ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan Project
Project overview
The City is 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 is being 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.
Community involvement
Disability Community Forum and project kickoff
We hosted a virtual gathering on Zoom on Wednesday April 9, 2025 for the disability community to learn more about the City-wide Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan project including specific locations that will be evaluated and features we will be evaluating at each location. We also shared information about the survey results at that time and how it would 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
- Summer 2025 – Winter 2026: City-Wide Physical Space Evaluations
- 2026: City-Wide Program Evaluations (Non-Discrimination, Effective Communication, Digital Accessibility)
- 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