In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we're sharing thoughts from some Western Pennsylvanians about their personal experiences in the workplace and how to improve future job opportunities for people with disabilities. * * * Bill Chrisner, III M.Ed./M.P.A. Disability Advocate/Non-Profit Management Consultant “Employment is the key to self-worth and … [Read more...]

The traveling exhibit “The Pennhurst Story—Tragedy to Disability Rights” will be on display at InVision Human Services from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on October 2, 3, and 4. InVision is hosting the exhibit to mark its 25th year providing services. The former Pennhurst State School and Hospital in eastern Pennsylvania closed in 1987. The documentary i go home, detailing the history and struggles of those … [Read more...]

In June, the Western Pennsylvania Disability History and Action Consortium—together with the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania—presented “From Wrongs to Rights: A Living History of an Unfinished Civil Rights Movement” at the University Center for Teaching and Learning at Pitt. Faculty from a wide range of disciplines attended. Speakers provided an overview of the struggle for disability … [Read more...]

An i go home sequel is in the works with a planned release date in late 2018. WITF (the Harrisburg PBS affiliate) and the Commonwealth Institute, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania History Coalition Honoring People with Disabilities, are working on the follow-up now. The original i go home was recently nominated for a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award and has been screened at events across the … [Read more...]

A new book by Bill Steigerwald tracks the life and work of Ray Sprigle, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. The book, 30 Days a Black Man: The Forgotten Story That Exposed the Jim Crow South, highlights Sprigle’s time disguised as a black man to explore the workings of Jim Crow laws in the South in 1948. But this wasn’t his only undercover assignment. In 1931, … [Read more...]