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Commission seeks needs assessment, will pursue UAA research support and departmental ADA data
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Summary
Anchorage Disabilities Commission said it will pursue a needs assessment and try to arrange a workshop with the University of Alaska Anchorage after repeated no-shows from the Northwest ADA Center; commissioners also agreed to request ADA compliance information from municipal departments to inform the survey.
The Anchorage Disabilities Commission on Tuesday agreed to pursue a formal needs assessment and to try to schedule a workshop with University of Alaska Anchorage researchers after several failed attempts to secure the Northwest ADA Center.
Chair opened the new-business discussion saying the Northwest ADA Center had not joined the commission for three months and that the commission should consider alternatives. Bridger, who identified himself as a disability advisor at the UAA Center for Human Development, said he had contacted his supervisor about UAA research support and that outreach had been delayed by a major snowstorm. “I like to have multiple things set up as backups,” Bridger said, adding that UAA’s research staff conduct needs surveys and could potentially help design and administer the commission’s assessment.
Commissioners discussed the assessment’s possible scope, including public safety, transportation and interactions between law enforcement and people with disabilities. One commissioner pointed to a 2019 Anchorage community assessment and a Providence health-focused survey as methodological models the group could use to frame questions and outreach.
Members also agreed to seek existing departmental information before designing a new survey. A commissioner recommended requesting ADA compliance reports and even the municipal ADA coordinator’s job description to understand what departments currently track. Chair and others named “Paul” as the municipal ADA coordinator in the conversation as a contact point for accommodation procedures.
Anchorage Equal Rights Commission (AERC) staff told the commission their office publishes annual reports and said the AERC executive director is working on trend analyses; AERC staff said they would explore compiling de-identified complaint themes related to disability to inform the commission’s work. “I’ll talk with my executive director and see how we can compile that information,” the AERC representative said.
The commission directed the chair to contact the Transportation Commission to explore a joint effort and asked Bridger to follow up with UAA about scheduling a workshop, likely in January when staff availability improves. Commissioners said they would do pre-work — gathering department reports and relevant data — before meeting with transportation staff.
The commission left the item without a formal vote but recorded these follow-ups as action steps: outreach to UAA, a request for departmental ADA compliance information, an inquiry to the AERC about complaint trends, and contact with the Transportation Commission to coordinate the assessment.
The commission said it will report back with proposed dates and the draft needs-assessment scope at a future meeting.
