ADA scores a win during COVID-19!
The ADA was born in Virginia efforts for Accessibility
The Pandemic and the ADA
Governor Northam Launches Rent and Mortgage Relief Program to Assist Virginians Facing Eviction or Foreclosure
The VisitAble Database
NEW LOCAL PARTNERSHIP TO BEGIN DISBURSING COVID-19 HOUSEHOLD RELIEF FUNDS
Draft Advisory Guidelines for Aircraft Onboard Wheelchairs
Out of reach: Vets say Vietnam memorial is inaccessible
Cardinals Changing the Game and Lives
New Trail at Riverview Park for better accessibility
ADA scores a win during COVID-19!
Sep 18 2020
The ADA was born in Virginia efforts for Accessibility
Jul 26 2020
Kathryn A. Hayfield column: Americans with Disabilities Act born of Virginia’s struggle for equality
The Pandemic and the ADA
Jul 23 2020
Governor Northam Launches Rent and Mortgage Relief Program to Assist Virginians Facing Eviction or Foreclosure
Jun 30 2020
Select Link Below for More Information
https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/all-releases/2020/june/headline-858911-en.html
The VisitAble Database
Apr 10 2020
The Visitable Database actively helps locations become more mobility-friendly, advertises companies who are leading the way in accessibility, and provides an easy way for those with mobility issues to explore accessibility!
NEW LOCAL PARTNERSHIP TO BEGIN DISBURSING COVID-19 HOUSEHOLD RELIEF FUNDS
Mar 27 2020
The CACF is now taking applications to assist persons in the Charlottesville area that have been adversely effected by COVID-91. Please see the link below to find details on the program.
CACF FUNDS
Draft Advisory Guidelines for Aircraft Onboard Wheelchairs
Aug 20 2019
The U.S. Access Board has released for public comment advisory guidelines for wheelchairs used on commercial passenger aircraft during flight. These onboard wheelchairs are provided by air carriers as a means of facilitating the transfer of passengers with disabilities to aircraft lavatories since personal wheelchairs cannot be used in the cabin. The Department of Transportation (DOT) has expressed its intention to supplement its regulations under the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) to include performance standards for onboard wheelchairs on covered aircraft. The Board is developing these non-binding guidelines as technical assistance to air carriers and manufacturers of onboard wheelchairs by providing an example of how to meet DOT’s planned performance standards.
https://www.access-board.gov/onboard/onboard-guidelines
Public Hearing on Advisory
Guidelines for Aircraft Onboard Wheelchairs
September 12, 2019, 9:30 – 4:00 (ET)
Remote attendance options will be posted at: www.access-board.gov/onboard
Access Board Conference Center
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, D.C.
Note: For the
comfort of all participants and to promote a fragrance-free environment,
attendees are requested not to use perfume, cologne, or other fragrances.
Out of reach: Vets say Vietnam memorial is inaccessible
Jun 5 2019
Lisa Provence
4/10/19 at 6:45 AM
Charlottesville’s Dogwood Vietnam Memorial, dedicated in 1966, was one of the first memorials to Vietnam veterans in the country. When the John Warner Parkway was built, the memorial was improved and is now visible to those driving by. The problem, say veterans, is getting to it.
In an 18-page letter to City Council, former mayor Tom Vandever, executive director of the Independent Resource Center, says, “We continue to believe the City of Charlottesville is not adhering to federal laws and requirements regarding access to public spaces.”
Parking is foremost among the ways Vandever says the memorial is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Veterans wishing to visit the memorial must park at the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad, and hike nearly a quarter mile, crossing six lanes of traffic at the McIntire interchange and then climbing a 570-foot asphalt ramp, he says.
To skirt ADA requirements, says Vandever, the city designates the ramp a “trail” even though it’s within feet of one of the city’s busiest intersections. “The thing that ticked me off the most was to call that a trail,” he says. “Even if it’s ultimately legal, it galls me the city would take that action rather than serve our citizens.”
Vandever also calls out the lack of signage to direct people to parking. And if they find parking at the rescue squad—or a half mile away at the YMCA—there are no signs explaining how to actually get to the memorial.
As a member of the Dogwood Festival Foundation, Jim Shisler was instrumental in getting the original memorial built and can recall the exact date of the area’s first casualty: “ November 4, 1965, Champ Jackson Lawson.”
Shisler, 85, says access for veterans is “impossible for a lot of them.” If he walks to the memorial from the rescue squad, it takes almost 14 minutes and he has to scale the last 500 feet up a 5 percent grade. “We don’t believe it’s ADA compliant,” he says.
Photographer Jim Carpenter is a vet with five friends who died in Vietnam commemorated at the memorial, who has made the “dangerous” trek to get there. “If ADA gets involved, it’s going to cost the city a lot of money,” he says. “Five cities went up against ADA and they lost.”
“The city believes the trail up to the memorial meets ADA requirements,” says city spokesman Brian Wheeler. He says veterans were involved in the east McIntire Park master plan, but concedes, “They may have been under the impression there would be access through the wading pool park.”
The master plan “did have a paved entrance using the old golf path through the wading pool up until the last presentation,” says Shisler, who notes planning has been going on for more than 20 years. The final park master plan depicts only pedestrian or bike access to the memorial.
The inclusion of the skate park at the site of the wading pool is a relatively new addition. While a parking lot remains there, the gate to it from the U.S. 250 Bypass is closed and skateboarders must walk from a lot near the YMCA across the new pedestrian bridge.
