Latest / Living Loud and Proud: Disability Conversations / A Fireside Chat with Nico Meyering Q4 2026

Transcript

A Fireside Chat with Nico Meyering Q4 2026 · Living Loud and Proud: Disability Conversations

0:00
Welcome to the Living Loud and Proud Podcast brought to you by Disability Pride Pennsylvania.
0:08
If you need a link to the transcript for this episode, please visit our accessible website at www.disabilitypridepa.org/podcast.
0:23
And now, here is your host.
0:27
Hey folks, thanks for tuning in to the Living Loud and Proud podcast.
0:32
I'm your host and producer Phill Rosen.
0:35
I have a few announcements about upcoming Disability Pride Pennsylvania events.
0:41
First, please go to our calendar of fun on our website at disabilitypridepa.org.
0:49
There you will find all of our upcoming outdoor adventures events along with the podcast release dates for the month of November.
1:00
You can register for events that you would like to participate in person on our calendar.
1:08
And second, on December 3rd, we are celebrating International Day of Persons with Disabilities by throwing One Scoop, Two Cities from 6 to 8 p.m. Eastern.
1:22
One Scoop, Two Cities brings our communities together for simultaneous
1:28
ice cream socials in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with a virtual option for anyone who would like
1:34
to celebrate with us from anywhere in the world. In Pittsburgh, our gathering is presented in
1:42
partnership with the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, and treats will be provided by Cookie Cookie Ice Cream.
1:50
In Philly, our gathering is presented in partnership with the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia, and treats will be supplied by Ben & Jerry's.
2:01
Both locations are ADA compliant, including restrooms, and there will be ASL interpreters
2:10
live in both cities.
2:14
Our Cherry on Top sponsor for this event is PA Health & Wellness.
2:20
Tickets are $10 to attend.
2:22
For full details about the event and to register to attend,
2:27
please look at our calendar of fun available on our website
2:31
or go directly to the event page at disabilitypridepa.org.
2:40
We hope to see you there in person or virtually. And now, here's the fireside chat that
2:49
I had with Nico. Hey, folks, welcome to another episode of the Living Loud and Proud podcast.
2:59
I'm your host, Phill Rosen, and today is a very special episode with Disability Pride Pennsylvania Board
3:06
President Nico Meyering. How's it going, Nico? Hi Phill, hi everyone. I'm doing really well. I'm glad to be
3:14
with all of you here. Oh, that's excellent to hear. So, um, for those who know a little bit about
3:22
the history of American presidents, we're going to be taking a little bit of a feather out of the cap of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and have a bit of a fireside chat this episode.
3:32
How's that sound?
3:34
That sounds great.
3:35
If I'd known this was a fireside chat, I would have worn a cardigan instead.
3:38
Otherwise, all good.
3:41
All right.
3:42
So, Nico, what's the deal? What's happening in the disability community here in Pennsylvania as you know it right now?
3:52
Thanks, Phill. This is a good question to start off with. It's a mix of really exciting and then also really, really nerve-wracking.
3:59
On I think
4:01
the more like exciting or
4:03
good side, more disabled Pennsylvanians are living at home and in their own communities now than ever before.
4:12
So according to Pennsylvania records, they say it's about 200,000 people, which would be a record.
4:19
Wow, that's excellent.
4:21
The emergency wait list for adults with ID and autism is down, I think, 39% since February 2024.
4:34
So two big reasons to celebrate.
4:38
Oh, wow. Yeah, totally. That's massive cause for celebration there.
4:43
Yeah, I try to really find causes for celebration these days.
4:48
As always, the nerve-wracking part of the news, I feel, comes from Washington.
4:54
So back in July, the Justice Department, or whatever they're trying to call it these days,
5:02
said it's going to stop relying on the Olmstead guidance when it enforces the Americans with
5:07
Disabilities Act.
5:08
So even though the law itself isn't changing, it has caused a lot of fear in the disability
5:16
community.
5:16
I am really glad when I see Governor Shapiro and decision-makers in Harrisburg reemphasizing and reinforcing that in Pennsylvania, we don't turn back the clock—not for disability rights and not for any other reason.
