[Nd-talk] FW: U.S. Access Board Holds Town Hall Meeting in Minneapolis

Wed May 24 15:25:23 UTC 2017

FYI.

From: United States Access Board
[mailto:access-board at service.govdelivery.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2017 9:41 AM
To: sherrybeth7 at gmail.com
Subject: U.S. Access Board Holds Town Hall Meeting in Minneapolis

U.S. Access Board Holds Town Hall Meeting in Minneapolis 

On May 9, the U.S. Access Board held a town hall meeting in Minneapolis that
featured panelists from the Target Corporation's accessibility program and
local speakers on outdoor recreation. The event, which was held at the
University of Minnesota, also included an open forum that invited comments
or questions from the public. Access Board Chair Deborah Ryan and Executive
Director David Capozzi opened the meeting with introductions and an overview
of the Board and its work.

The first presenter was Barry Grieve who serves as Building Regulatory and
Strategy Lead for the Target Corporation. He provided an overview of the
work of the company's Accessibility Team which was formed 11 years ago to
promote accessibility and compliance. He outlined some of the procedures and
practices that have been implemented, such as conducting accessibility
reviews at the outset of remodeling projects and providing access to all
store check-out aisles instead of to just a portion. In addition, Target has
a Digital Accessibility Team that focuses on access to the company's website
and online services. He also described related activities, including
Target's membership on the ANSI A117 Committee which maintains voluntary
consensus standards for accessibility referenced by the International
Building Code.

Greg Lais, Executive Director of Wilderness Inquiry, followed with a
presentation on access to outdoor recreation. Wilderness Inquiry is a
nonprofit organization that introduces youth, families, and people with
disabilities to the natural world through outdoor trips and adventures. His
presentation covered accessible features at the Apostle Island National
Lakeshore in northern Wisconsin and a nearby Wilderness Inquiry base camp,
including accessible tent platforms, picnic tables, toilet facilities, and
boardwalks. He promoted compliance with the accessibility guidelines for
outdoor developed areas that the Access Board issued for federal lands in
2013 and called attention to the need for updated illustrated guides on
achieving access to such sites. In addition, he recommended outreach to
state student conservation corps, which help develop outdoor recreation
sites, and the Corps Network on integrating accessibility into projects
according to the guidelines for outdoor developed areas.

The next presenter was Elise Niedermeier who serves as the ADA Coordinator
for the Minnesota Parks and Recreation Board which oversees almost 180
outdoor sites throughout the state that total over 6,000 acres. She
presented examples of access improvements completed at specific sites,
including a city park, a cultural and community center, a playground, and a
wading pool. She also outlined a $23.6 million plan that is being developed
to improve access to existing sites. Based on an accessibility audit that
surveyed over 200 sites and facilities, the plan updates an earlier
transition plan and would be conducted in three phases. The first phase
would involve simple corrective actions, including those that can be
accomplished as part of routine maintenance, while the second phase would
focus on access to recreation sites that are newly covered in the 2010 ADA
Standards, including playgrounds, golf facilities, sports courts and fields,
and boating and fishing facilities. The third phase features more complex
corrective actions that require long range planning. A report on the plan,
which is currently being finalized, will be released for public comment this
summer.

During the open forum that followed the presentations, the Board invited
comment from the public. Members of the audience called attention to areas
where accessibility needs to be further addressed, including websites,
pedestrian signals, transition planning for public rights-of-ways, and
outdoor developed areas. It was noted that consensus standards for classroom
acoustics that were developed with support from the Access Board are now
applied to new school construction in Minnesota. In addition, concerns were
raised about the availability of information in braille in government
offices and universities, access to paper currency for people with vision
impairments, and accommodations in the workplace for employees who are deaf.
Several advised that action is needed on accessibility for people with
age-related disabilities, morbid obesity, and deaf-blindness.

Each year, the Access Board substitutes one of its bimonthly meetings
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in Washington, D.C. with a town hall meeting in a different city. Details on
next year's event will be released as they become available.

  _____  

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