At the heart of our profession as CASp’s, is the idea that Americans with Disabilities have the same rights as anyone else in our country. Our California Building Code Chapter 11B is modeled after the ADA Guidelines, which we recognize as a supporting document to a Civil Rights Law. Some of us really enjoy the technical aspects of the design and construction of accessible features, while others are driven by an advocacy approach in establishing and maintaining disabled access. In either case, our end goal is to provide accessibility in the built environment. July 26th marked the 30th Anniversary of the signing of the American’s with Disabilities Act. It also happened to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of CASI as an organization. To celebrate both the ADA and CASI, we were fortunate enough to have John Wodatch, Ida Claire and Janis Kent participate in a roundtable discussion in which they shared stories about the history of the ADA, CASI and Accessibility in California. We chose a completely organic approach to the roundtable, without any rehearsals or formal agenda, as we thought this would promote a natural and thought-provoking dialogue among the panelists. Regardless of the panelist’s backgrounds (Civil Rights Attorney, State Architect, and CASp/Architect in private practice, respectively), the central themes that we came back to throughout the discussion were: a) Importance of Education, and b) Inclusion. For an organization in the middle of a pandemic, educational opportunities have had to adjust with State recommendations. Where Webinars used to be the alternate option for a presentation, they have now become the only option. I’ve learned that it’s incredibly difficult to read a room when moderating, or presenting, in a virtual platform such as Zoom. Our upcoming webinars are formatted to either 1.5 to 3-hour presentations to avoid webinar fatigue. We welcome feedback and suggestions on presentations that may fit that outline. While Webinars are great for education, we still need to stay in touch with our community. To stay connected with each other, we’ve recently launched our CASI Listserv which allows you to ask a question to the CASI organization and get direct feedback. It’s been a joy to see how interactive our members are with each other! Lots of questions, feedback, insight, and sharing of experience going on in the CASI Listserv. In my opinion, this kind of collaboration and open communication is the foundation of a strong community. Thanks to all who have been getting plugged into CASI and getting involved. If you haven’t had the opportunity to try it yet, do it! We’re all here to learn something new. I’d like to express gratitude to our Board who have been behind the scenes putting together the newsletter, hosting an election, and setting up webinars, all while navigating their ‘day jobs.’ I leave you with a quote from John Wodatch at the end of our ADA/CASI Celebration. |