5:38
Also, so it's our job now as citizens to hold our decision-makers to that promise.
5:44
Right. And it's right. Of course, it's a scary process. Right. Hold our decision-makers to that promise, right? And it's—
5:45
Right, of course.
5:46
It's a scary process.
5:47
Right.
5:48
Well, and I guess that's some cause for hope when it comes to some of the other things that are going on in Washington with the concerns surrounding like funding for UCEDDs or like the AT Act and some of that stuff too that I've been
6:05
hearing about from some people, you know. You know, like universities are just not getting
6:15
the support that I think they maybe need as institutions to help support the disability
6:20
community um in the ways that could be good, you know?
6:25
Yeah.
6:26
I agree.
6:33
But anyways, so there's a big thing coming up, an annual event.
6:39
We have International Day of Persons with Disabilities coming up in roughly about a month, actually,
6:43
from when this episode is being released on the 3rd of December.
6:49
And Disability Pride Pennsylvania is holding an ice cream social in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to commemorate the occasion this year.
6:51
So how is this going to work, first of all?
6:54
And is there anything else happening this year, maybe outside of the Disability Pride, you know, sphere,
7:04
to commemorate this, you know, elsewhere in the
7:07
world or even in the state? Sure. So December 3rd is a Thursday this year, and we're doing an ice
7:14
cream fundraiser, not just in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but virtually as well. So think of
7:21
like a long dining room table that stretches all across the Commonwealth.
7:26
That's what we're going to do in a team-up event that we're calling Two Cities, One Scoop.
7:32
So like Phill mentions, there'll be an ice cream social in Philly and one in Pittsburgh in the evening,
7:39
and we'll connect them by livestream so it feels like one big party.
7:44
In Philadelphia here we're going to be at the Penn LGBT Center and we'll connect them by livestream so it feels like one big party.
7:49
In Philadelphia here, we're going to be at the Penn LGBT Center,
7:51
where we hold our fundraiser.
7:57
And to tie into something going on outside of the Disability Pride sphere,
8:02
the UN Association of Greater Philadelphia is going to join us to celebrate. They're currently writing a report on how Philadelphia is living up to, or not,
8:10
the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
8:16
So the CRPD is a 20-year-old document that the United Nations has put out
8:23
detailing how disabled people can find equity
8:29
in international law and in society. In another aspect of my life, I'm a huge fan of globalism,
8:39
multiculturalism, and Philadelphia is a great city for that as well. I'm honored to serve as a board member for the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia
8:49
and actually to represent them at a conference in Houston in about two weeks or so.
8:57
So we find in both associations that human rights go down a lot easier with sprinkles.
9:06
As does everything else, right?
9:08
Yeah.
9:11
And actually, we would be remiss not to say something. I think Vicki would be very annoyed
9:16
with me if I did not mention that we have a Cherry on Top sponsor for the ice cream socials,
9:23
PA Health & Wellness.
9:24
That's right, thank you PA Health & Wellness.
9:26
That's right.
9:27
Thank you, PA Health & Wellness,
9:30
for being our Cherry on Top sponsor.
9:34
It's been incredible to see your support year over year and in all of our big events.
9:38
Thank you again.
9:39
I would be a poor board president
9:41
if I didn't say other sponsorship packages
9:43
are available.
9:45
Please reach out to Vicki at disabilitypridepa.org.
9:50
Yeah. And so, you know, you talked a little bit about the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia releasing, like, kind of a report on how Philly is doing as part of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
10:07
Oh my gosh, I feel...
10:09
Yeah, I'm sorry.
10:11
It is...
10:12
It's okay, you're not the first.
10:13
Yeah, it's a long name.
10:15
It's hard to keep it all in the right order for me.
10:18
Yes.
10:20
So this, of course, is being released
10:22
because it's important to... I mean, the UN Association of Greater Philadelphia is associated with the UN as a whole, right?
10:33
Like, you know, every country or whatever having a delegation, all that kind of stuff.
10:38
But, you know, it is the local association, right?
10:42
That's right.
10:43
So we all know the United Nations, which advocates for global cooperation and reaching some goals together as a planet.
