Monthly Archives: December 2018

Many Thanks from our Team

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PITTSBURGH_Disabilities services provider ACHIEVA on Tuesday honored Unabridged Press and producer Jennifer Szweda Jordan with its Yvonne Zanos Excellence in Media Award for, in ACHIEVA’s words, “commitment in reporting issues that are important to people with disabilities and their families.”

The Unabridged Press project Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media equips people with disabilities to report on issues that impact their lives.


Ms. Jordan expresses thanks to the following:

  • ACHIEVA for this honor.
  • Look Who’s Here! founding host Erin Gannon and host and producer Mark Steidl, as well as other intrepid souls taking up the mic and asking questions.
  • Emmaus Community of Pittsburgh’s Executive Director Karen Jacobsen, all the hardworking Direct Support Professionals and everybody in between at this family-style living organization.
  • Maryann Januszkiewicz Jordan, for driving the production car during filmings, and endless support over many months.
  • Pete Jordan for inspiring a love of media, music, and production, and Deborah L. Jordan.
  • Danelle Ardell, for being the first sustaining contributor to Unabridged Press. 
  • Faustyna and David and Annmarie Fatula, and Cecilia Januszkiewicz and Al Figinski for their endless support.
  • Kara Holsopple, host of The Allegheny Front, for her example and words of encouragement.
  • Emily Lippert, whose lifelong speech therapy career is an inspiration and a source of information!
  • Tina Calabro, the first winner of this award, for sharing her wisdom from decades of work in disability journalism.
  • Point Park University Center for Media Innovation Director Andrew Conte and Development Director Kristin DeLuca.
  • WorkHardPGH coworking consultants, colleagues and friends Josh Lucas, Ryan Haggerty, Brian Conway.
  • For friendship and support: Phyllis Barber, Jenny Briggs, Sister Rhonda Miska, Rosemarie Perla, Amy Matz and Dominic Necciai, executive coach Rosemarie Perla, Tina Tolomeo Plaskonos, the Prevost family (especially Goddaughter Keira), Lisa Rotunda, and Mike Hren.
  • The FISA Foundation, particularly program officer Shani Lasin and board member Cheryl Kubelick, for helping advance the next phase of work–workshops at Point Park University for people with disabilities. Click here to join our email list to receive updates about this and other forthcoming work.

President Bush’s Unlikely Role as ADA Signer

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PITTSBURGH_President George H.W. Bush was an unlikely advocate to have signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law in 1990, longtime NPR disabilities reporter Joe Shapiro said on Tuesday.

As the former President’s body was lying in state in Washington, D.C., his legacy to the millions of Americans with disabilities was recalled by Shapiro, who spoke at Temple University’s Institute on Disabilities fall lecture series in Pittsburgh.

“The Reagan-Bush team campaigned on getting rid of red tape, bureaucracy, regulations,” Shapiro said. “The main targets were the Speci, which was a precursor to the Americans with Disability Act.”

Bush signing ADA

President George H. W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 into law. Pictured (left to right): Evan Kemp, Rev Harold Wilke, Pres. Bush, Sandra Parrino, Justin Dart.

Many factors turned the tide, all having to do with personal connections. The White House was flooded with handwritten letters from people with disabilities, and the existing laws stayed in place.

Bush’s own life had been touched by disability. One son had a significant learning disability, a fact that fueled First Lady Barbara Bush’s emphasis on reading, Shapiro said. Bush’s daughter died of leukemia and an uncle contracted polio.

“Disability affects all of us,” Shapiro said. “We’re all just one banana peel away from joining the ranks of the disabled.”

Yet in many settings, disabilities rights were primarily championed by liberal Democrats like the Kennedys. But there were politicians on either side touched by disabilities. Former Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh, a significant advocate of people with disabilities may have played a role in influencing Bush’s evolution on disabilities regulations.

Other connections in Bush’s inner circle also helped fuel a change of heart on disabilities law.

Shapiro said that C. Boyden Gray, President Bush’s counsel, got to be friends with the late Evan Kemp, a lawyer, wheelchair user, and brilliant bridge player. Gray, Shapiro said, saw that Kemp was prevented from getting to his house to play bridge, as well as many other social opportunities. Gray, a tobacco heir with a southern drawl, told Kemp that he’d often been judged as a bigot because of his southern background. Shapiro said Gray identified with Kemp as a man who was immediately judged based on his use of a wheelchair. Kemp became the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

So it was that ADA was signed July 26, 1990. The civil rights law prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.

Kemp sat at Bush’s side during the signing. The audience was the largest in American history for a signing ceremony. And it almost didn’t happen.

Many politicians in the House didn’t support the law, which was opposed by many business owners that would have to spend money on ramps and other accessible features.

So, Shapiro said, the opponents “argued it’s too hot, these poor people would be fainting, they’re too frail.”

Longtime NPR disabilities reporter Joe Shapiro with Nicole Koester, Program Manager, of the Arizona State University’s National Center on Disability and Journalism.

After Shapiro reported on this excuse, an embarrassed White House planned the ceremony outdoors.

“Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down,” Bush said in the ceremony to a roar of cheers.

Bush probably didn’t think much at the time about how much accessibility would help him later in life, Shapiro said.

As he aged, Bush did not hide his use of a wheelchair from the press and public as his predecessor President Franklin D. Roosevelt had. Bush used the ramps that the ADA required. He even had a service dog, which lied at his casket this week.

And yet, Shapiro said, Bush, a war veteran, simultaneously projected an image of himself as a “macho” man–skydiving into his golden years. Shapiro suggested that this reflects a modern image of understanding of disability he heard from a disability advocate–that there’s no shame in having a disability, in using the tools needed to enable one’s self, and that the only real tragedy is when there is a lack of opportunity.