About Our Projects
Western Pennsylvania Disability History & Action Consortium preserves and shares the region’s powerful history of disability rights advocacy – using presentations, media, exhibits, and events to educate the public and strengthen community knowledge.
What we do
- Discover & preserve history – locating archival collections and recording oral histories with community partners such as the Heinz History Center.
- Share stories – highlighting the experiences of people with disabilities, their families, and advocates through video, audio, photography, and short articles.
- Document institutions like Polk Center – ensuring its complex history is preserved as the facility closed in 2022.
- Host public programs – on topics such as employment, voting rights, and civil rights milestones.
- Present in classrooms and communities – engaging students, educators, advocates, and professionals across the region and beyond.
- Publish resources online – including historic collections, repositories and resources.
- Collaborate statewide and nationally – connecting Western Pennsylvania to the broader history of disability rights in America.