10:50
But then in each major city in the US, we have the United Nations Association, a nonprofit whose job it is to advocate for the UN's mission in their own communities.
11:02
So the UN Association of Greater Philadelphia
11:05
is kind of an older chapter
11:08
in terms of being established
11:09
and in terms of average member age,
11:12
but it is one of the larger, more active chapters.
11:16
Really lucky to have retired professors
11:19
from Penn or Drexel or Temple
11:22
among those memberships.
11:24
And we've been active
11:26
in events for like
11:27
Peace Day, World Peace
11:29
Day in late September,
11:31
International
11:34
Day of Persons with Disabilities
11:35
coming up on December 3rd.
11:38
I've also been with them for
11:39
events on
11:40
Nuclear War Remembrance
11:44
Day and an Earth Day festivity as well.
11:47
So they're a pretty active group and it's really cool to see and know that they want to really show up strongly for disability rights as well.
11:57
And as a member of both groups, I'm so glad that I don't have to plan two events rather than just one.
12:02
I just got an email before I hopped on with you, Phill,
12:07
that the current board president of UNAGP sent in her donation and hopes to attend.
12:14
So fingers crossed there.
12:16
Yeah, excellent.
12:18
Yeah, and so this report is being released just kind of like, as what, like kind of a check on the Philly area and how we're doing to make it easier for disabled people to live in the community and to like live a full life?
12:37
Sure. So the report's going to focus on three main pillars: how well disabled folks in Philadelphia can engage in
12:46
voting and civic life, how well they can achieve their health goals, and then how well they can
12:53
achieve their social goals—being involved in their community, being involved in culture. And as you
12:59
might expect, all three of these questions are tied together pretty closely. The CRPD, or the Convention
13:07
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, kind of offers the same guidelines to each of the UN
13:15
member associations. Now, the US never ratified the CRPD, which is not great. But the good news is that there's always room for improvement and we can always ratify it, right?
13:30
So we just kind zoomed in on what people feel day to day in terms of making their own decisions,
13:37
voting and being part of public life, and getting to enjoy arts and recreation.
13:44
And for the report, we're not asking a panel of experts.
13:49
We're going to ask disabled Philadelphians themselves.
13:53
So think of it kind of like a report card, right?
13:57
Okay.
13:59
So it's, I guess, administered similar to how the census is administered in some ways, would you say?
14:08
I've delegated this exact role to a member of my planning team, but I gave them a model of a report you might see from The Pew Charitable Trusts or Econsult Solutions.
14:21
Okay.
14:22
All right.
14:22
So, you know, I guess like kind of a survey to individuals who are... okay, got it.
14:30
Yeah. Um, so then um I guess we can kind of move on then. Are there any big initiatives that are being
14:38
considered in Pennsylvania that will have a major impact on the disability community that you happen to know about going through, like say, Harrisburg right now? So, even though it's been kind of a long time
14:53
since I was, like, high school senior, college freshman age, but I can remember all the questions
15:01
and challenges that faced me. Even though my disability doesn't involve my
15:07
mobility or ability to get around or my ability to really care for myself most times, I still,
15:15
because I'm ventilator-dependent at night, had significant questions around: Where do I live?
15:21
Am I going to have enough stable electricity for my ventilator, all my machines?
15:27
Do I have worthy roommates? So for all of these reasons, the ability for disabled folks to live
15:34
independently at home is really important for me. Pennsylvania's 2024–25 budget had about $350,
15:43
maybe $355 million
15:45
for adult intellectual disability
15:47
and autism services combined
15:50
between state and federal.
15:52
And then the '25–'26 budget
15:54
added $21 million
15:56
to get maybe
15:57
6,500 direct care workers
16:00
to almost
16:01
$15 an hour on
16:04
average.
16:12
And then this year, Governor Shapiro proposes another $30 million in state money to expand services.
16:22
I think, you know, having employed direct support workers and having friends who are direct support workers,
16:26
I see them really as the infrastructure of our independence.
16:30
If nobody shows up in the morning,
16:34
whether we have, say, a ramp on our building,
16:36
doesn't super-duper matter.
