Next stop, access!

This document is a preread companion guide to a working paper titled “Next stop, access! An exploratory paper on disability rights and justice throughout the transition to electric school buses.” It provides the conceptual frameworks, definitions, and technical background regarding disability justice, environmental justice, and school bus classifications used in the research.

• The document distinguishes between disability rights and disability justice (DJ). While disability rights are based on federal, state, Tribal, and local laws, the DJ framework focuses on collective action, the whole experience of individuals, and leadership by those most impacted, specifically addressing the needs of queer and disabled activists of color.
• Environmental justice (EJ) is defined as ensuring equitable treatment and active engagement of all individuals regardless of race, color, national origin, or income in environmental laws and policies. It is rooted in communities of color and aims to rectify systemic inequities that cause disproportionate environmental harm to marginalized groups.
• The guide expands the definition of an 'accessible school bus' beyond the common standard of power wheelchair lifts or retractable ramps. For the associated working paper, accessibility includes any designs and devices that ensure students with diverse disabilities can ride with ease, comfort, and safety, including features like temperature regulation, audiovisual communications, and reduced stimulation.
• Universal design, also known as inclusive design, is an approach to manufacturing school buses that integrates accessibility features from the start rather than adding them as modifications, aiming to make vehicles usable by all people to the greatest extent possible without needing specialized design.
• The document categorizes four primary types of school buses: Type A (smallest, 10–30 passengers), Type B (no longer manufactured), Type C (conventional, 36–77 passengers, accounting for about 70 percent of US buses), and Type D (largest, up to 90 passengers, accounting for about 20 percent of the market). All currently available electric models for Types A, C, and D have the capacity for ADA lifts.
• The text identifies three major pieces of US legislation providing protections for people with disabilities: the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

APA

World Resources Institute (2024). Next stop, access! https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-07/before-you-read-next-stop-access.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Next stop, access! 2024. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-07/before-you-read-next-stop-access.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Next stop, access! |date=2024 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-07/before-you-read-next-stop-access.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2024next, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Next stop, access!}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2024}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-07/before-you-read-next-stop-access.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }