Five Ways to Improve Accessibility of Your Special Event in Pittsburgh

I just got off the phone with an event organizer who responded really well to my simple request for an accommodation at their upcoming event. I just needed a chair – a simple request, but it is an event without designated seating or even “a lot” of seating. So having a polite, accommodating conversation was […]

Send Me YOUR Stories of Disability Accommodation in Pittsburgh

  We often read about accommodations in the workplace and in housing. Rarely does the media delve into accommodations issues when it comes to “public accommodation” like at a movie theater or a restaurant especially when it comes to hidden disabilities. I’m trying to tell those stories.  Your stories. My stories. Eleven months ago, I […]

The Manor Theater, AMC Loews Ignore, Refuse Disability Accommodation

    Last weekend, I tried to get accommodation for my disability at a local movie theater, The Manor Theater in Squirrel Hill. Most of the other theaters I’ve approached have been fine – they just put up a handwritten “reserved” sign on two aisle seats and ask me to be there 15 minutes ahead […]

Unleashing Hope

Once upon a time my former therapist told me that if I started to talk about living with a mental illness on my blog (or publicly), I could never go back. She is also an activist of sorts and married to a politician so I knew she was speaking to me on several levels. She […]

Ever Wish You Had a Fashionista Godmother?

Pittsburgh lesbian

Tell us all about your best confidence outfit. Don’t leave out the shoes or the perfect accessories. My life has changed so much over the past few years that this seemingly innocuous question gives me great pause. I’ve regained all the weight I lost when I was critically ill. I work from home so I […]

The Scholarship I Almost Won Might Help Me Change The World

Tell us about a situation where you’d hoped against all hope, where the odds were completely stacked against you, yet you triumphed. In 2013, I was granted a partial scholarship to attend the Netroots Nation Conference in San Jose, California. However, I needed more because I have to bring Ledcat with me – traveling by […]

She’s My Partner, Not My Sidekick

Pittsburgh Lesbian LGBT

One disadvantage to blogging is that I get “the glory” while Laura (Ledcat) often gets overlooked. And when I get the beat down side of a stick, she gets that, too. Unfair. Let me be clear – we are a family, a team, a partnership even if we are not married. She goes to work […]

The Tow Truck Driver Drove a Chariot

Daily Prompt: Sink or Swim Tell us about a time when you were left on your own, to fend for yourself in an overwhelming situation — on the job, at home, at school. What was the outcome? Once upon a time, I drove a group of adults with developmental disabilities to Harrisburg to participate in […]

Raise Your Hands. Raise Your Hands High.

We often take our hands for granted, much in the same way those in authority take the diligence and support of the hands of the working folks for granted – like them, we assume our own hands will toil until they. simply. Don’t. Through the dustbowl Through the debt Grandma was a suffragette Blacklisted for […]

Five Ways To Make Labor Day More Meaningful to the Average Person

Labor Day was officially established by Congress in 1894.  I’ve been thinking about its relevancy in today’s world – how does the FOP and the SEIU and Wal-Mart and UPMC tie together? So here are my thoughts on how Labor itself can help me understand.   First, educate us. I’d love to attend a Labor […]