16:42
There's also, I hear, a new Governor's Advisory Commission on People with Disabilities.
16:45
So I'm excited about that.
16:47
It was created last spring.
16:49
I remember reading about it in April or May.
16:54
And the first members were appointed this summer.
16:57
So it's great to see that we have more of a presence in Harrisburg now.
17:04
I'm always going to
17:05
stay up late at night worrying about
17:08
things like Medicaid and
17:10
the situation in
17:11
D.C., but
17:14
locally in Philadelphia,
17:16
if I could put on my
17:17
transit nerd hat, a big
17:20
win is the Transit Access Fund.
17:22
So Councilmember Nicolas
17:24
O'Rourke introduced the Transit Access Fund on October 22nd.
17:29
This fund would protect things like zero fare, SEPTA Key Advantage, and would also require—
17:35
for data nerds like you and me, Phill—the city to put out a transit access plan yearly.
17:42
So thankfully, right now it has a veto-proof majority on council for co-sponsors.
17:49
And we're going to hope that it holds as we show up and speak about it in a hearing and
17:55
then show up and speak about it in a final bill passage, probably early December.
18:02
Okay, that's some really good news. You know, transit's one of those things that I
18:08
didn't really get into until a few years ago. And now I'm like, this is really, really important.
18:15
You know, I think, you know, I grew up in a very rural area. So like there were no transit options.
18:21
It was all: if you were going to get anywhere, you got to hop behind the
18:26
wheel of a car and drive. And like, you know, there's so many people who, for one reason or another,
18:32
are unable to drive, who live out in these rural areas. And it's like, it would be good for them to have a
18:40
little bit of autonomy, to have like some way to get around where they're not relying on a friend
18:45
or a family member to come and pick them up and then take them to wherever they need to go.
18:50
And that's kind of what I think of transit access is in a lot of ways, right?
18:56
Having, you know, easy access, affordable... you know, maybe I'm radical here,
19:04
I think it should be free, but you know,
19:06
that's neither here nor there, right? Um, you know, as long as it's affordable and easy to access for,
19:13
you know, the vast majority of people, it's going to make people's lives way better to live in the community, right?
19:21
So, um, you know, that's one of those things where
19:25
I definitely want to have
19:28
an all-about-transit
19:30
episode coming
19:32
sometime soon. Who knows
19:34
when it's going to happen exactly.
19:38
But I think that's going to be a big part of it
19:40
because it's like...
19:41
We still have the trolleys here in Philly,
19:44
and they're absolutely horrendous from an access perspective.
19:48
Right?
19:48
Yes, they are. Yeah, it's a real scar on the face of SEPTA.
19:54
And an agency that has shown a lot of willingness to be more accessible. I really thank them for
20:04
supporting Transit Forward Philadelphia's accessibility audits
20:07
and for breaking ground on their accessibility improvements for 11th Street Station
20:12
um earlier earlier this year. Uh, but trolleys are a tough nut to crack, I'll grant you that. Yeah. Um,
20:20
you know, I mean, it's funny because I see the videos online of like all the different tram
20:26
tram lines around the world or, or you know, the LRT, the light rail transit or whatever,
20:34
and um I keep being like, oh man, this is like level, easy to get in, easy to get out. I'm like,
20:41
you know, why can't that just be the standard? But you know, it is what it
20:48
is, unfortunately. Why can't universal design be universal, right? Exactly. Or, um, you know,
20:56
another thing that I talk about with my wife all the time is like, um, why is it that the subway and
21:02
the El aren't like fully like elevator-accessible,
21:07
you know, from the street to the platform? Like, it's,
21:11
it feels like a big oversight to me. And, and look,
21:16
I know that there's probably a whole bunch of stuff underground that they don't want to be cutting into and whatnot,
21:21
you know, for the elevator shafts or whatever, but I don't know.
