And That’s a Wrap – Disability Pride Season Ends on a High Note in Pittsburgh
Our fifth Disability Pride Pittsburgh celebration, and my first in the Burgh, was this past Saturday at Schenley Plaza. I jumped up and down with the Racing Pierogies, danced with the UPMC mascots and watched tandem adaptive bikes leisurely wheel by. And I even found time for deep conversations and hugs with new friends I've made since moving back home to Pittsburgh last year.
It was nice meeting so many people in person that I'd emailed or texted with over the past year, including our sponsors and local advocates. I loved the variety of booths, spanning from, yes, bikes and disability resources to artists and crafters selling merch. Get-out-the-vote groups like RevUp were out in force, as they should be, with midterm voting already underway. And generally, it was our community at our best. The weather even cooperated, as it was sunny, warm and breezy.
One little girl had Spider-Man face painted around her wide-open mouth, which was just adorable.
Overall, the whole day was a party.
It's been a whirlwind of a year, culminating on Saturday. This weekend's celebration capped a season that also took us to Harrisburg in April, Philadelphia in June, and Erie and Washington in July.
Exploring Pittsburgh’s Disability Community
In the year ahead, I want to get to know you, your groups and your work even better. But here's a recap of some of what I've learned so far.
Pittsburgh's disability community is rich and diverse. There are so many groups that at one point I mapped them all out and started to think of them as overlapping circles.
We have our formidable advocates at Access Mob Pittsburgh and our recreation leaders at United Spinal Association of Pittsburgh and Western PA Blind Outdoor Leisure Development. I even got to cheer on my friend Lester Bennett as he played boccia this winter at the Keystone Wheelchair Games, hosted by Pitt's Human Engineering Research Laboratories.
The Library of Accessible Media for Pennsylvanians, where we held our first Pittsburgh Coffee Chat, is passionate about accessible print media, and Inglis Innovation Center Pittsburgh is dedicated to connecting disabled people and seniors to adaptive tech, among other services.
Our cultural institutions, such as Carnegie Museums, strive to engage and include us. Shout out to Katie Trupiano, director of education and accessibility at City Theatre, who gave me an epic tour, including the shop where the props are made. The theater has robust inclusivity, with audio description for every main-season show, plus ASL interpretation and open captioning at select performances. Accessibility for mobility devices is being expanded to accommodate more guests with larger power wheelchairs.
Frick Environmental Center is doing some fine accessibility work. Its Sensory Trail is an accessible path with rest spots, a pebble harp and an observation deck. And the center lends out four track chairs, free. Danielle Garner, the track chair program coordinator for Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, demo'd a chair for me on a sunny summer afternoon, when our board member Matt Berwick came by and let me shoot an impromptu reel.
And then there’s the exciting work of the Safe Sidewalks Crew, a collaboration between BikePGH, Pittsburgh Walks, Access Mob Pittsburgh and the City of Pittsburgh's Department of Mobility and Infrastructure. Volunteers use an app to rate sidewalks block by block, and the city uses that data to decide where to repair or build them. The training I attended was led by a representative from BikePGH, who was as passionate and knowledgeable about sidewalk access as any advocate I've worked with over the years. It showed me there are local organizations that understand that accessibility for people with disabilities is vital, central and a priority.
That's not the case in many places around the country.
Pittsburgh is a constellation of interconnected neighborhoods, and Yinzers are both the nicest and most direct people you'll find anywhere. That sense of community infuses civic life at all levels, and it's refreshing to see it extends to everyone who lives here, including those of us with disabilities.
If you want to keep up with what's happening throughout the year, sign up for our newsletter at DisabilityPridePA.org. And if you're part of a group I haven't met yet or just want to tell me what you're working on, reach out to me directly at Josie@DisabilityPridePa.org.
Image at top of blog show Libby Powers and Mallory Hudson posing with a Racing Pierogie.
This ingenious, adorable little girl had Spider-Man’s face painted around her mouth.
