Photo courtesy of Michelle Walker
Michelle Walker
Michelle Walker is the City of Pittsburgh’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Disabilities Resource Coordinator for the Office of Equal Protection in Mayor Gainey’s office. The Office of Equal Protection is a civil enforcement and compliance office that seeks accountability in workers’ rights, civil rights, and public safety.
“I’m excited to tell you what we’re working on,” Walker says, and she means it. Walker is the guiding force behind a multitude of initiatives to make Pittsburgh a more inclusive city for all, especially for those in the disability community. Her recent initiatives include a rally for disabled Pittsburghers at Google’s office in Bakery Square, an ADA Transition Plan for the city, and ongoing
emergency sign language courses for City of Pittsburgh employees.
Walker has been a disability advocate since she was a child.
“I was a preemie, so my ears weren’t fully developed. I’ve been deaf and hard of hearing since birth. So I’ve had to advocate for myself for a very long time. It’s often harder to self-advocate than it is to advocate for others,” she tells
Pittsburgh City Paper. “I really love this work and making sure that people get what they need to live their best life — inclusive of their disabilities rather than exclusive. So that’s just what I do.”
Walker tells
City Paper that her office is working on an
ADA Transition Plan. It has been 32 years since an audit of the city’s accessibility was conducted. So what exactly does that entail?
“It is essentially a roadmap … an audit or review of its accessibility. The city is contracting with Precision Infrastructure Management. They have extensive experience and are leading experts in this work.” The first phase will be a comprehensive assessment of Pittsburgh's relative accessibility. “The second phase of it is done the second year, when they take all of that data and turn it into a plan,” she says. Walker says he plan will include recommendations for lowering barriers to accessibility in the city.
Fixing the problems outlined by the consultants could be expensive, and finding room in the budget will be the next hurdle. Walker says she’s taking the process one step at a time.
“Our constituents in the disability community have been waiting on this for a very long time,” she tells
CP. “The administration appreciates the feedback and support of the City-County Task Force on Disabilities and other disability advocates whose input through community engagement will be a vital part of the ADA Transition Plan.”
Walker says the ADA transition plan “gives us a start. It gives us a rubric to follow, and that’s exciting.” Walker makes sure to give credit where credit is due. “I would like to mention Joan Stein — she was the person who did the last ADA transition plan in 1992. I want to make sure to give her credit for being the first person to create an ADA transition plan for our city. That shows fierce dedication and advocacy. Her work laid the groundwork for us to do this.”
Walker’s job is not only to create and manage accessibility initiatives, but also to support others doing disability advocacy work. She sits on an array of boards for local organizations including
Achieva,
Autism Urban Connections Inc., the Black Women’s Equity Initiative (BWEI), and
HEARTH.
Autism Urban Connections in particular is the first and only African American, minority- and family-focused Autism 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Pennsylvania. It not only connects families with resources, but also helps those with autism to receive a comprehensive evaluation. When it comes to an autism diagnosis, Walker says, support can be immensely powerful. “It can make the difference between feeling heard, and feeling abandoned,” Walker says. She calls Autism Urban Connections founder Jamie Upshaw “amazing.”
“I think sometimes people in the medical profession do not always listen to parents when they come forth with what the parent is seeing and correlat[e] it with the appropriate diagnosis, so we have to be very careful in advocating and making sure that parents are heard, and that what the parent sees in the day-to-day life of their child should be taken into consideration,” Walker says. Autism Urban Connections has a Family Day coming up Aug. 11. “It’s an annual event where they have activities, food for the kids, give away book bags, school supplies, and it’s a great chance for families to commune. The community is welcome.”
When I ask her what she wants people to understand about her work, it’s that she’s aiming to reach milestones that go above and beyond ADA compliance: “the ADA is the floor, not the ceiling,” Walker says. She believes Pittsburgh can be a leader as it moves forward with its transition plan and, when the time comes, an action plan. She hopes that the action plan will be designed around universal design and not just compliance laws written almost 40 years ago.
Life in the Mayor’s office is busy, but Walker feels supported by the Gainey administration “in respect to uplifting the disability community, prioritizing disability or disability communities’ issues. The fact that my role was moved from the Department of City Planning to the Mayor’s office in and of itself is a huge statement in support,” Walker tells
CP. “It gives the role itself the visibility and respect that it deserves. I believe it’s an important change that catapulted the work and put it on the front page of the paper, rather than the next to last page. If I didn’t believe that it was a priority for the administration, I would not have taken the role. Disability rights isn’t just professional for me; it’s personal, as well.”
Asked about her favorite part of the job, “it’s when a constituent lets me know they feel like they’ve been heard, they feel like they were acknowledged, and that there might be a resolution nearby. That is very satisfying to me.”