21:24
I feel like we could
21:25
probably find some place to put the right-of-way for that stuff, right? I mean, it seems a little silly
21:31
to me at this point, but who knows? Yeah. SEPTA deserves that funding to make those accessibility
21:41
improvements in a comprehensive and timely fashion. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
21:48
So are there other things that we could advocate for in terms of like, you know,
21:58
improving the urban environment, you know, as a budding urbanist,
22:03
like besides transit upgrades? Like what, can we do like improvements to the sidewalks or curb cuts? Sure, I'm happy to talk about this. Or like, I know Philly is held up as like one of, or the most walkable city in America—I don't know according to who or how the data is on that,
22:28
but is there a way we could make it more walkable?
22:31
And would that maybe improve it for people using all modes of transport on the sidewalks?
22:38
Absolutely.
22:39
Wheelchairs, rollators, whatever.
22:42
Yeah.
22:42
So as there is now like a definite fall shift in the weather, I've
22:48
hauled out my sweaters, but also my bad memories of South Philadelphia where I live, during our
22:54
last major, major snowfall. And one way that the city can improve accessibility, even if we have
23:01
relatively okay like sidewalk coverage, is to shovel those sidewalks and shovel those roads
23:08
in a timely and comprehensive fashion, just like I said.
23:13
You know, Phill, growing up in a rural college city, as I did,
23:18
my neighbor and my godfather was the city's code enforcement officer.
23:24
So I got to know very well how a city can mandate
23:28
that all sidewalks have to be cleared by a certain time
23:31
when there is significant snowfall the night before.
23:35
And the fact that Philadelphia doesn't have waivers
23:40
for disabled homeowners in a situation like that
23:46
is really too bad.
23:48
So Philadelphia can do a better job
23:50
of shoveling their sidewalks
23:52
when necessary.
23:55
A bus, you know,
23:56
isn't accessible if you can't
23:58
get to the stop.
24:00
Right.
24:01
Following in that same vein,
24:03
when a sidewalk or a curb cut
24:04
is damaged, you should fix it.
24:06
Um so fix and shovel your sidewalks. When we do have these last gasps of summer, as Philadelphia has
24:16
like 11 true seasons, maybe we could plant some shade trees—more shade trees, perhaps,
24:24
because heat hits disabled and chronically
24:26
ill folks first and also worst. And then something else that I've seen in other cities, not so much
24:36
Philadelphia, is groups of citizens coming together to fund or build their own benches.
24:43
I think a good built environment includes places for people to sit down.
24:50
If you've ever needed to sit down halfway down Market Street,
24:54
you know that a bench can be a real lifesaver.
24:58
So all these things for, again, universal design
25:01
would make things easier for disabled folks, young families who might have kids in strollers or
25:09
I don't know, little kids who can't walk so far yet, um
25:13
and also old people.
25:15
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, you know, I think it's interesting that you talk about
25:23
like benches for people to sit on and whatnot.
25:27
Um, you know, are there... you know, I keep seeing like every so often I see an improvement and then I'm like, wait a second.
25:38
That, you know, this doesn't look like a very comfortable thing to be putting out there for one reason or another.
25:44
Um, you know um
25:47
what is it... uh you know, it feels kind of often like um you know, there's like architecture that's
25:58
like hostile—like hostile architecture or whatever. Yes. Yes. How do we balance this concern to create these spaces that, you know,
26:14
need to be there for people to rest,
26:16
but this also feeling or need to make it so that it's not comfortable enough
26:22
that someone will overstay their welcome?
26:24
them.
26:27
I guess I might also be a radical and I would offer some kind of pushback on that.
26:34
For a bench outside, how would somebody sitting down be overstaying their welcome?
26:41
Well, I mean, I think I'm trying to dance around the subject a little bit, but I think,
26:47
you know, the thing that I think about is like, we've kind of tended to criminalize unhoused
26:53
people in this country. And a lot of the hostile architecture feels like a way to kind of deter people
27:02
from, you know, sleeping on a bench, for instance,
27:06
or um you know finding a comfortable place to lie down that's like um right next to a building
27:15
or something like that. Um so I guess what I'm saying is like, oftentimes these benches that they put out there
27:23
where they like break it up with like the
27:25
the handlebars or whatever, I always think about... I'm like, but what about someone who's like
27:30
disabled, but maybe they also are, I don't know, very overweight or something like that, and like
27:37
they literally cannot fit in the space that's given to them comfortably? Yeah, that's a good point,
27:43
and that's also the concern that I was dancing around.
