Community receptivity refers to the transactional relationship between the features of the community environment and the attributes of individuals with disabilities that influence his or her participation in the community. This project involves developing a measurement system to determine the receptivity of communities for people with mobility impairments and limitations and to assess the relationship of community receptivity to their participation in major life activities. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Disability and Health, the system is comprised of multiple instruments that have been tested in four different communities, including St. Louis and Springfield, MO, Carbondale, IL, and Menomonie, WI. The first instrument, a Community Resource Index (CRI) is used to index the level of community resources that are important to those with mobility limitations. The second instrument, the Community Participation Receptivity Survey (CPRS), was developed to estimate the community receptivity as perceived by mobility-limited members living in the selected community. The third instrument is the Community Health Environment Checklist (CHEC) that is used to assess accessibility features at a variety of built environments frequented by community members. Finally, two survey instruments are used to measure the perceptions of community members without mobility limitations (Community Perception Survey/General Population - CPS/GP) and those with mobility limitations (Community Perception Survey/Mobility Limitations – CPS/ML). |