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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.

Start Exploring

• Visit our historic timeline
• Learn more about the contribution of Western Pennsylvanians as documented in projects conducted by Consortium partners:
  • Voices of Our Region Oral History Project
  • Visionary Voices (interviews with key advocates)
  • From Wrongs to Rights (documentary)
  • i go home (documentary)
  • User Guide for Preserving and Sharing the History of Pennsylvanians with Intellectual and Developmental Disability (PDF)
• Sign up for our newsletter
• Take our survey
• Visit our Facebook page or YouTube channel