27:47
I think the cheapest fix, because urban planners are always concerned with that one variable—
27:54
cost—the cheapest fix is getting disabled folks in the room before you break ground or pour
28:01
cement or shove those fancy shovels in some dirt, right? There are disabled
28:07
city planners, I'm willing to bet. And there are also disabled social workers; I know a few.
28:14
Having a disabled perspective in these multifaceted and nuanced ways can help you find that balance
28:21
between, you know: Do we have places for folks to sit down?
28:30
Do we have a variety of seating options for a variety of different bodies?
28:41
I think that would be the most streamlined, least disruptive way to get to that goal, right?
28:49
You know, the longer I'm in civic leadership, the more I get offers to like go to this conference, go to that conference, go to this meeting. And the terminology is always like, you want to be
28:55
in the room where it happens, but like, if we're being good civic leaders, aren't we bringing those
29:00
things out of the room to the people and groups that we serve? Like, that would be kind of where I'm coming from.
29:09
Right. Yeah. You know, okay. Yeah.
29:15
So that's actually really interesting that you bring that up because
29:18
I've been thinking about this.
29:23
There is a streetery concept that's been put up at LOVE Park here in Philly, right?
29:28
Yeah. And, you know, a bunch of us from the disability pride community and some of the people that Vicki knows personally went there to kind of chat with some of the city planners.
29:41
And I forget her name right now off the top of my head, I'm so sorry, but the ADA coordinator for the Parks and Rec Department... um, oh, is that Anna Laws, or... um, you know, off the top of my head I'm really bad with names when I first meet someone, so it's like, I'm so sorry if you're listening, but I promise you, I will find out who you are.
30:10
And I hopefully will be able to get your name back into this podcast at some point.
30:18
But anyways, they had a streetery, a couple of streetery concepts out.
30:23
And like they were basically asking the disability community to come out and assess whether they're accessible.
30:32
Right. And, you know, I remember Zach, the ADA compliance attorney for the city, who came by and was like looking at it was like, "Oh, these are all, you know, technically compliant
30:48
with the ADA, but they're absolutely not accessible." And like they were literally seeing a wheelchair
30:56
user struggling to get in under the tables and, you know, all the space issues that came along
31:03
with how cramped the design was.
31:09
And so it's like, I really think that it kind of underscores what you were saying
31:16
about how disabled individuals and the disability community coming out and chatting with the
31:22
people who are making these decisions, either in person
31:26
or through the public comments that are available for these different things that are going on,
31:34
so that they can plan these things with our community in mind.
31:41
Yeah, it was really heartwarming to see our perspectives taken into account as the city kind of works to strike that balance on streeteries.
31:52
It was really wild to see the different kinds of streeteries that populated Center City, University City, and other places during the COVID pandemic, and understanding how and why the city needed to bring some kind of regulation to dictate streeteries was interesting and also really eye-opening to see from a front-row perspective.
32:24
We got to tour a few different models of streetery.
32:26
We got to tour a few different models of streetery.
32:30
And it was also cool to know that there was not just
32:34
a few disabled perspectives there, but as many as possible.
32:39
If you've met one disabled person, as the saying so often goes,
32:43
you've met one disabled person.
32:49
So getting to offer our input meant a lot.
32:54
Huge thanks to folks who helped set that up.
33:05
And, you know, those of you who are listening and happen to be in the Philly area, I believe they still have them set up for the next couple of weeks or whatever, and they have a comment period.
33:07
I think I saw somewhere it's through the 19th of this month.
33:13
So,
33:13
you know,
33:14
if you want to go check it out for yourself and give comments,
33:18
you know,
33:19
by all means,
33:20
please do.
33:22
You know,
33:23
we're
33:24
not going to be able to figure this out as a community in a
33:27
way that works for us all if we're not involved in this. And I have to admit, I have my own
33:34
feelings about like the different designs around the barriers or whatever.
