Getting Nowhere or Going Places?

  • Made By CUP With:
  • Students
  • Tags:
  • Disability,
  • Transportation

Students explore accessibility in NYC's public transit.

Students ask Eman Rimawi questions about her work advocating for accessibility as an organizer with NYLPI.
Students explore relief printmaking by creating small prints based on quotes from their interviews.

Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers—that we know of—have mobility-related disabilities. Other disabilities, such as vision impairments, hearing impairments, and many chronic illnesses that might not be visible to other people, can also affect someone’s ability to use public transportation. Even though such a large chunk of the city’s population experiences some type of disability, NYC’s public transit system could use a lot of improvement in terms of accessibility.

In the spring of 2022, CUP and Teaching Artist Cade Smith collaborated with students from KAPPA International High School to investigate this issue. Students explored relief printing and drawing, surveyed community members, and interviewed key stakeholders to learn about accessibility in NYC’s public transit system— and learned about accessibility in general along the way, too. The team gathered what they learned and created this booklet to teach others about access to public transportation and how the NYC transit system can better support New Yorkers with disabilities!

Check out more photos of students in action here!

Watch the student debut presentation here!

Students interview Quemuel Arroyo about his role as Chief Accessibility Officer for the MTA.
Students combine their prints to create a collaborative poster about accessibility interventions and accommodations.

"My favorite part was being with people my age and talking about kind of like a real life issue, because, as I've been saying, since the beginning of the program, they don't really give children a voice on adult issues. And so like, even though we're the youth and we have strong opinions, we don't get allowed to have an opinion on it. Because it's seen as something adults have to handle. So I liked that we got a chance to try to make a difference for the future."

— Jay Gonzalez, KAPPA International student

Check out the Project

The cover and spread from the project that proposes ways NYC's public transit system could be more accessible.

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Project Collaborators

Educational Partner

KAPPA International High School
Casey Fierman
Samantha Heiderscheid

Teaching Artist

Cade Smith

Students

Fatoumata Conde, Nyajah Evelyn, Jay Gonzalez, Marriyam Halirou, Diogo Holguin, Fallon Johnson, Zola Nobles, Valerie Pena, Mayerline Reynoso, and Hajara Sillah

Special Thanks

Quemuel Arroyo, Alex Elegudin, Jessica Murray, and Eman Rimawi

Product Details

16 pages, 5.5″×8.5″

Funding Support

Major support for this program was provided by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and Council Member Oswald Feliz. CUP Urban Investigations programs are also supported by the Lotos Foundation.