Access Nashville is a project of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. The goal of Access Nashville is to gather and disseminate information about "accessibility- friendly" restaurants, entertainment attractions,and transportation services so that all customers can make informed choices about where to go in Nashville, Tennessee. (They do not assess ADA compliance) This information is organized by geographic location and linked to the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau website on their "Accessible Nashville" page.
Access Nashville utilizes college students through a classroom service learning activity to gather "accessibility-friendly" information about area restaurants. After the accessibility training
students are required to survey a designated restaurant for homework. A rating Wow, Good, and Limited Access is given to each restaurant surveyed. This year the colleges participating in this project included Belmont University, Nashville State Community College, Tennessee State University, and Vanderbilt University with a total of 65 students this year.
Access Nashville has currently gathered data on over 475 local Nashville restaurants, and posted information about their accessibility to its website. Access Nashville has also provided accessibility training to approximately 750 students from colleges and universities in the Nashville area including Tennessee State University, Belmont, Vanderbilt, and Nashville State Community College.
Access Nashville training presentation and script has been developed as a UCEDD product this year and is available for dissemination.
This year, TN Disability Coalition received a training grant to replicate Access Nashville in other towns in TN. Access Nashville staff provided training on May, 2012 and staff from Buffalo River Services, Inc (Lawrenceburg TN) and Jackson Center for Independent Living (Jackson TN)participated and plan to develop accessibility friendly projects in their communities. Earlier in the fiscal year, the DisAbility Resource Center in Knoxville TN replicated this project (Access Knoxville) and accessible restaurant info in Knoxville can be found at http://www.drctn.org/survey.shtml.
Access Nashville has not only impacted community members with disabilities but also student volunteers and restaurant owners through an information-sharing process:
-Consumers who use wheelchairs can review the accessibility-friendly restaurant listing and make informed choices about where to go in the Nashville area.
- Student volunteers receive disability awareness and accessibility training combined with surveying a specific restaurant as a homework assignment. College students have given Access Nashville training a 100% satisfaction rating.
- Restaurant managers often inquire about accessibility in their restaurant. Access Nashville encourages all restaurants to be accessible and provides special certificates to those restaurants that have a Good Access or Wow Access rating and offer technical assistance to restaurants receiving a Limited Access rating.
For more information, visit www.accessnashvilleonline.org or contact Carole Moore-Slater at 615.875.5085 or by email at:
[email protected].
