Western Pennsylvania Disability History and Action Consortium

Honoring the historic struggle of Western Pennsylvanians with disabilities to attain human and civil rights.

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Using Disability History to Ensure Disability Rights

ADA30 Red and blue ADA30 logo featuring symbols representing people with disabilities. ChazKellem Chaz Kellem, a black man using a wheelchair, wears a blue button down and black dress pants. He is behind a podium holding a microphone to his mouth and pointing out at the audience. PPS A black and white photo of children playing on a basketball court at Bedford School in nineteen fifty seven. Two children are seated in wheelchairs. Several are using crutches. Men-chairs Old black and white photo of men who are blind caning chairs at a long table.

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Featured Project: Voices of Change

The Story of Paul Dick, Accessible Transportation Advocate

Voices of Change, Uncovering Stories of the Western Pennsylvania Disability Movement

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At just 14 years-old, Blair County native Paul Dick (1940 – 2010) was diagnosed with polio. He began to experience paralysis and use a wheelchair. He started treatments at Warm Springs, a polio treatment facility founded by President Franklin Roosevelt. As a teen who was receiving treatments and care away from home, then a professional who was faced with unreliable transportation to work, Paul saw firsthand that transportation was a major barrier for people with disabilities.

Paul, an ardent changemaker, was determined to eliminate this barrier. He helped create Allegheny County’s ACCESS Transportation System, one of the largest coordinated systems that stands as a model nationwide. His remarkable 55-year advocacy career focused on ensuring sustainable, accessible public transportation that operated as a collaboration between government and the citizens who use it.

Preserve and Share

The Western Pennsylvania Disability History and Action Consortium preserves and shares the historic struggle of Western Pennsylvanians with disabilities to attain human and civil rights.

Educate

We educate the public about disability history in order to improve community access, participation and equal opportunity, and to ensure disability rights through existing and new policies and laws.

Advocate

We join stakeholders across Pennsylvania to advocate on policies that ensure the civil rights of people with disabilities.

Western Pennsylvania has played a significant role in the history of disability rights. From Arc Allegheny’s efforts in the 1970s to expose abusive conditions in state institutions to Allegheny County’s development of the first paratransit system in the nation in the 1980s, Western Pennsylvania has taken a stand.

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Western Pennsylvania Disability History and Action Consortium
412-204-7199 / [email protected]

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The Consortium is an affiliate of Senator John Heinz History Center that works in coordination with multiple disability organizations and advocates in Western PA. In cooperation with ACHIEVA and the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University.

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Using Disability History to Ensure Disability Rights