Indianapolis: The Ideal Super Bowl City

As a lifelong football fan, welcoming the Super Bowl to Indianapolis is truly exciting. I firmly believe that Indianapolis does events better than most cities. This week, our city will shine on the national and international stage.

It’s been an honor and a privilege for me to assist the host committee in ensuring the Super Bowl is accommodating to all guests. Our city already stands head and shoulders above others in terms of our commitment to accessibility and inclusion, which makes us the ideal home for a Super Bowl. Consider this: a wheelchair user visiting our city can enjoy all aspects of the Super Bowl Village and NFL Experience that is currently pulsing with activity in our downtown. A guest with a visual impairment can pick up merchandise at the Huddle for loved ones back home, all while contributing to our local economy.

Simply put, Indianapolis is the ideal Super Bowl city. Because of the commitment of generations of bipartisan city leaders, people with disabilities will be able to fully participate in the experience.

I hope you enjoy this short video produced by the Super Bowl host committee – XLVI Faces highlights the many volunteers and how their diverse experiences will make the Super Bowl experience unique for all guests:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDNNv1fg1bw

Creating an Accessible Super Bowl

Written by Larry Markle, director of Disabled Student Development at Ball State University

Though the home town team will not be represented, the city of Indianapolis will be at the center of the football world on Sunday, February 5, when the Super Bowl is played at Lucas Oil Stadium. With a goal of hosting the most accessible Super Bowl ever, staff and volunteers have been at work for months to ensure that the game and all of the events surrounding it are welcoming and accessible for individuals with disabilities.

Ball State graduate and Indianapolis attorney Greg Fehribach is co-chairing the ADA Disability Inclusion Committee for the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee. Fehribach and his committee have been busy training the thousands of volunteers in best practices for making the game day and the events leading up to the Super Bowl as a first-class experience for fans with disabilities. In addition to providing training and literature detailing best practices in working with persons with disabilities, Fehribach and his committee have created a hotline that can be reached for specific questions relative to accessibility.

“Indianapolis has had over 15 years of commitment to accessibility for guests and neighbors who are aging and who have disabilities,” Fehribach stated. “This year’s Super Bowl is the marquee event that will illuminate the hospitality and commitment to the inclusion of fans and guests with disabilities.”

In addition to his work as an attorney and nationally-recognized expert on ADA issues pertaining to facilities (he consulted on the design of Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indiana Governor’s Residence, and the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center), Fehribach is a Distinguished Fellow at Ball State’s Bowen Center for Public Affairs. Heading up the Disability Project at the Bowen Center, Fehribach is studying the employment of individuals with disabilities from a public policy perspective and working to create jobs and internships for college students with disabilities. As part of his work with the Bowen Center, Fehribach teaches courses at Ball State on the political and economic impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Fehribach has enlisted some of his students as volunteers for this year’s Super Bowl. “We’re excited that several of our students have immersed themselves as volunteers to assist with the Disability/Mobility Assistance Team,” Fehribach said. “This is exactly how we’d hoped the project would work.”

Greg Fehribach checks out accessibility options while attending the 2007 Super Bowl in Miami.