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Our Mission

Nurture the disability community, allies & neighbors in Queens, NYC with an inclusive community garden where accessibility is built-in, and everyone can grow.

Why Do We Need Access Oasis?

In America, more than 50 years after the start of the disability rights movement started, and after 25 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act, disabled people are still fighting to be seen, heard, and understood. Disabled Americans still don’t have legally-protected marriage equality or pay equity.

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In Western Queens, Astoria is home to a vibrant, diverse community – as well as power plants that have nicknamed our neighboring area after a disabling condition, “Asthma Alley.” Incidentally, in 2024, New York City had the longest drought on record in a century. Our fight for disabled rights is directly connected to our health and our fight against climate change.

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Western Queens severely needs restoration of native, oxygen-providing plants in a garden where disabled people are celebrated and encouraged to organize toward liberation.

In 2024, Access Oasis started making progress toward our mission:


Group of people with various tools and mobility aids smiling under ba tree.

120 hours in community with disabled neighbors and allies

Tent, table, and art supplies at Access Oasis.

45 native plants have helped restore pollinators

Tent, table, and art supplies at Access Oasis.

8 trees regenerated with mulch & compost


Tent, table, and art supplies at Access Oasis.

1,500 bulbs
planted

Tent, table, and art supplies at Access Oasis.

250 bulbs + 100 native seed packets given to neighbors

Tent, table, and art supplies at Access Oasis.

6 raised beds installed for use with adaptive tools

Our Values

We need everyone to be able to participate in our work at Access Oasis, so we embed accessibility into all new projects from the start.

Disabled people and allies people need safe, inclusive, growth-focused places like Access Oasis. Indoor spaces have become less inclusive for disabled people since COVID-19 began. Because Access Oasis builds accessibility in from the start, we provide an essential third space in Astoria, outside home and work, for disabled people and allies to gather, heal and grow.

We cultivate an equitable, empathetic community with a mutual aid culture.

Disabled people are some of our most skilled and creative neighbors. In a world that wasn’t built for their access needs, disabled people have used ingenuity and persistence to change the world. As our planet becomes less inhabitable to all of us, the skills that disabled people have developed are essential for everyone to learn from. Some politicians call investments in accessibility “wasteful,” but that couldn’t be more untrue. We make each other stronger, and for true equality, we need solidarity, not charity.

We all learn from each other at Access Oasis.

Everyone, no matter their current disability status, has access needs. By practicing meeting each others’ access needs at our garden, we are becoming more connected neighbors. By creating an environment where we can all voice our access needs, we’re improving our own self-care practices and communication skills.

And as we age, we will all encounter disability, whether temporary or life-long, at some point in our lives. Since 2021, 1.2 - 1.5 million people become newly disabled each year, largely due to mass-disabling events like COVID-19 complications, and climate change related natural disasters. Learning about inclusion, access, and caring for our planet together will all help us to prepare for longer, happier lives, and to build the accessible world we want to live in.

When gardening becomes inaccessible to our elders who can no longer bend into the ground and work the earth, we lose their knowledge and decades of gardening expertise, learning to grow our food from scratch, and elders lose access to a lifelong passion. At Access Oasis, we deeply value knowledge from all ages, so we can reduce waste, conserve resources, and create a positive impact on the environment for future New Yorkers.

Copyright © 2023 · All Rights Reserved · Access Oasis Garden. Photography by Alice Obar.