Thanks so much to Tara Ayres for sharing her work with us!
- Are there people with disabilities on your organizing committee(s)? We have a saying in the disability rights movement: Nothing about us without us. We need to be included in organizing events.
- Speakers with disabilities at the rallies
- Not just wheelchairs, but: Is the stage going to be ramped?
- Speakers who are literate about disability justice
- Consider intersectionality: your disabled speakers shouldn’t all be white. People with disabilities are predominantly people of color.
- Are you asking all of your speakers, whether or not they have disabilities, to consider disability in their speeches?
- ASL interpreters at rallies
- Fragrance-free areas at the rallies so that people with environmental illness/chemical sensitivities can attend
- Create designated smoking areas so that people with respiratory and environmental illness don’t have to be exposed to cigarette smoke
- Inclusion of disability in all written materials/websites about the events
- Is the march route accessible? Hills? Barriers?
- Are you considering independent access? No one should need to be pushed if they’re usually independently mobile.
- If there will be barricades between the sidewalks and the street, how will people with mobility impairments access the march route?
- If providing vehicles, are they lift- or ramp-equipped?
- If providing volunteers to help, are you training them on disability issues?
- Is there a designated accessible seating area so that folks who need to sit aren’t trapped behind standing people?
- Is there an accessible path of travel to get to the accessible seating?
- Is the accessible seating clearly marked/blocked off?
- If the rally/gathering is on grass, is there a paved path of travel to the accessible seating?
- Ensure that there are wheelchair accessible portable toilets, and that they are placed so that wheelchairs can actually access them.
- Accessible toilets should NOT be positioned up against a curb so that one has to step up to get to them.
- .Accessible toilets need barrier free, clear space in front of them so that wheelchair users can get into them
- Consider placing signs that say that they are reserved for people with disabilities.
- Are disability rights issues included in peace keeper training? At a minimum, peacekeepers need to be trained on disability etiquette.
- If there are written materials/programs, are they available in large print? Braille? Electronic format?
- Is your website accessible to screen readers?
- In general, graphics are not accessible to screen readers, so they need to have text descriptions or image descriptions attached.
- If you are providing information to out-of-town visitors about food and lodging, are you including wheelchair and disability access in that information?
- If you are assisting with finding community housing, are you working to find wheelchair accessible housing? Fragrance free housing?
- Is there engaged space for those who can’t march, but want to participate?
- Consider creating official accessible viewing areas along the march route where people can display signs, etc.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather a great place to start. If you have a suggestion for an addition email us at support@actionnetwork.org.