Part One: An Examination of the Rates and Types of Disabilities by State and Municipality in New England

Purpose of the Research

Over the past few years, the New England ADA Center (Region 1) has undergone a project to better understand the prevalence of disabilities in cities and towns in the six New England states and how those municipalities have fared at meeting their Title II responsibilities under the ADA.

Research Methods

The first stage used a predictive model, combining detailed disability data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation with the geographic granularity of the American Community Survey to estimate disability prevalence rates for cities and towns that are more in line with the ADA definition than direct survey estimates have provided.

Findings

We found that across the region, a greater proportion of residents likely experience functional limitations than was previous thought (e.g. upper body limitations, mental health disabilities, and use canes, crutches, and walkers), while a lesser proportion of residents experienced hearing disabilities, vision disabilities, and used wheelchairs.

Implications

For the ADANN—what does it tell us about how we provide our services?

This data informs local officials about the prevalence and nature of disability in their jurisdictions, so they can make decisions accordingly about implementing the ADA. For years, the predominant belief has been that disability equals wheelchair use. This was one of our startling facts. The reality is the opposite--wheelchair users make up the smallest proportion of people with disabilities. For example, while people with disabilities represent 35% of the residents of Springfield, MA, just 2.5% represent wheelchairs users. The ADA Center is getting this data on disability into the hands of people making decisions about ADA implementation along with support on how to implement the ADA. In working with municipalities, we integrated data pertinent to their locality into presentations. Below are just a few examples of early adopters of the local data on disability:

• Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (data on disability for their ridership area is in 2020 transportation design guidelines)
• Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (Established their priorities based upon our data and now include planning for people 60 + years of age.)
• Massachusetts Municipal ADA Improvement Grant Recipients. The Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD), which houses the New England ADA Center, has used the ADA Transition Plan consulting projects (funded through the ADA Improvement Grants) to share local demographic data on disability. There has been keen interest in using the data as an opportunity to pursue grants and other opportunities to find support to be more proactive toward the population of people with disabilities.

For the field—what does it tell us about the experiences of people with disabilities, with the implementation of the ADA, etc.?

It makes a huge difference when a municipality has data about people with disabilities in their locality versus state-wide or national data. The data reveals instructive findings about the types of disability in specific localities and the impetus to make decisions to implement the ADA. For example, Cape Cod versus Pittsfield MA have dramatically different issues when tied to their data on disabilities.

Links to any papers that have been published or PDFs of any available technical reports: open our “Data on Disability in States, Cities and Sub-Groups in New England.”

Part Two: Survey of Municipalities to Identify Challenges to Implementing the ADA

Purpose of the Research

Following up on this demographic study, we surveyed cities and towns about Title II requirements and asked about the challenges to implementation. Our survey of municipalities answered three research questions:

1. In what areas is compliance to the ADA a challenge?
2. What factors impede municipalities from implementing the ADA?
3. Can we create an intervention that lifts all municipalities one or two steps closer to compliance?

Research Methods

Survey

Research Participants

Over 300 cities and towns in New England

Findings

With over 300 municipalities responding, we found that compliance was quite low; only 24% of municipalities were in full compliance with administrative requirements and 17% were providing support for people with disabilities in their services, programs, and activities. Overall 7% were determined to be in full compliance and meeting the needs of people with disabilities in their communities.

Of the five ADA administrative requirements, the self-evaluation and the transition plan were the least likely to be completed by municipalities, followed by the notification procedure. Of the services, programs, and activities, accessible websites were the least likely to be completed.

We also found that funding was not the primary obstacle to implementation. Rather, the knowledge about what the ADA required and having the right people to implement it were reported as the reasons for noncompliance.

Implications

For the ADANN—what does it tell us about how we provide our services?

Compliance is low in Massachusetts, New England, and may well be a national problem. Are there interventions that will lift all municipalities one or two steps closer to ADA compliance? From this study, the kinds of interventions needed are generally in line with the expertise of the ADA Centers. Because the areas of need and reasons for noncompliance appear readily fixable with existing resources, like the New England ADA Center’s ADA Action Guide, focus should be placed on how to engage municipal representatives with those resources to see requirements implemented.

One way this can be done is take the daunting task of coming into full compliance and break it into its component elements, each less difficult to achieve than the whole. To start, the interventions can focus on helping municipalities with posting a ‘notice of ADA compliance’ and implementing a ‘complaint procedure’. This can be addressed with sample document templates, found in the ADA Action Guide.

Intervention

With the information about the level of disability in communities and the challenges to implementing ADA requirements, the ADA Center administered interventions to determine how best to eliminate challenges to implementing the ADA (Summer 2019). The interventions consisted of distributed targeted information about developing notification and complaint procedures and held a webinar about doing a self-evaluation and creating a transition plan.

The next steps involve re-surveying municipalities to assess whether progress has been made on any of the requirements (Fall 2019-Winter 2020). Other aspects of the survey will also address some state initiatives that Massachusetts and Connecticut have done independently of the regional ADA Center.

For the field—what does it tell us about the experiences of people with disabilities, with the implementation of the ADA, etc.?

Getting a better understanding of the prevalence of disability in cities and towns in the six New England states and how those municipalities have fared at meeting their ADA responsibilities has helped us identify areas of “low hanging fruit” (interventions) with which organizations like the New England ADA Center can embark on to help improve compliance with ADA requirements. Given tight budgets, it is a relief to learn that the problem of compliance is not solved by simply throwing money at it. Furthermore, the kinds of interventions needed are generally in line with the expertise of the ADA Centers. Because the areas of need and reasons for noncompliance appear readily fixable with existing resources, like the New England ADA Center’s Title II Action Guide, and focus should be placed on how to engage municipal.

In the next phase of our project, assessing whether interventions are successful in moving the needle on municipal compliance with ADA will be revealed when we get the results of the re-survey this winter (2020). We look forward to seeing those results!

Links to any papers that have been published or PDFs of any available technical reports: read our White Paper, “Results from the Identifying Challenges to Implementing the ADA Survey for Cities and Towns in New England.”

Submitted for publication to the Journal of Disability Policy Studies.