Author: imc28001

According to Ms. Amy Rauworth and Ms. Allison Hoit Tubbs, from the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD), disability is projected to increase as aging population increases. Although the prevalence of disability in the U.S. indicates that 57 million Americans have some type of disability, this has been an underserved population and often ignored by the general health community having the highest rate of health disparities out of any subgroup in this country.

Accessibility and inclusion of people with disability in existing and future public health promotion programs geared toward improving their PA, nutrition and healthy weight management are imperative. As approximately one in five Americans has a disability of some sort, I wonder if as practitioners, can we develop skills to identify, include, and collaborate with a diverse range of individuals to increase community health inclusion? Are we aware of the principles of inclusive organizations, policies, and programs? And what actions can be taken to create inclusive programs and organizations in public health?

In the webinar, the presenters detailed how inclusion means to transform communities based on social justice principles in which all community members, for example, are presumed competent and experience reciprocal social relationships. They emphasized the need to go beyond the traditional medical approach, which is not always easy, to achieve inclusion. They also recommended what is commonly known as Universal Design, meaning the design of projects and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent as possible, without the need for specialized design.

Creating inclusive communities, we can provide equal access to and opportunities for healthy living by implementing environmental designs that increase access to PA and healthy food. It has been also demonstrated that persons with disabilities are best served by public health when they are included in mainstream public health activities and programs. Having this in mind, some efforts for reaching individuals with disabilities through healthy communities could include the availability of trails designed for those individuals who have low vision, curb cuts and wide sidewalks that are easy to navigate, accessible entries, wheelchair accessible spaces in public places for recreation, audible traffic signals and elevators, lower sinks, toilets and dryers, wheelchair charging stations, parking that is safe, among others. A small change can make a big difference for somebody to live as independently as possible, the key is prioritizing accessibility, setting expectations, engaging the community –and its diversity- we wish to serve, and commit to inclusion.

We need transportation every day: to get food, to go to school or work, to attend to social and cultural activities, to access healthcare services, etc. As an initiative of the National Complete Streets Coalition, and as part of the webinar series Implementation & Equity 201: The Path Forward to Complete Streets, a panel of experts discussed how will emerging technology (ET) impact cities and streets in terms of new mobility and the built environment. ET includes autonomous (i.e., driverless shuttles), shared automated (SAV) and connected vehicles. They all have changed the way we use, design, build and think about roads (e.g., how far and fast people travel), and might have potential benefits including a reduction in congestion and the need for parking spaces, extending the reach of public transit and improving safety.

The experts also stated that historically, cars parked 94% of the time, 87% of daily trips are in personal vehicle and 38% of all trips are single occupancy, needing an average land-use of 3.4 spaces per car for parking. SAV could replace 12 conventional vehicles that serve to 31-41 persons a day eliminating 11 parking spaces. ET would also mobilize historically underserved populations (i.e., improve the safety and mobility of all users of the road regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation), help to reduce amount of subsidy needed for paratransit operation, and improve accessibility to goods and services extending the reach of public transit.

New vehicles will also need less space and lanes so stakeholders can repurpose extra roadway for people and bikes promoting healthier lifestyles among walkable communities and sharing vivid streets with sustainable infrastructure for pedestrians; which has been a priority topic in recent summits about physical activity promotion.

Finally, they displayed a summary of benefits of ET where basically they seem to be sustainable, affordable, equitable, accommodating, influencing disruptive and diverse. The end-goal would be the implementation of shared roads where pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles (either automatic or not) can operate altogether in a commingled setting. There are several cities and companies involved, but this initiative is just taking baby steps so launching a pilot project or further studies showing tangible outcomes to gain transit planners, policy makers and stakeholder confidence to be promoted as a “healthy change” for improving quality of life are needed.

As practitioners, we could encourage people who reach out to us for help to think about their environment and its influence on their choice of transportation and mobility. There could be also pilot studies comparing cities that are implementing any sort of ET with “regular/control” cities, including physical activity, leisure time, or access to healthy food as outcome variables.