NYU Facilities

Posted on by Matt in Uncategorized

NYU Facilities staff have been vital stakeholders (and superstars!) within the DIA network. Early on in the working group’s activities a “catch all” email address was created and promoted across campus to encourage people to be vocal about their accessibility concerns (accessibility.inclusion@nyu.edu). As DIA co-Chair Karen Nercessian says, “because NYU Facilities are the first in and last to lock the doors on campus, they have become valuable ‘first responders’ to messages relayed through the email platform.”

NYU Facilities made their work with DIA a priority, implementing training initiatives, process improvements and made many important changes with respect to improving accessibility and inclusion in the NYU campus built environment, including:

  • Tisch Hall: install an exterior button to operate the automatic door.
  • Bathrooms across campus: Perform various improvements within restrooms across campus, including modification to thresholds, mirrors, flushometers, soap dispensers, toilet paper and paper towel dispensers, door hardware, and grab bars, etc.
  • Casa Italiana: install new wheelchair lift.
  • Barney Building: install new wheelchair lift.
  • Third North Dorm: install a ramp within the interior courtyard.
  • Lipton Hall Dorm: made various improvements on the ground floor.
  • 19 West 4th: install automatic door opener at the front entrance.
  • 239 Greene Street: install automatic doors on the 6th and 7th Floors.
  • 1 Washington Place: install automatic doors at the exterior entrance, as well as interior ground floor doors.
  • Woolworth Building: install braille directional signage.
  • 20 Cooper Square: install additional automatic door opener into the building and on the 2nd floor.
  • Install a ramp for stage accessibility to dais, 7th Floor Common Room.
  • 665 Broadway: install automatic door openers on the 9th floor.
  • 25 Waverly Place: build a ramp into the building and create a wheelchair accessible bathroom on the 1st floor. 

Most of these projects have already been completed, the rest are scheduled to be completed by the end of FY2019.

Additionally, NYU Facilities have worked closely with many other NYU departments to successfully implement their projects, such as NYU IT and Campus Media.

NYU Connections

Posted on by Matt in Uncategorized

In May 2019, NYU Connections completed its third year coordinating a program for ASD undergraduate and graduate students at NYU. The program, a collaboration between NYU Steinhardt, the NYU ASD Nest Support Program and the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities, is free and available to any ASD-identifying NYU student. The program has three basic parts: (1) weekly individual meetings with disability specialists from the Moses Center, (2) frequent group meetings rotating between Tandon and Washington Square campuses and (3) outreach to the entire NYU community on issues related to neurodiversity and student success.

NYU Connections worked with DIA to secure funding from the Steinhardt Diversity Innovation Grant program, with additional support from the Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity and Strategic Innovation (GIDI), to enrich outreach to the NYU community in order to develop greater awareness about ASD. Our first initiative, launched Spring 2019, is the production of a series of short films written and directed by NYU Connections students. These films will focus on their personal experiences navigating NYU with autism, and what they would like other members of the NYU community to know about their experiences. The first film is planned to be completed and ready for viewing in Fall 2019.

NYU Connections has also benefited from a competitive grant secured by the Moses Center, which will be used to staff a two-year position dedicated to servicing the ASD-pipeline program, expanding facilities to meet the expected increasing demand in the coming years for support for ASD students. In the first year (AY2017-18), approximately sixteen students participated, increasing to thirty-five in AY2018-19. Since this was accomplished without marketing or a website presence, increasing visibility is anticipated as NYU Connections furthers its publicity efforts.

The next goal for NYU Connections is to secure funding for a full-time Program Director, who will have two main roles: First, to manage the existing workload and established collaborative relationships with the Moses Center and GIDI, and second, to further advocate for resources and on-campus support for neurodiversity.

MOSES CSD

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New York University is committed to providing equal educational opportunity and participation for students with disabilities. The Henry and Lucy Moses Center for Students with Disabilities (Moses CSD) works with NYU students to determine appropriate and reasonable accommodations that support equal access to a world-class education. 

In addition to providing support services and accommodations to NYU students in eighteen schools and colleges and thirteen study-away sites, the Moses Center has worked through the DIA platform to make great progress in addressing several key access issues at NYU over the past year, which include:

  • Enhancing access to available sign-language interpreters and captioned and real time real-time translation (CART) services/providers. These facilities make NYU’s learning environment and on-campus events more inclusive to a variety of stakeholders, and expand NYU’s status as a desirable venue for visiting lecturers and other guests.
  • Collaborating with NYU IT to ensure digital accessibility of the NYU website, its content and educational materials in accordance with the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, Level AA standard for digital accessibility.  The Moses Center shared a staff member with NYU IT with the goal of sustaining inclusive design practice to ensure accessibility for people of varying abilities. 
  • Collaborating with NYU Steinhardt to manage and sustain the NYU Connections program geared toward providing support protocols for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) identifying students. The program includes weekly support meetings facilitated by Moses Center staff and bi-monthly co-hort group meetings co-coordinated by Moses and ASD Nest.
  • Securing AIM academic database to provide worldwide access for NYU students, faculty and administrators.  This disability services database complies with WCAG AA and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C &794d).

Alongside these successes, the Moses Center also worked with University Development to secure funding for a two-year professional staff position dedicated to the NYU Connections program.

SPOTLIGHT ON COLLABORATION

Posted on by Matt in Projects, Uncategorized

NYU Steinhardt x NYU Facilities x NYU IT

Responding to multiple complaints about NYU bathrooms not being accessible, Alfred Ng (Assistant Vice President, Facilities Management) connected with Anita Perr (Clinical Associate Professor, Steinhardt) in a DIA meeting to collaboratively devise a solution.

Step 1: Anita had her Occupational Therapy Graduate students survey all bathroom and general use facilities in three major NYU buildings. They collected data in both observational and experiential ways, asking questions such as: Can I get in easily? Can I turn comfortably? Can I push the doors? Is the room large enough?

Step 2: Alfred’s team compiled the surveys into a quantitative data set which could be analyzed. The data was grouped by three categories, in terms of the magnitude of access issues.

Step 3: Together with NYU IT, the group devised a notification system to be incorporated into the NYU Mobile App, thus enabling students with accessibility concerns to quickly orient themselves to the most appropriate facilities nearby.

While this solution cannot replace the more important long-term goal of providing more inclusive bathroom facilities on campus, the innovative thinking of DIA group members and their students has offered a workable pathway to change, implementable within only a few weeks.

Further, owing to the success of the project, Anita Perr has since commissioned her students to survey all entrances of NYU owned and rented buildings. This includes evaluating ground surfaces and changes in level, clearance width, door hardware and opening capacities, communication systems and instructions/notifications regarding accessible entries. 166 entrances were assessed in total, and the group are currently formulating their recommendations for building improvement works and further staff training.