“The reason it’s closed is for safety reasons, because of the on ramp,” says Wheeler. “The dynamics really changed.” The Vietnam memorial and skate park are not the first to lose convenient access as a result of the McIntire interchange. Across the bypass, the Birdwood neighborhood is limited to one exit, despite residents’ concerns about safety and emergency egress.
Skateboarders seem less bothered about the walk to the park. Says David Juer, “I kind of like it you don’t have a lot of cars pulling up.”
Longtime skate park advocate Duane Brown says while it would be nice to be able to park closer, “everybody’s so excited about the skate park itself.”
The city has no plans to provide closer parking to the Vietnam memorial. “It’s a really constrained location bordered by railroad tracks, the bypass and parkway,” says Wheeler. “There’s not an easy or affordable way to build a road.”
The city is committed to installing appropriate signage, he says. And it’s considering having an on-call golf cart or vehicle to transport disabled veterans—at least those who make arrangements in advance.
“That’s like putting a bandaid on Hoover Dam,” says Carpenter, who wonders how a wheelchair will fit on a golf cart.
At the April 1 City Council meeting, interim city manager Mike Murphy listed the “complex and costly” reasons why nearby parking was a no-go, including that the Warner parkway was limited access.
City Council made it limited access, says Shisler, and could reverse that if it chooses. He also disputes Murphy’s statements that vets wanted the site higher and were in on the planning that did not include nearby parking.
“The fact is, there’s no way to get to the memorial for people with mobility issues,” he says.
Veterans are allowed vehicle access three times a year, says Shisler, and they’re expecting 300 people April 26.
“These Vietnam veterans are 70 now,” says Shisler. “It’s a real chore now to get there. We are concerned why the city positions themselves as in compliance when we don’t feel they are.”
https://www.c-ville.com/out-of-reach-vets-say-vietnam-memorial-is-inaccessible/
Cardinals Changing the Game and Lives
Dec 4 2018
By Preston Willett |
Posted: Sat 10:24 PM, Dec 01, 2018 |
Updated: Sat 10:42 PM, Dec 01, 2018
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 SPORTS) — On this court the wheels are always turning, which is why the game can take time to come into focus.
“When people first see the sport,” Charlottesville Cardinals Coach Tom Vandever said, a local wheelchair basketball game, “All they see are the wheelchairs for about five minutes and then the wheelchairs fade away and that’s when they see the athletes.”
Every athlete has their story for how the sport came to them from bad knees to cancer.
“I was lucky I was able to kind of walk into it slowly,” Jacob Tyree said, who was nine-years-old when it was discovered he had a spinal cord tumor, “People who are in car accidents that’s like an instantaneous change of your life.”
“14-years-old I wrecked a bike and broke my back,” team captain Brandon Rush said, “So I was at a children’s rehab and the team came and did a demonstration there.”
For people like Rush and Tyree in one of their most trying times, the Charlottesville Cardinals opened a door to not only athletics but a community.
“This is my family man, I started playing with them when I was 14,” Rush said, “So they helped me grow up, they helped me mature for sure.”
“For a lot of players and athletes it changes their lives from that,” National Wheelchair Basketball Association Commissioner Buddy Barnes said, “They may have gone a certain path, but now they see things through a different light, through a different window actually.”
But make no mistake these athletes are here to play, especially the Cardinals, ranked in the top-ten nationally. With players coming from hours away to practice and play throughout the season.
“We do this on an everyday basis, this isn’t something we just oh yeah we kind of meat every once in awhile and do it as a pick up thing,” Tyree said,” Our players are in the gym multiple times a week, where we stick to a regiment, we watch what we eat.”
Their ultimate to goal to spread the game to everyone.
“Bring people out that have never seen wheelchair basketball before,” Tyree said, “Get them involved in the sport and it changes their life it really does.”
New Trail at Riverview Park for better accessibility
Oct 10 2018
Accessibility Improvements at Riverview Park Make the Space More Welcoming
Posted: Sep 02, 2018 5:28 PM EDTUpdated: Sep 02, 2018 6:58 PM EDT
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) –
Riverview Park in Charlottesville added a new trial that will make the area more accessible to visitors with disabilities. The project began in April. Due to the summer’s rainy weather, the trail was not completed until last week.
The idea for the trail began when Ciara Campbell, a disability advocate, expressed concern about the accessibility of Riverview Park.
She reached out to the Independent Resource Center which helps people with disabilities live independently.
“It’s starts at the parking area and goes all the way down to the river and connects up to the other trail system. This was an enhancement safety project that Ms. Campbell brought to our attention,” Brian Wheeler, Director of Communications for the City of Charlottesville.
Ciara Campbell loved going to the park but noticed it was difficult to move around the area in her wheelchair. “I come down to the river a lot either to go running with my brother or to hang out with my friends or take my dog for a run and before I had to walk through the parking lot, a lot, obviously but it’s usually pretty crowded on the weekends so it can be. It’s not always the easiest thing to do.”
Campbell was happy to see the city take another step towards improving the conditions for people with disabilities. “I’ve been working on the Charlottesville ADA Advisory Committee for a while so making accessibility improvements is not really something new to me but it’s always nice to see something get done and see it be successful.”
In addition to being a welcomed improvement, the construction of the trail was an affordable project.
“A trail like that which is a simple asphalt strip can be done within our existing budget and really flex the priority the city has to help people with disabilities but also pedestrians and bicyclists to get around safely,” said Wheeler.
The accessibility improvements will allow more people to come together at Riverview Park for years to come.