Diving into Literature for

Understanding Inaccessibility 

One of the most important discussions we had during our study has to be on curb cuts. Think about the unassuming, gently sloping ramps — curb cuts — that connect sidewalks to streets or crosswalks. While these are a common sight today, in New York City of the early 1970s, they were virtually nonexistent. This lack made navigating the streets challenging and dangerous for people with limited mobility. That began to change when a group of student activists with disabilities in Berkeley, California, took matters into their own hands, pouring concrete to create their own curb cut. Their action led to official installations across Berkeley and soon after, in cities across the nation, including New York. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 eventually mandated these installations citywide.

Curb cuts eliminated a significant barrier, allowing residents with disabilities to move freely and safely through US  neighborhoods. But the impact went further — parents pushing strollers, seniors using walkers, delivery workers with handcarts, and countless other New Yorkers benefited from the accessibility improvement. This phenomenon, where solving a problem for one disadvantaged group leads to broader benefits, is known as the “curb-cut” effect.(Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2016)

Over the weeks, our team meetings were enriched by multiple readings and discussions on topics like demystifying disability, understanding varied user experiences, survey design, web cartography, and accessibility research. These discussions not only fueled our enthusiasm for the fieldwork but also deepened our appreciation for the complexities involved in survey design. They underscored how intricate these challenges can become, even at the stage of crafting questions and structuring a survey, reinforcing the importance of a thoughtful and inclusive approach in our NYC subway station accessibility survey

Readings and Resources

We believe that accessibiity also mean access to shared knowledge . We have shared some of our favourite reads from the course of our research with links below, Please indulge and enjoy reading!