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The A3 Conceptual Framework: Advocacy, Accommodation and Accessibility and its Caveat
In the About ACCESS-ed section of the ACCESS-ed website we briefly describe the A3 model. It was conceptualized a number of years ago. Since then, the universal design and accessibility terminology has moved prominently forward. This A3 Model is a foundational conceptualization of UDE institutional change on campuses. However, in the context of terminology, we need to update the specific terms. While we do not want to change the A, the A or the A, in the A3 Model because it would change the A3 acronym name, conceptually, the A3 terms reveal a dissonance in light of the previous discussion around the differences between universal design and accessibility. So we write a brief, ‘Caveat of the A3 Model.’
The sequence of 1) Advocacy, 2) Accommodation, and 3) Accessibility provides a nice basis for the ‘A3 Model’ and we use this in our basic training about UDE. However, according to the above discussion, ‘Advocacy’ and ‘Accommodation’ are intervention approaches. ‘Accessibility’ , on the other hand, is a goal, an outcome, not an intervention. A more pure A3 model might read Advocacy, Accommodation and Universal Design. However, AAUD does not have the same catchy ring to it as A3 and rhymes too much with DUD!
