The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66229

Susan Stark, PhD, Washington University, Program in Occupational Therapy, 4444 Forest Park Avenue, Campus Box 8505, St. Louis, MO 63108, 314 286 1626, starksu@msnotes.wustl.edu, John C. Bricout, PhD, GWB School of Social Work, Washington University, One Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1196, St. Louis, MO 63108, and David B. Gray, PhD, Program in Occupational Therapy, Washington University, 4444 Forest Park Ave., St. Louis, MO 63108.

There is a critical gap in the current research literature on community participation, of great consequence to people with disabilities. That literature has largely focused on barriers to accessibility, whether the barriers are physical (e.g., Szold, 2002), attitudinal (e.g., Leney & Sercombe, 2002), or some combination of both (e.g., Fange, Iwarsson, & Persson, 2002; Pierce, 1998). This focus on accessibility fails to take into account the negotiation that takes place between persons with disabilities and their physical and social environment. Taking an ecological perspective on the interrelationship between people with disabilities and their communities provides a broader, more integrated framework for assessing community readiness to support the participation of persons with disabilities. Community receptivity is the dimension of community ecology that is critical to the participation of people with disabilities. Community receptivity for persons with disabilities refers to the transactional relationship between the community environment and individual attributes that influence the participation of people with disabilities in community. The features of community environments include the political, economic, physical and social characteristics.

We have developed and tested a battery of complimentary measures of participation, attitudes, resources and the built environment to assess community receptivity in a population of persons with mobility limitations. A method for assessing patterns of community receptivity across these domains will be described. Community profiles and preliminary typologies will be discussed, with special attention to their potential for planning services and supports.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize how community receptivity contributes to the social participation of people with a physical mobility limitation.
• Identify the nature and interrelationship of key domains of community receptivity.
• Learn how to evaluate community profiles for planning purposes.

Keywords: Environment, Evaluation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.