Easter Seals Transportation Group

Easter Seals provides exceptional services, education, outreach, and advocacy so that people living with autism and other disabilities can live, learn, work and play in our communities. Easter Seals has been helping individuals with disabilities and special needs, and their families, live better lives for more than 90 years. From child development centers to physical rehabilitation and job training for people with disabilities, Easter Seals offers a variety of services to help people with disabilities address life's challenges and achieve personal goals.

Easter Seals Project ACTION

Our History America is home to more than 54 million people with disabilities who work, play, shop, vote, pursue an education, raise families, and volunteer in their communities. Congress originally commissioned Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) in 1988 as a research and demonstration project administered by Easter Seals to improve access to public transportation for people with disabilities. Funding for Easter Project ACTION is derived through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration.

In 1990, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and made changes through the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-325), which became effective on January 1, 2009. This civil rights law ensures individuals with disabilities have access to employment, education, state and local government programs and services, businesses, telecommunications, and public transportation. With the passage of the ADA, Easter Seals Project ACTION’s goal was expanded to assist the disability community and the transportation industry to achieve one goal – ensure accessible community transportation in our nation.

Our Mission Our mission is to promote universal access to transportation for people with disabilities under federal law and beyond by partnering with transportation providers, the disability community and others through the provision of training, technical assistance, applied research, outreach and communication. The primary values of our work are partnership, coalition building, coordination, inclusion, independence and the importance of access to transportation choices for people with disabilities.

Our mission is the core of all of our programs and activities, including:

• Training online or in-person, where individuals can learn how to strengthen accessible transportation within their own community.
• Outreach that includes resources and publications available on a variety of topics on accessible transportation and staff presentations and participation at conferences, on advisory committees and events.
• Technical assistance activities through our toll-free hotline (800) 659-6428 allow customers to connect with us Monday-Friday from 9:00am-5:00pm ET. Easter Seals Project ACTION staff also provides in-depth support to individuals or communities who are interested in making positive, long-term changes in their community's transportation system.
• Research on various key topics helps fill research gaps, develops useful materials, engages with scholars and partner to increase greater understanding of issues and best practices associated with accessible transportation across various modes both public and private.