In this section, we define and discuss some key terms relevant to the NRCDV Access Initiative and to the understanding of this document.
"Over the past several decades, the lens through which disability is viewed has been changing from a charity model to a civil rights model, but this attitudinal change is slow. Physical access was handled by the passage of several laws. Attitudinal access is not as easy to mandate – most people feel that barriers that keep the disabled out of society do not exist, rather, they think that people with disabilities shouldn’t get ‘special treatment.’ But attitudinal barriers do indeed exist and are as, if not more, difficult to address and dismantle than are physical barriers." - Debora Beck-Massey, 2005
- Audism: “The notion that one is superior based on one’s ability to hear or behave in the manner of one who hears” (Tom Humphries, The Making of a Word: Audism, 1975). Audism is an attitude based on pathological thinking that results in a negative stigma toward anyone who does not hear; like racism or sexism, audism judges, labels, and limits individuals on the basis of whether a person hears and speaks. Audism reflects the medical view of deafness as a disability that must be fixed. It is rooted in the historical belief that deaf people were savages without language, equating language to humanity. Because many Deaf people grew up in hearing families who did not learn to sign, audism may be ingrained. Audists can be either hearing or deaf. This attitude can also be present among Deaf individuals. Learn more in the Special Collection, Violence in the Lives of the Deaf or Hard of Hearing.
- Ableism: Ableism is a form of discrimination or social prejudice against people with disabilities. The “ablesit” societal world-view is that the able-bodied are norm in society – ideas, practices, institutions, and social relations presume able-bodiedness and therefore marginalize people with disabilities as the “other.” Ableism views disability as something inherently “bad” that must be overcome rather than a simple part of human diversity. Learn more at Ableism and Ability Ethics and Governance, a project of the University of Calgary.
- Accessibility: “By accessibility, we mean access in its broadest sense. It includes standards in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Amendments, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and state-level access requirements. Access also encompasses the development and use of policies and procedures that are trauma-informed. It is not just buildings and meeting spaces that need to be accessible. People have to remain accessible, too. A key aspect of access that will arise daily is the challenge as a provider of services to remain accessible—open and trauma-aware—during all interactions, especially ongoing relationships with organization participants” (Wisconsin’s Violence Against Women with Disabilities and Deaf Women Project, 2011).
"A handicap refers to a functional limitation. A three-story building without an elevator would be a handicap to someone who ‘uses’ a wheelchair. However, if the building were to have an elevator, the individual with a disability would not be handicapped." - Debora Beck-Massey, 2005
- Disability: “The World Health Organization (WHO) ‘mainstreamed’ the experience of disability as an ordinary part of experience for all people. Most importantly, the WHO defines disability as something that occurs outside of the person that is based on the interaction of the person, his or her functional abilities, and the environment. As such, one is more or less disabled based on whether the physical, information, communication, and social and policy environment are accommodating and welcoming of variation in ability. In other words, the experience of disability can be minimized by designing environments to accommodate varying functional abilities and providing individualized solutions when needed, opening the door to a new approach to creating welcoming and accessible services for survivors” (Accessing Safety Initiative, 2010).
- American With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA): The ADA is a landmark legislation advancing the civil rights of people with disabilities throughout the United States. The ADA prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, State and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation. It also mandates the establishment of TDD/telephone relay services. The current text of the ADA includes changes made by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-325), which became effective on January 1, 2009. The ADA was originally enacted in public law format and later rearranged and published in the United States Code (ADA.gov). The ADA is only one of many laws ensuring equal access for everyone. Other examples include the Assistive Technology Act, Fair Housing Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
- Trauma-Informed: Trauma informed services or practices incorporate knowledge about the trauma (including prevalence, impact, and recovery) in all aspects of service delivery. Trauma informed services or practices are hospitable and engaging for survivors, minimize re-victimization and facilitate recovery and empowerment (Safety First Initiative, 2006).
- For instance, an increasing understanding of the concepts of “trauma” and “trauma-informed” services or practices has influenced the way in which advocates and social services providers think of our work with domestic violence survivors. Trauma-informed advocacy with survivors of domestic violence means attending to survivors’ emotional as well as physical safety and ensuring that all survivors have access to advocacy services in an environment that is inclusive, welcoming, destigmatizing, and non-retraumatizing (National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health, 2011).
See the related Special Collection Series: Trauma-Informed Domestic Violence Services
- Universal Design: Universal Design (also called Inclusive Design, Design-for-All and Lifespan Design) is a “framework for the design of places, things, information, communication and policy to be usable by the widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations without special or separate design. Most simply, Universal Design is human-centered design of everything with everyone in mind. (…) It is not a design style but an orientation to any design process that starts with a responsibility to the experience of the user” (Institute for Human Centered Design).
- Universal design should therefore be understood not as a “special design” for a particular group of people, but rather as an acknowledgment that designing for the broadest range of users will benefit all users in some way, and often in ways that may have been unexpected. For example, removing excess information and using plain language on an agency’s brochure may improve accessibility not only for a person with an intellectual disability but also to a survivor without a disability who just experienced trauma. Similarly, a lever door handle rather than a knob improves accessibility for a person with mobility disability as well as for someone without a disability whose arms are full when trying to open the door (Safety First Initiative, 2006).