ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan Project
Project overview
The City is starting the process of completing an Americans Disabilities Act (ADA) Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan identifying and planning for the removal of barriers to accessibility in facilities and programs across the City. Public entities are required to do this based on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans Disabilities Act of 1990.
The ADA evaluation, transition planning and implementation will be a continuous effort for the City.
What will be assessed in the Self-Evaluation?
- The City must evaluate current programs, services, policies and facilities to identify accessibility barriers and plan for removal of the barriers.
- The general categories of items to be evaluated include:
- Effective communications
- Nondiscrimination across all programs
- Digital accessibility
- City-owned and/or operated public facilities
- City-owned outdoor spaces (e.g. parking areas, parks)
** Pedestrian Rights of Way (e.g. sidewalks, curb ramps, etc.) will not be evaluated in this project. However, we will use the data collected in the comprehensive evaluation of 2017/2018 (and that has consistently been updated since) to develop implementation goals in the Transition Plan.
What is the Transition Plan?
- The purpose of the Transition Plan is to document the results of the City-wide self-evaluation alongside the implementation measures that the City plans to take to eliminate the barriers found.
- The Transition Plan is intended to be a working document that will be updated when barriers have been removed and when new barriers are identified.
How to get involved
Survey
If you would like to contribute to the completion of the evaluation and transition plan, please take our survey to share feedback about your experience visiting our parks and using pedestrian rights of way around the City. We want to know more about your perception of accessibility and how we can make improvements.
Disability Community Forum and project kickoff
We hosted a virtual meeting on Zoom Wednesday April 9 from 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. for the disability community to learn more about the City-wide Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan project.
At the meeting we shared specific locations and features that will be evaluated. We also shared information about the survey results and how it will inform the evaluation and transition planning process.
Accessibility for the meeting
The meeting included ASL interpreters and automatic captioning.
Project timeline
- Winter 2025: Project Start-Up
- Spring 2025: Community Connection
- March 3 – April 4: Survey is open
- April 9: Disability Community Forum
- Spring 2025 – Winter 2026: City-Wide Program Evaluations
- March 2025: Non-Discrimination
- October 2025: Effective Communication
- February 2026: Digital Accessibility
- Summer 2025 – Winter 2026: City-Wide Physical Space Evaluations
- Spring 2026 – Summer 2026: Data Analysis and Writing Transition Plan
- Fall 2026: Presenting Transition Plan to City Council
- Winter 2027: Publishing Transition Plan on City of Vancouver website