33:40
You know, there was the... what was it, like the steel wrap or whatever on one of
33:46
them. And then the other was like the one with the planters. And I'm like, man, the planters are
33:52
really nice. It kind of... it's a little bit higher up. You know, you feel a little bit more
33:57
protected from like any potential traffic that might be around you. I know most of these
34:02
streeteries are not going to be on JFK Boulevard where they've set up the prototypes, but it's just nice to know that
34:14
if, say, a car or a truck goes by on the tiny street that you're going to be on,
34:20
you feel a little bit more protected, a little more private from the road.
34:24
Absolutely. I think it's an important distinction to make as cars have gotten bigger over the decades, and it helps make our streets seem and be a lot smaller.
34:35
Right. Exactly. Exactly. And, you know, another thing I kind of wanted to talk about,
34:43
and this has been a big thing for a long time, at least the people that I've talked to around here in Philly, but there's been a ton
34:52
of discussion lately here in Philadelphia about the accessibility of Christmas Village down at
34:58
Dilworth Park and by City Hall. What comments do you have about this? Do you feel like the solution that has
35:12
been publicized in the Inquirer is a good one? Do you think maybe there's something to be desired
35:20
here? So in past years, if you were
35:28
a wheelchair user and you wanted to visit
35:29
the Christmas Village
35:31
right by City Hall
35:34
here at 15th Street in
35:35
Philadelphia, you needed
35:38
to use some kind of ramp.
35:40
And some vendors had portable
35:41
ramps that you could use to get
35:43
into their booths.
35:46
You had to ask, which is not a good start, but it was something.
35:52
And the problem was that a lot of these ramps maybe held manual wheelchairs, but not power wheelchairs, or some models of wheelchairs, but not others.
36:04
And that's a huge safety issue and makes the ramp, well, pretty much unusable for a huge amount of disabled people.
36:14
This year, the company that runs the Christmas Village, German American Marketing,
36:19
said that a permanent ramp would need to be eight feet long with handrails.
36:25
And because there's no room for that, nobody gets to go in the booths at all.
36:32
Everybody, disabled and non-disabled folk alike, will have to shop from the counter.
36:39
And then if they want to see an item more up close, they have to ask an attendant to hand it to them:
36:44
a candle, a scarf, any kind of product you might want to take a look at.
36:51
And because a lot of these Christmas Village vendors are like holiday gift markets, holiday gift stores, more independent—that's a large part of their business, I'm given to understand.
37:04
I don't do much shopping there myself. I feel like I'm probably not their target audience.
37:10
Right. But it's just not a good look. Right. So the company, they said they spent
37:17
however many months, a long time talking with their lawyers, talking with the city.
37:24
And this is like the best they could do, I guess.
37:32
A handful of booths will still get permanent ramps,
37:37
but I am with disabled advocates on this one.
37:42
Taking access away from everyone, that's not right.
37:46
It's like... oh, an elevator breaks,
37:48
so we're also going to lock up the stairs so nobody can get to the surface at all.
37:51
That's kind of the same mindset to me.
37:54
That doesn't make sense.
37:56
Right.
37:58
So it's rough on disabled folks,
38:01
and it's rough, you know, on vendors too.
38:08
I bet, Phill, like you, like me, know disabled people who try to make a living off of running their own shops, and
38:15
they have to rent booths at these fairs to get table time. And renting a booth is not cheap; it's
38:22
like a four-
38:24
digit figure easily.
38:27
And you have to sign up for a booth—sign up for a space, rather.
38:33
It's not like a next-day thing.
38:36
You have to cement this a few months in advance.
38:39
So this announcement really throws a wrench in the plans of tourists, Philadelphians, and the independent markets themselves.
38:54
It's just completely unfair and inaccessible on behalf of the main company.
39:04
Yeah.
39:05
And I don't know.
39:07
I remember, you know, a few years ago, I think was the last time I went to Christmas Village.
39:13
Yeah.
39:13
I remember a lot of the stalls, too.
39:15
Like, even if you did have a ramp into them, they're small enough that for a lot of them, you can't even really fit a manual wheelchair in there very easily, let alone like a big, stocky power wheelchair.
39:30
Good point.
39:30
Or like a scooter, even.
39:33
So, you know, it's one of those things where I'm like, I kind of get maybe the issues with how big the ramps need to be to get in and whatnot.
