The Consortium announces the premiere of a new video in its “Voices of Change” series. The video features an interview with Virginia Flavin Pribanic and Carol Flavin Pursehouse, sisters of Danny Flavin, who lived for 56 years at Polk Center in Venango County. Danny Flavin (1946-2018) was one of seven children in a large Irish American family in a Pittsburgh suburb. He was born with a genetic … [Read more...]

The Consortium is pleased to announce the award of a FISA Foundation grant for a one-year project to document and share histories of Western Pennsylvanians with disabilities who are people of color. The project aims to address gaps in the historical record for under-represented communities of color, as well as explicitly connect this history to contemporary issues of racial inequality, civil … [Read more...]

In the early 1970s, a group of advocates from the Arc of Pa Allegheny County chapter visited institutions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities across Pennsylvania. These visits resulted in advocacy to address overcrowding, use of restraints and other problems, and created momentum for Pennsylvania’s de-institutionalization movement. In 2013, the Senator John Heinz … [Read more...]

Don't miss the chance to explore the history of what it means to be an American citizen at the exhibit American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith, on exhibit at the Heinz History Center through October 10. Developed in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American  History and the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), the wide-ranging exhibition … [Read more...]