Raleigh, Wake County : an action-oriented community diagnosis for people living with disabilities in Raleigh, NC
Creators: name: Mersereau, Darcie
name: Kunkel, Jill
name: Mangum, Ayana
name: Boland, Maureen
name: Myers, Allison
name: Isaacs, Karen
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2004

description: Universal Disability Advocates (UDA) is a grassroots, nonprofit organization in Raleigh, N.C. that advocates for people of all ages and abilities in the community. Through a partnership with the North Carolina Office on Disability and Health, UDA invited a team of six students from the UNC School of Public Health in Chapel Hill, NC to conduct an Action-Oriented Community Diagnosis (AOCD) of people living with disabilities in Raleigh. Two UDA members and two employees of the NC Office on Disability and Health agreed to serve as preceptors and mentors for the project and as liaisons between the students and the community. The team first entered the community in October 2003 and the AOCD process was completed following a community forum held in April 2004. The goal of an Action Oriented Community Diagnosis (AOCD) is to gather, analyze, and summarize the perspectives of community members and service providers in a community for the purpose of creating a complete vision of the community’s strengths, challenges, and existing resources on which to build. The AOCD process is designed to culminate in a Community Forum where all community stakeholders come together to create action steps to improve existing situations. The team in Raleigh began the AOCD process by examining secondary data and attending community meetings and events. The team then conducted 32 interviews and 2 focus groups with service providers, individuals with disabilities, and family members of people with disabilities in Raleigh, and identified recurrent themes raised by interviewees. Following a thorough review of all interview transcripts, the team identified the most frequently recurring issues and strengths (called domains) raised by interviewees. The AOCD team then worked with a planning group of community members and service providers to prioritize the recurrent domains. The most important and changeable issues identified by people with disabilities in Raleigh included: the accessibility and affordability of housing and Raleigh; issues of public transportation in Raleigh, the Raleigh built environment, specifically, the accessibility of sidewalks, parking lots and buildings; community awareness in Raleigh and communication with people with disabilities; the unemployment and underemployment of people with disabilities in Raleigh; and the challenges around obtaining services in Raleigh. Each of these domains was the topic of a small group discussion at the Raleigh Community Forum. The Raleigh Community Forum was held on Monday April 19th from 6:00 to 8:30 pm at the Hudson Memorial Presbyterian Church on Six Forks Road in Raleigh. Twenty-five community members and service providers attended the forum. After opening remarks, a brief overview of the methodology of the AOCD process and a detailed description of the prioritized issues for discussion, forum attendees divided into small groups. Small group discussions surrounding each domain led to the generation and prioritization of action steps for the future. Action steps resulting from the small group discussion on the accessibility and affordability of housing in Raleigh included: to attend and speak at at least one builders convention to raise awareness about the needs of people living with disabilities and access to affordable, accessible housing; to raise awareness among the general public through publicity and collaborations with existing organizations like Universal Disability Advocates, The Raleigh Mayor’s Committee, Center for Independent Living, and the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University; to include housing information on an existing disability advocacy website now in a design phase; and, to, in the long-term, build a visitable housing complex in accordance with the principles of universal design. Following a discussion on the Raleigh built environment, specifically, the accessibility of sidewalks, parking lots, and buildings, an action step was to form an email group that will arrive at action steps involving collaboration with other organizations. Resulting from a discussion on community awareness in Raleigh and communication issues with health care providers, action steps were to: attend existing community activities, such as health fairs, to increase awareness about this uses; to create a “tips for consumers” brochure focusing on how to advocate for ones’ own health needs; and to continue providing continuing education courses for health care professionals regarding communication with people with disabilities. Action steps resulting from the small group discussion on the unemployment and underemployment of people with disabilities in Raleigh were to: advocate at the state and federal levels by contacting legislators and the governor to ask: Where do people with disabilities fit into your action plans? And is there an action plan for employment for people with disabilities?; to educate the community through existing organizations, to register to vote, and to learn how to effectively advocate for equal employment; and, to educate the community about taking legal action through the Americans with Disabilities Act when necessary. As a discussion of issues of public transportation in Raleigh did not occur during the community forum, no action steps were created. In addition to bringing together Raleigh community members and service providers in communication about the future, the AOCD team involved in this project was particularly interested in the influence of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the presence and functions of community among adults living with disabilities in Raleigh, N.C. Through their research, AOCD team members identified dramatically different views on the existence of a Raleigh community of people with disabilities. This document, which complies information collected through interviews, secondary data sources, and observations of team members, is written with the understanding that the definition of “community of people living with disabilities” used by the team is meaningful and a truth to some, while not believed to exist nor advocated for by others. The definition of a cross-disability community is considered by some to be the critical foundation for continued efforts to secure rights for people living with disabilities. For others, defining people with disabilities as a community is perceived as furthering the historical segregation of this group from the rest of society. For still others, community is defined within the boundaries of one’s own disability and/or geographical or relational factors. This AOCD document is intended to serve as a resource to the people of Raleigh. The document is organized into six sections: an Introduction to the Project, Findings from Secondary Data, Results, Community Forum, Methodology, and Conclusions and Next Steps. The team presents this document in the hope that it will contribute to the existing body of knowledge supporting and advancing people living with disabilities in Raleigh, North Carolina. It has been the team’s privilege to learn from so many people working to make Raleigh a more inclusive community for people with disabilities, and the team hopes the action steps for change generated by the community during this project will compliment existing work or serve as a catalyst for new action.