Our Projects (2023-2024)

The Access Map

While The Ohio State University’s campuses have become much more accessible since the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, there are still several accessibility issues that have gone unaddressed. One such issue involves the absence of a specific accommodation for mobility aid users: while most buildings are physically accessible, there often is not much communication as to which entrances and walking paths are themselves accessible. This makes it difficult for people unfamiliar with OSU’s campuses to determine what paths they’re able to take to get from point A to point B, or how physically difficult those paths will be to cross.

Our solution is the Access Map, which serves both as a database of localized accessibility information and as a navigational aid for mobility-aid users. The project was initially spearheaded in late 2020 by wheelchair-user and then-president Kayden Gill, and since then the project has continued to expand in scope. At the beginning, we walked through all areas of the Columbus campus and documented access barriers on walking paths and exterior doorways, often with wheelchair users present to assess how difficult it was to move through each path. We recorded this information over the course of two years, and synthesized the data into a visual map that a mobility aid user can read to understand how to access each area of campus.

While the Columbus campus map is now complete, we are still working on expanding the project. Recently, we’ve been in communication with OSU administration, who’s expressed interest in incorporating parts of our work into the official OSU app, as well as recording similar data for their other OSU campuses. Our next steps include collecting and incorporating data about the interiors of campus’s buildings and presenting the map not as a static image, but an interactive piece of software. For those interested in getting involved, more information can be found on our calendar page!

 

The current version of the Access Map Project can be found here.

Accessible Concerts

As one of our organization’s missions is to bring about communal joy, sharing and creating art is incredibly important to us. Access to art empowers people to feel their bodies and emotions emphatically, explore the otherwise personal and hidden experiences of others, and participate in deeply moving extensions of culture. Art is powerful in its ability to create and unite communities, providing self-expressive, shared human experiences for people to build both unity and individuality off of. In this tradition, Columbus has a close-knit and lively local music scene, encompassing genres from electronic music to punk to rap to indie.

However, many of the scene’s most prominent venues are inaccessible. Performances are often held in rooms that require stairs to enter. Others pack audience members tightly together, giving attendees more limited space to move without being touched. This is an especially prohibitive barrier at hardcore shows, where moshpits and physical contact are core parts of the culture’s communal experience with the music. It is not uncommon for seating options to be sparse or nonexistent, and the intensity of the resulting lighting and noise can be overstimulating to many.

We want to combat this inaccessibility by creating a more accessible option. We are currently planning our first two shows The Wex Performance Space in 2024: one in January and one in April. The first of these shows will feature local hardcore and noise acts (as this type of live music tends to be very inaccessible). The goal of these shows is to provide the most accessible experience possible without sacrificing the energy and vibe of the experience. We’ll update this page as our plans get more solidified. Dates TBA.