city-wide affinity and support groups.