| Overview
The purpose of a written Accessibility
Plan is to help foster an environment that
accommodates the needs of all clients, families,
other stakeholders, and employees. Accessibility
to organizations and programs is a broader
view than just the elimination of physical
or architectural barriers. Central to this
commitment is the removal of architectural,
attitudinal, environmental, employment,
financial, communication, transportation,
and any other barriers that may impede full
access to the organization.
Accreditation Requirement(s)
To be deemed in conformance with the intent
of these standards, the organization should
be able to provide evidence of the following:
- A written document that addresses attitudinal, architectural,
environmental, financial, employment, communication, transportation,
and other barriers to an individual receiving treatment. An assessment
of the potential barriers must be conducted in order to write
the plan.
- The written plan should be developed with input from clients,
employees, and other stakeholders.
- The plan should conform to Federal, state, local, or provincial
requirements.
- The plan identifies actions to be taken to remove barriers
and the appropriate timelines to do so.
- A written status report is that which identifies the organization's
progress toward the removal of barriers and other areas needing
improvement.
Implementation Tips
Some Implementation Tips provided, in part, by Robert Johnson at: www.accreditationnow.com.
- With the passing of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, institutions
and organizations in the United States
have made significant progress in decreasing
barriers that face persons served by behavioral
health organizations. One of the methods
in which organizations can ensure that
they are facilitating full and open access
to all persons involved in the organization
is the development of a comprehensive
Accessibility Plan. When developing an
Accessibility Plan, the following tips
and suggestions may be helpful:
- Assemble a group of people who have
interest, experience, and/or passion
in this area of disability issues
to develop the plan. Designate someone
to serve as the organization's Accessibility
Coordinator.
- Involve persons outside of the organization
(i.e., qualified people with disabilities)
in the assessment of the organization's
accessibility. There are many persons
trained in this area available through
advocacy groups and government entities
who can provide assessments for little
or no cost and/or provide low-cost
solutions to addressing barriers.
- Conduct a thorough review in all
areas of accessibility including architectural,
attitudinal, environmental, employment,
financial, communication, transportation,
and any other area that may be determined
to limit access.
- Examples of architectural
barriers may be the lack of handicap
accessible doors and bathrooms,
narrow hallways that need to be
widened, the lack of adequate
lighting in parking lots and doorways,
etc.
- Examples of attitudinal
barriers may be found in the language/terminology
that the organization uses in
its publications (i.e., not translating
documents into other languages
even though the population served
is culturally diverse) or when
communicating with clients (e.g.,
clients are referred to by name
or by type of disability or diagnosis),
by the lack of client input that
is solicited and used, etc.
- Environmental
barriers may be lack of soundproof
and confidential counseling rooms,
poor furnishings, and décor that
impact the client's comfort level
(e.g., peeling paint on walls,
torn and stained carpet, only
one bathroom for males and females
that is used for urine collections,
etc.), lack of child-friendly
waiting areas, and/or child care
provided for clients.
- Examples of employment
barriers might include not having
a culturally diverse workforce,
whereas the population served
is culturally diverse; a lack
of diversity training for existing
staff members, etc.
- Communication
barriers could be the absence
of program literature and signage
translated into other languages
or large print (for the elderly),
lack of on-call interpretive services,
or the lack of a telecommunication
device for the deaf (TDD line).
- Transportation
barriers may include difficulties
reaching program locations (e.g.,
not located on a bus route).
- Survey employees and clients. They
are one of your best sources for ideas
and information concerning barriers
to full and open access.
- Develop an Accessibility Plan that
contains the same components as your
client's individual rehabilitation
plans. This will ensure that you are
addressing all the important parts:
- Creating goals based on your
assessments
- Making objectives measurable
- Identifying persons responsible
for meeting those objectives
- Targeting expected dates of
completion
- Creating a method to assess
the progress of each goal
- Hold your organization to the same
standards that you hold your clients
and clinicians to when setting goals
and reviewing progress toward achieving
the goals.
- Make sure you have a system of ongoing
assessment of progress of all goals,
and are reformulating your plan when
new issues and barriers are recognized.
The plan should be a "living,
breathing" document that provides
a functional template for planning
and action to continuously find ways
to increase access within the organization.
- The written Accessibility Plan should
be reviewed annually and revised as
needed by the organization's leadership.
Include review/revision dates on your
plan, and ensure that management team/governing
body meeting minutes reflect this
review.
- Additional resources for the development
of an Accessibility Plan are:
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