Disability Health, Social Life, and Wellbeing

Social connection is essential to health and well-being, yet disabled people often experience isolation because urban environments fail to support their needs. As accessibility policies primarily address mobility impairments, there is far less attention given to how individuals with intellectual, developmental, cognitive, or psychiatric disabilities experience and navigate public spaces.

This project seeks to address this gap, exploring how urban spaces either facilitate or obstruct the health and social connections of disabled people. It also examines the structure and dynamics of their social networks to better understand how relationships develop and function within the urban landscape. Understanding these dynamics will empower urban planners, city health officials, disability organizations, and, most importantly, the disabled community to assess and advocate for changes that can enhance the quality of life for the community.

This issue is particularly acute in small cities – like Bethlehem and Allentown – where accessibility barriers persist, and social supports and services remain underdeveloped. Through community workshops and design sessions, the team is identifying the spatial and social barriers that shape disabled residents’ experiences in the Lehigh Valley.

Mapping the Built Environment and Social Networks

The first pilot phase of the project focuses on two key areas: the built environment and sociality.

1. Built Environment Node will examine how urban spaces either facilitate or obstruct the everyday lives of disabled individuals. To gain a comprehensive understanding, we are hosting a series of public workshops in collaboration with local disability organizations. These workshops will provide a platform for disabled participants and their caregivers to collaboratively map, discuss, and analyze their experiences of urban spaces. Together, we will identify persistent barriers as well as supportive features that enhance their daily lives. Through this process, we aim to uncover how urban design shapes the daily experiences of disabled individuals and explore potential improvements that can be made.
2. Sociality Node focuses on understanding the structure and dynamics of disabled people's social networks. Social connections are a vital part of wellbeing, and yet they are often overlooked in urban design discussions. To explore this, we will conduct interviews with disabled participants from organizations such as Good Shepherd Rehabilitation, New Bethany, and the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living. These interviews will help construct diagrams of participants’ social networks, identifying key relationships, where these interactions occur, and their purpose. The aim is to uncover how social interactions intersect with the urban landscape, revealing how support systems and community networks impact disabled people’s experiences.

Participants also have the chance to review and refine their network diagrams to ensure their experiences are accurately reflected. This iterative process will help to create a more nuanced understanding of how social interactions and urban spaces work together to shape the lives of disabled individuals.

The Intersection of Sociality and Space

The data collected from the built environment and sociality nodes will be combined and aggregated to map the relationship between urban spaces and social interactions. This will identify where different types of social connections occur, how long they last, and how they contribute to the overall wellbeing of disabled individuals.

The goal of this research is to challenge the limitations of individual-centered disability discourse and provide a clearer picture of how disabled people experience urban life. We demonstrate that a thoughtful, inclusive approach to urban design—one that takes into account the diverse needs of the disability community—can not only improve the lives of disabled individuals but enhance the wellbeing of all residents.