New Report Shows Only One in Five NYC Public Schools Fully Accessible to Students and Parents with Physical Disabilities

10.10.2018 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York is releasing a new data brief entitled Access Denied: School Accessibility in New York City [PDF], which looks at the accessibility of New York City’s 1,800 public schools. The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires the City to provide equitable access to schools for students, families, and teachers with mobility, hearing, and vision needs. But nearly 30 years after the passage of the ADA, Access Denied finds that less than one in five of the City’s schools is categorized by the Department of Education (DOE) as “fully accessible.”  The report urges Mayor Bill de Blasio and the DOE to use the forthcoming Fiscal Year 2020-2024 Capital Plan to reach an ambitious and attainable goal—making a third of all schools fully accessible by 2024.

Read the report [PDF]
Read news release [PDF]

Coverage by the New York Daily News

More than 80% of city schools are inaccessible to kids with disabilities: report

Chancellor promises 'significant investment' in accessible schools after report finds 80% block kids with disabilities

Editorial: A lesson in inequity: The vast majority of New York City schools are inaccessible to children with disabilities