The Commission on Disability on Monday met virtually with guest speakers from the Framingham Disability Commission and gained insights from the longstanding and robust group.

The Framingham Disability Commission was founded in 2002 by Karen Foran Dempsey and established by a vote at Framingham Town Meeting. It works to promote inclusion and accessibility for individuals with disabilities in the city. The commission also communicates regularly with city and state leaders.

Framingham leaders provide ideas

Catherine Cuddy, the Framingham commission chair, has served in this role for two years. She explained that the commission works in partnership with residents and city officials to address issues as they arise.

“Our typical kind of bread-and-butter things, as you call it, are that we do [Massachusetts Architectural Access Board]-related variances and complaints,” she said. “Anytime that there’s an AAB complaint or variance filed in our city, we will review it as a commission if it’s gone past the first notice. You need to give the business time to respond before you start writing letters or taking action.”

Offering advice to new businesses on how to be more accessible is another function of the Framingham commission. In a case last year, Cuddy said the commission met with a person hoping to open a two-floor restaurant without an elevator before drafting its opposition letter to the AAB.

Said Cuddy: “In that case, we said no because we felt that cutting off access to the main seating area of that restaurant would have very few tables for customers who couldn’t climb stairs.”

Nancy “Punky” Drawe, the Hopkinton COD chair, noted that many popular restaurants in town have stairs or entranceways that are difficult to navigate for many people with disabilities.

Many times, the commission responds to resident complaints, she added.

“The big thing here is we’re not out to get people,” added Tyler Terrasi, the Framingham commission’s vice chair. “We want to educate and help people to make it more accessible. The number one thing is it’s going to be collaborative.”

Terrasi, who is blind, is working on a project that would make the city’s website and documents accessible with screen readers. He is also advocating for audio descriptions at city events such as summer movies so that visually impaired people can enjoy the experience with headphones. The vice chair is trying to organize a resource fair for the city’s annual ADA Day.

Cuddy explained that she works closely with Framingham’s ADA coordinator and access compliance inspector. Hopkinton members expressed interest in working with an ADA coordinator.

Member Michael DiMascio pointed out that Christopher McWhite, the town’s director of municipal inspections/zoning enforcement officer, is considered the town’s ADA coordinator. Drawe said she would reach out to him to establish a connection.

Hopkinton commissioners appeared enthusiastic about what Framingham is doing. Praveen Hariharan suggested a partnership on some projects. Cuddy was receptive to the idea.

Nancy Cavanaugh asked how the Framingham commission became so successful in community engagement. Cuddy, Terrasi and Dempsey said members attend community meetings regularly and engage with city councilors and departments, particularly the Planning Board.

State transition plan grants awarded

Cuddy noted that her commission recently received a $250,000 grant from the Massachusetts Office on Disability to work on a transition plan.

Mark Dempsey, a board member of the MetroWest Center for Independent Living and the former access compliance officer for Framingham, explained the concept. His role encompasses outreach to 26 municipalities, 12 of which have disability commissions. He was the husband of Karen Foran Dempsey, a pioneering disability rights advocate who died in 2020.

“The ADA, signed in 1990, required that every community that has over 50 employees do a self evaluation of all its buildings, services and programs,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that all buildings have to be accessible. But if you have programs that are only offered in one building, then yeah, you have to have access to those services.”

The transition plan will address any communication or architectural barriers that exist, he added. It is usually worked into a community’s capital plan.

In December, Hopkinton was awarded a $45,792 transition plan grant. The commission applied for it last fall.

Parking violation fund sparks interest

Cuddy highlighted the city’s disability parking violation fund, which intrigued the Hopkinton members. If a vehicle parks in an accessible space without a placard or special plate, the driver is assessed a $300 fine for the first violation. An app allows people to take pictures of offending vehicles and report the violation directly to the police. Funding is awarded to the commission by the city council on an annual basis from the fines collected.

People or entities can apply for money from this fund for disability-related projects. Any unused funds return to the commission, she explained. The fund currently has $100,000.

The fund was created under the state’s Chapter 40, Section 22G law, Cuddy added.

Added Cuddy: “It gives you money to be able to give back and kind of help the community in ways that go above and beyond what the ADA requires.”

The Framingham Public Schools are in the process of applying for adaptive bikes for their physical education program, Cuddy noted. The commission recently awarded $5,000 to make a dock fully accessible. Previously, it granted money for wheelchair and mobility mats to allow for beach access.

Cuddy is working on a plan for “grippy mats” for the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority. Her service dog slid on the metal footwell, prompting her to pursue this project..

The commission also recently partnered with the Framingham Board of Health for standardized signage in places that sell food regarding support dogs.

While Hopkinton has significantly fewer accessible spaces, members said they would like to explore this and other ideas that Framingham’s commissioners shared at its next meeting on March 9.

Design for library handrails approved

The commission approved the design for the new handrail for the Hopkinton Public Library in a 5-0 vote. The design was suggested by the Historic District Commission, noted Amy Ritterbusch, a member of both groups as well as the Select Board.

The handrail would match the design on the opposite side of the library. The library and the commission partnered on a state grant application last year to improve accessibility at the library. A grant of $60,000 was awarded for the handrail and a more effective push button system for the doors.

Virtual meetings to continue

Members voted 5-0 to continue meeting virtually through June. Drawe said she hoped virtual meetings would increase attendance, as the committee could not reach a quorum for several scheduled meetings. Members Holly Morand and Alex Danahy were absent.