In a split second, everything was different for Mark Raymond Jr., ‘12. Once unaffected by limited accessibility standards, the New Orleans native suddenly needed things he’d never considered – ramps, elevators, and larger spaces to navigate in a wheelchair, among other things. These sorts of widely non-existent accessibility offerings caused Raymond to struggle to navigate his hometown following a 2016 diving accident that damaged the vertebrae by the base of his neck, causing him to lose the ability to walk.

His immediate feelings after the accident were hopelessness and anger, but as he began to accept his outcomes, he realized that accessibility wasn’t personal—it wasn’t exclusive to his needs—it was essential to all who eventually may need those supports.

“It took me to get to a point where, one, I was mentally OK enough to fight the fight and not lose it on people because I’m still mad at the world that I’m disabled. So, I had to get my mental health checked first,” Raymond said.

“And then after that, it became a problem- solution angle for me.”

Two years after his accident, Raymond founded the Split Second Foundation, a New Orleans-based nonprofit community care startup dedicated to promoting the holistic wellness of individuals with disabilities. He also runs Universal Development Consulting, which focuses on implementing accessibility standards to conceptualize projects and developments.

“For so long, accessibility was kind of like an afterthought,” Raymond said. “Right now, we’re adding “A” to DEI – diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, because disability has been an afterthought, but when you think about disability, it’s actually the largest minority population on the globe.”

In 2021, the U.S. reported 42.5 million people with disabilities of any kind. Globally, 1.3 billion people reportedly experience significant disability, according to the World Health Organization.

“One in four people globally have some physical, cognitive, or sensory disability, whether you were born with it, or
it was acquired throughout the course of one’s life, and yet [the country is] still largely only trying to provide the bare minimum to that population,” Raymond said. “We’re coming up on the 34-year anniversary of the ADA, and largely, it hasn’t been substantively updated to reflect [what] we need in our ever-changing society. We can more holistically address these things and move people towards the middle.”

Raymond said accessibility is possible everywhere, even in a historic infrastructure like New Orleans, especially as the city hosts significant tourism, welcoming 17.53 million visitors in 2022. The Crescent City is now gearing up for a monumental Super Bowl and Mardi Gras weekend for its third occurrence ever.

However, Raymond is helping make it as accessible as possible this time.

“Right now, the Super Bowl is coming to town – tons of infrastructure improvements are being made – I’m making sure that those that are leading that effort are keeping accessibility at the forefront of all of what’s being done,” Raymond said.

His task is more specific to promoting accessibility from the tourist perspective.

“I’m working with New Orleans & Company to create a series of videos educating travelers with disabilities on how to get around the city and some tips on attractions and accommodations,” he said.

Raymond, of course, understands why people may not think about creating access for all. Still, now he feels it’s his duty to inform people of its significance, especially as it reaches far beyond disabilities.

“At 27 years old, it didn’t affect me until I had an accident,” he said. “Now, suddenly, I need all of this – I need the curb cuts and elevators. I need buildings with accessible doors that make my life more independent. I need renovated spaces that have wider hallways and fewer barriers.

And it doesn’t just affect people in wheelchairs; it affects people with mobility challenges. That might be a mom pushing kids [in a stroller]. That’s a mobility challenge. It’s not a disability. I’ve always tried to frame it as a universal problem. I don’t know anybody who escapes life without encountering adversity or disability.”

Raymond said he believes a genuinely accessible world is realistic.

“It takes investment just like anything else,” he said. “I’ve had the lovely pleasure of interviewing folks that really led the charge for the ADA, and it was amazing hearing them all say they looked at the Civil Rights Movement as the blueprint for the Disability Rights Movement.”

As the grandson of A.P. Tureaud, civil rights is in Raymond’s blood. Tureaud, as an NAACP Legal Defense attorney, is credited with handling nearly all the desegregation and other civil rights cases in Louisiana from the early ‘40s through the ‘60s, including education cases to allow Black students to attend the state’s flagship university.

“When I think about disability rights, it is civil rights, and it is just as much a legacy to the Civil Rights Movement because my grandfather did so much work in it. His work formed my understanding of how to get things done – the

legal path is always a path. Often, in our current environment, ADA improvements are only made after litigation. And then you’ve got those who are advocating for the policy change, which is helpful. I think understanding all of what it took to get that push through and looking at the legacy, I’m definitely taking cues and looking for inspiration from that.”

A part of Raymond’s version of the movement involves role-playing.

“Over the last seven years, I think one of the most influential things that we did was our ‘Roll with Me’ campaign, putting elected officials and business leaders and developers and
civic planners into a manual wheelchair and having them navigate the environment to see for themselves what this experience is like. And everybody had this visceral reaction like, ‘Oh my God, this is hard as hell.’”

Fellow Xavierite and Congressman Troy Carter, ‘86, participated in one of the ‘Roll with Me’ events.

“That translated from advocacy into funding for RTA to figure out how to make the entire streetcar accessible,” Raymond said. “We got $5.5 million [based on] Congressman Carter’s advocacy training.”

The biggest thing Raymond wants people, especially his fellow Louisianans, to understand is that accessibility is a universal need.

“According to the CDC in Louisiana, one in three people in Louisiana have some physical, cognitive, or sensory disability. And that’s because of all of the preexisting conditions that we live in, the food we eat, how we like
to party, how we like to drink, smoking, all of those lead to strokes and heart attacks, heart disease,” Raymond said. “Just because you aren’t disabled today doesn’t mean you won’t be tomorrow.”

Raymond was admittedly a party-going, carefree kind of guy before his accident, and while he still enjoys life, he said he’s now truly experiencing his purpose.

“[This work has] given me purpose, belonging,” he said. “It’s helped me in so many ways. It gave me my life back. It gave me a right. I think a lot of times, especially post-accident, people just end up searching for a routine sense of normalcy, a sense of belonging, and a purpose. And that’s what all this work has given me. It’s also given me a massive family and people who are empathetic and emotional and have similar goals. That’s super important.”

You can learn more about Raymond’s work at SplitSecondFoundation.org.