Class assignments provide opportunities to learn, practice, and demonstrate acquired knowledge, and sometimes they do more than that by planting seeds of creative and entrepreneurial inspiration for developing new products or services. 

It was a class assignment, combined with her own personal experiences as a disabled person, that gave Professional and Public Writing major Charlotte Bachelor the inspiration she needed to establish the Detroit Accessibility Project, a nonprofit organization that serves as an online resource for accessibility information on several venues located in downtown Detroit.

The DAP website, which launched in October 2022, currently contains accessibility information on more than 40 art and entertainment venues in Detroit with the goal of adding even more. For each of these venues, the website includes information on elevators, parking, restrooms, ASL interpreters, listening devices, service animals, wheelchair accessibility and rental, and sensory kits. An app version of the DAP website is also currently in the early stages of development.    

The DAP serves as a resource for people who have oftentimes been forgotten and was founded by Bachelor on the belief that a disability should never stop anyone from visiting a cultural space or hinder their ability to experience the overall joy of the city. 

“No one should be forgotten, be a second thought, or lack the resources to live as themselves,” said Bachelor, who in 2019, during her sophomore year, took a medical leave from Michigan State University and soon was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which impacts her energy and mobility levels on a daily basis. Later, she also was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

To read more, visit cal.msu.edu.