Patti’s article in this issue addressed ADA and what ‘upgrades’ are certainly needed after 34 years. The natural progression of ADA, as she pointed out, is Universal Design. If you haven’t been following the UD bandwagon these days – the goal of Universal Design is to ‘design spaces, places, and events so they can be accessed, understood and used by ALL people.’

Universal Design was coined by an architect (Ronald Mace - 1997) who wanted to focus on accessible housing with a ‘universal’ design. He championed accessible building codes and standards in the US based on an all-inclusive philosophy of barrier free design.

Universal Design has become part of everyday language in the last few years, and not just architecturally. Universal Design applies to education, websites, events, and programs. The Foundation has included it as one of our guiding principles (ADA standards are the law and the minimum. Exceeding that through the principles of Universal Design is desirable).

As community members, businesses, and grantees considers Universal Design, an important distinction needs to be made and thoughtfully considered.

Accessibility (ADA) gets a person ‘to’ or ‘into’ a place/event/activity.

Inclusion philosophically supports the person participating in that                                              place/event/activity.

Universal Design prepares the place (to be accessible and inclusive) before a person ever gets there.

We will be talking more about Universal Design in upcoming issues. For now, though, here are just a few of the spaces and places that have been working to build a Universally Designed experience in our communities.

Photo of accessible trail maps in a display at AWS Foundation.

As of today we have accessible trail maps available from Fort Wayne Trails. The maps are divided into four quadrants of Allen County. They each have detailed information about the trails in the quadrants. Enhanced accessibility elements include larger font sizes with bolder colors to increase contrast and a sticker sheet to help indicate important places like home, restrooms, school, mile markers, and more.

This initiative comes from a partnership with Fort Wayne Trails, The League, CASS Housing, and Citilink. Focus groups of people with disabilities guided the process for these maps. Fort Wayne Trails plan to continue this momentum for future versions of the map.

These accessible maps are available at our office (5323 W Jefferson Blvd.), The League (5821 S Anthony Blvd.), Turnstone (3320 N Clinton St.), or Fort Wayne Trails (300 E Main St. #131) during regular business hours.

Indianadisabilityresourcefinder.org is an online resource designed to collect and organize contact and service information from providers across Indiana, giving you 24/7 access to the community resources aimed to improve your quality of life. The site is always in need of professionals, volunteers and organizations to contribute to our growing list of services and information.

There are three ways to become a resource for the FINDER community:

1. Share a link to a helpful website or service.

2. Upload an informative article or video.

3. Join FINDER as a Service Provider.

A simple four-step registration process for new FINDER contributors and providers is available at IndianaDisabilityResourceFINDER.org. All submissions are reviewed and verified prior to publication.

You can also claim a listing that already exists. Go to IndianaDisabilityResourceFINDER.org and search for your organization. On the provider page, you will see the following button:

Click that button and follow the instructions to claim. It's that easy!

We are happy to have members of the community use our universally designed meeting space for free. Periodically we supply the Community Food Pantries set up by Forward Indiana. We have a bin in our office to take donations for these pantries. If you're using our space and your group would like to help, bring us nonperishable food, hygiene items, formula, or winter supplies (hats, gloves, scarves, or hot hands) and we will be sure these valuable pantries are restocked.

The Gilmore Inclusive Arts Grant awards up to $25,000 to one applicant each year to support special projects focused on including people with disabilities in the local arts communities of Northeast Indiana. The application is currently open and closes September 27. For more information, go to our website.