Measuring Up

Helping communities improve accessibility

Measuring Up is a process to help communities assess and improve local accessibility and inclusion for persons with disabilities and others, including older persons, parents pushing baby carriages, tourists carrying luggage, and people with injuries.

What is Measuring Up?

Measuring Up aims to foster the active engagement, participation and contribution of persons with disabilities in their communities. By increasing accessible employment opportunities and improving public spaces, recreation facilities, restaurants and shops, Measuring Up is assisting communities to become more accessible and inclusive, so everyone can benefit.

Since its development in 2007, Measuring Up has grown from eight communities involved to more than 100 communities across the province. Eighty-eight of these communities received grants totaling $1.86 million from the Measuring Up Accessibility and Inclusion Fund (Measuring Up Fund), established with financial support from the BC Ministry of Housing and Social Development.
 

The Measuring Up process

"Measuring Up: A guide to support communities in becoming more accessible and inclusive for all" leads communities through discussions of diverse and often complex disability issues. Accessibility and inclusion touch many aspects of a community and there are many overlapping parts to each of these concepts. The Measuring Up guide presents one way to help you understand the different components of an accessible and inclusive community by looking at the five areas of community life:

• Living in the community: consists of people’s experiences with the built environment (such as buildings, homes and outdoor spaces) and people’s experiences with programs, policies, planning and decision-making processes.
   
• Getting around in the community: involves people’s ability to get around so they can safely and comfortably carry out daily tasks, including participation in social, cultural, environmental, volunteer and recreational activities.
   
• Working in the community: relates to people’s ability to find, be hired for and keep meaningful employment in their community while increasing the local labour pool and economic capacity.
   
• Playing in the community: is about ensuring everyone is able and welcome to take part in leisure, sport and recreation, social, cultural and spiritual activities.
   
• Visiting the community: considers how open and welcoming a community is to all visitors.

These five areas offer a starting point for discussions about how persons with disabilities can be given more opportunities to fully participate in community life.

Download the Measuring Up guide in PDF or Word format.
 

How 2010 Legacies Now can help

2010 Legacies Now’s Measuring Up team can help your community build a legacy of accessibility and inclusion. Throughout the Measuring Up process, this team can help you by:

• Introducing Measuring Up: its purpose, the guide and process, and resulting social and economic benefits
• Connecting you with local and provincial disability leaders and organizations
• Suggesting partners and supporters
• Recommending steps for your community's process
• Sharing information, tools and best practices from other communities
• Linking you to other communities with similar circumstances
• 2010 Legacies Now is also interested in hearing how your community is using Measuring Up. If you would like to share your experiences, stories or resources with the Measuring Up team and other communities in BC, please send them to measuringup(at)2010LegaciesNow.com.
    

Additional information and resources

Measuring Up FAQ
Measuring Up tools
Measuring Up Fund
Measuring Up grant recipients
Measuring Up funded projects
Additional funding opportunities
Related links
 

Measuring Up was created in partnership with the Vancouver Agreement, representing the provincial and federal governments and the City of Vancouver; the Vancouver Foundation; and over 80 disability organizations throughout BC.