39:48
But on the backend, I'm also just like, well, the stalls weren't really going to be accessible
39:53
anyways. So I think there's a lot of issues that lead to the
40:02
accessibility issues. And, you know, like you said, this idea that locking the stairs up
40:10
because the elevator's out doesn't make a lot of sense as a thing.
40:15
But, I don't know, at the end of the day,
40:17
it just felt like a very kind of inaccessible place anyways.
40:22
Yeah.
40:24
This is... sorry, this is a good point, Phill.
40:27
And I think, you know, as we bring up issues,
40:31
we can also maybe pose some solutions and opportunities.
40:36
I think that the city has a really cool opportunity
40:38
to move forward with a market vendor
40:42
who recognizes, you know, the benefits of accessibility, both in terms of human rights and right-of-way,
40:50
but also in terms of the fact that disabled folks want to spend their hard-earned
40:54
money on some cool-looking stuff.
40:56
And we bring an economic benefit as well.
41:00
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
41:02
Do you have anything you'd like to promote coming up in the next couple of weeks?
41:05
Sure, yes.
41:07
Thank you, Phill.
41:07
Always a joy to speak with you and catch up.
41:09
I'll close by reminding folks of what we talked about at the beginning of this call.
41:15
On December 3rd, Disability Pride Pennsylvania's big fundraiser, Two Cities, One Scoop, is happening in Philadelphia, in Pittsburgh, and online.
41:25
December 3rd, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
41:30
Come eat ice cream for a good cause.
41:32
Learn more and register on disabilitypridepa.org.
41:37
Find more info on our socials.
41:40
Wearing another hat:
41:41
If you've ever wanted to serve on a nonprofit board, my civic and sustainability group, Net Impact Philadelphia, runs a Board Fellows program.
41:52
And applications are due Monday, November 30th.
41:55
If you are a nonprofit or a representative of a nonprofit looking for new board fellows, your deadline is Friday, December 4th.
42:07
Really happy to help oversee the Board Fellows program at Net Impact Philadelphia.
42:14
Monthly, I hope to see everybody at Disability Pride Pennsylvania's monthly coffee chats.
42:20
It's the easiest way to plug in.
42:22
Phill, I saw you at our most recent coffee chat.
42:26
Yeah.
42:26
And yeah.
42:28
And looking forward to November's.
42:30
Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to it.
42:32
I think, you know, anyone who's interested and is around
42:37
should definitely think about coming.
42:39
They're really chill, really like low,
42:43
like low pressure as far as like networking events go. You know, sometimes
42:50
you know, I have a little bit of, you know, social anxiety myself and sometimes, uh you know, the more
42:56
traditional social networking event can be a little more intimidating being one-on-one and being
43:02
like, "Oh, what do you do?"—trying to get to know someone. This is nice because, you know, this was like an ice
43:10
breaker and then we all kind of just sort of went around the table and talked about what we had going
43:15
on. Is there anything else coming up in the next couple of weeks and months besides
43:21
what you already stated at this point? If you're here in Philadelphia,
43:28
call your council member about the Transit Access Fund and ask them to support.
43:30
Disability Pride Pennsylvania is in coalition
43:33
with Transit Forward Philadelphia
43:35
and its coalition of organizations
43:38
seeking to make Philadelphia more transit-friendly,
43:41
more transit-accessible,
43:43
and safer and greener.
43:45
And finally, if you voted last week, go thank a poll worker.
43:49
I and many other poll workers across the state were up before the sun.
43:54
We went to bed long after the voting machines were put away,
43:58
and we would love a coffee.
44:02
Yes, yes, of course.
44:04
But anyways, folks,
44:07
thanks for
44:08
tuning in.
44:10
That's it for us today.
44:12
And Nico, thanks so much for coming on.
44:15
Thank you for having me.
44:16
Yeah, of course.
44:17
And everyone, we're going to continue
44:20
having these fireside chats
44:21
until morale improves.
44:27
So, yeah, we'll see you next time.
44:31
Take care.
44:38
Please visit our accessible website at www.disabilitypridepa.org. You can find us on social media at disabilitypridepa
44:50
on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.