Chicago: An Exciting Place for Disability
Pride
Chicago is a big city with LOTS of people with disabilities. Remember, about one out of every five Americans has a
disability. According to the
Mayor's Office of People with Disabilities, over 600,000 Chicago residents have a
disability. There are about 54,600 students with
disabilities in the Chicago Public Schools alone.
Disability rights history in Chicago goes
back over 150 years. Some of this history is
sad. Until 1974, Chicago was the home of the “Ugly Laws,”
which said that if you exposed some part of your body that freaked people out, you could go to the
poorhouse or jail. Chicago is also where “The Black Stork”
was filmed, a movie that argued that babies with disabilities should not be allowed to
live.
However, Chicago also has a very exciting
history of people with disabilities fighting back against unfair systems. Chicago is very proud of our chapter of ADAPT, which fought for bus lifts in the 1980s.
Today, all buses in the city of Chicago have wheelchair lifts and now ADAPT fights to free people from
nursing homes. Chicago is the birthplace of Jerry’s Orphans, which is a group that spoke out against Jerry Lewis’ stereotypes of
disabled people in the Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon. Chicagoland hosts Not Dead Yet, which fights against the euthanasia, or “mercy killing”, of people with
disabilities.
Most recently, Chicago has become known as
the home of the Disability Pride Parade, which attracts people from around the world. Chicago is also the birthplace of Feminist Response In Disability Activism (FRIDA), a group of women activists with
disabilities.
Chicago is of course home to Access Living, which, in addition to hosting many disability community events, is also
located in the first Center for Independent Living building to ever be both green and based on universal
design. Since 1980, Access Living has not only empowered many
people with disabilities, but has served as a place for people with disabilities from around the world to
connect on important issues. In addition to their day jobs as
disability rights advocates, many of our staff are also active in disability arts and
culture. Access Living is home to an excellent disability
art collection and the Disability History Exhibit. Come
check it out!
A great place to go in Chicago for fully
accessible theater events is Victory Gardens. They provide not only physical
access but also sign language interpreting, audio description and captioning for selected
performances. Contact Victory Gardens directly to see what’s
playing and to find out if they can accommodate your needs.
Victory Gardens is also host to monthly Crip Slams, accessible events that focus on culture with a capital
‘C’ as in CRIP! We say "crip" because it is short for cripple, a word that normally is
negative but that our community turns into a positive power word.
Other Cool Disability Pride Things to
Know About Chicago:
The Mayor’s Office of People with Disabilities (MOPD) is the official city office devoted to
working on disability issues. MOPD hosts the annual
AccessChicago event in addition to other events throughout the year. The current Commissioner, Karen Tamley, used to work for Access Living,
so we’re very proud of her!
In 2006, Chicago hosted the Chicago Festival
of Disability Arts and Culture, a citywide celebration of artists with disabilities and art with a
disability focus. Youth with disabilities showed art and
participated in poetry readings. Plans are in the works to
possibly host similar festivals in the future.
Momenta Dance is a nationally acclaimed dance
company based in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago. Momenta often
features dance performances choreographed and performed by people with a wide range of
disabilities.
The University of Illinois at Chicago is home
to the UIC Disability Studies graduate program.
Faculty and students come from all over the world and work on projects covering a huge range of scholarly
topics in disability. UIC plays an important part in helping
us all understand disability history and policy better, past, present and future.
Sports are a big deal for people with
disabilities here. Chicago is currently bidding to host the
2016 Olympic Games, and with them, the Paralympics. Many Paralympians have gotten
their start or currently practice their sport in Chicago.
Some Well-Known People with
Disabilities and Deaf People from Chicago and Chicagoland:
Ron Santo: Former third baseman, Chicago
Cubs; Cubs broadcaster
Mike Ervin: Author and playwright, co-founder
of Jerry’s Orphans, co-founder of Chicago ADAPT
Diane Coleman and Steve Drake: President and
Research Analyst of Not Dead Yet
Marca Bristo: President and CEO, Access
Living
Marlee Matlin: Oscar-winning Deaf
actress
Karen Meyer: Deaf, reporter for local Channel
7 ABC News
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Access Living Youth Center
All Rights Reserved
