Project Goals
The Access Nashville Project provides accessibility friendly information about restaurants in the Nashville area so that customers that use wheelchairs and/or have other disabilities can make informed choices about where to dine. In addition, student volunteers and resturant managers are provided an awareness of disability issues that may impact customer service and/or social action through volunteerism.
Access Nashville is a low cost, effective project that can be replicated in other cities through partnerships with community groups and local institutions of higher education working together. Access Nashville has developed a student training packet that includes a survey, a tool kit of needed supplies and a PowerPoint presentation.
return to the top of the page
Our History
This project started in 2004 with a diverse group of individuals from the disability, business, government, and aging communities, who joined together to gather “accessibility friendly” information about restaurants, hotels and entertainment attractions in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. This “systems change” project was conducted and implemented by community volunteers and was never intended to assess compliance with the accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Simply, the group decided that persons who are blind, deaf, and/or use a wheelchair needed information about establishments so that all people, regardless of abilities, could make appropriate and comfortable choices of where to eat, shop, and visit in Nashville. Many members of the original group are now in the Access Nashville Coalition that guides the activities of Access Nashville.
Access Nashville is now a project of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities through Tennessee Disability Pathfinder, a bilingual statewide information and referral service for individuals with disabilities of all ages. In 2006-2007, the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities provided grant funding to expand training provided by Access Nashville in the community.
Access Nashville provides useful information about accessibility friendly features in restaurants located in Downtown Nashville. Access Nashville promotes awareness of disability issues through volunteerism and social action. Access Nashville sponsored three annual training events between 2004 to 2006 and trained community volunteers. In 2007, Access Nashville shifted its focus to training students attending area colleges and has trained 60+ volunteers in the first three months of 2007.
return to the top of the page
Our Board
The Advisory Board includes members from the disability and business community:
Pam Bryan - Brain Injury Association of Tennessee
Terry Clements - Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau
Donna DeStefano - Tennessee Disability Coalition
Kenton Dickerson - Center for Independent Living of Middle Tennessee
Diane Dietrich - United Cerebral Palsy of Middle Tennessee
Suzanne Ezell - Volunteer
Graham Goodloe - Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital
Lisa Hester - Tennessee Arts Commission
Tom Hopton - Center for Independent Living of Middle Tennessee
Martie Lafferty - Disability Law & Advocacy Center of Tennessee
Sofia Maneschi - Board President, Center for Independent Living of Middle Tennessee
Jason McAlexander - Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC)
Carole Moore-Slater - Tennessee Disability Pathfinder
Jessalynn Riggs - MTSU student
Diane Schlaufman - Area Agency on Aging and Disability, GNRC
Jan Schuffman - Metro Nashville Government ADA Compliance Division
Ned Solomon - Partners In Policymaking™ Leadership
Floyd Stewart - Center for Independent Living of Middle Tennessee
return to the top of the page
Project Replication
We believe this project can be replicated in other cities at minimal cost. Access Nashville can assist by providing consultation and information for your agency to review including: restaurant surveys, copies of rating descriptions, and power point training information.
Access Nashville trains college students by providing a two hour classroom training and a classroom follow-up session. Students receive Access Nashville “tools” including an Access Nashville t-shirt, yard stick or measuring tape, clip board, survey, and Access Nashville information sheets for businesses. Students are assigned a specific restaurant to survey as a homework assignment. The classroom follow-up session is designed to review surveys, answer questions, discuss experiences and for the staff to gather the surveys and tools.
Student training is advantageous in several ways:
- There are no costs required for space, food and beverages, t-shirts or set-up and clean up activities.
- In college classrooms, disability and accessibility friendly awareness can be provided to a large number of volunteers on an ongoing basis.
- The structure for classroom training and collection of therestaurant surveys when viewed as a homework assignment has provided a consistency and reliabilty in the data collected.
- Training promotes a meaningful awareness of disability issues through a hands-on activity and social action activity in the community.
- The future leaders of tomorrow, who live throughout the United States, are trained through a hands-on activity and experience the importance of accessibility for all persons.
For further information, contact Carole Moore-Slater at 615-322-8529 ext13, 800-640-INFO ext 13, or carole.moore-slater@vanderbilt.edu.
Student Comments
“I learned that people/businesses are extremely sensitive about the idea of being wheelchair or disability “friendly”. I also had my eyes completely opened to little things that make a difference in whether a person in a wheelchair can actually enjoy a meal at specific locations (examples: height of bathroom locks and soap dispensers, the actual slope of the ramp, bars in bathroom stalls, how far back condiments are on counters). It has completely changed my awareness, and now I don’t enjoy restaurants that aren’t accessible [friendly]!!”
"My experience has definitely changed my attitude and awareness. I am now more aware of non-accessible places. I also realize there is more to accessibility than having a ramp that leads to the entrance; simple things like having the soap dispenser in arms’ reach never crossed my mind, but do now. I didn’t expect there to be so many criteria for a restaurant to be considered accessible."
"My experience has changed my awareness – I notice ramps (and how steep they are), whether doors have pull spaces, heights of counters, and other aspects of an establishment that are important for accessibility. Overall, it was a good experience that helped me realize how different places might treat and accommodate people with disabilities very different from other places. "
“It is more than being [accessiblity friendly] . . . it’s about fairness and equality”.
