From Pittsburgh to Harrisburg and Everywhere in Between
Rather than just staging traditional protests, Access Mob organizes community-driven initiatives that meet neighborhoods where they are:
Neighborhood Canvassing: Organizing volunteers to inventory local sidewalks, intersections, and missing curb cuts to flag exactly where mobility is blocked.
Educational Outreach: Approaching inaccessible local storefronts with a collaborative message: We want to support your business, and we want to help you make it possible for everyone.
Ballots for Patients: Coordinating volunteers to go into local hospitals on Election Day to ensure patients who experienced sudden medical emergencies can still access emergency absentee ballots and exercise their fundamental right to vote.
Through this active community engagement, Alisa Grishman (founder of Access Mob Pittsburgh) is making a tangible difference on the ground. But grassroots advocacy is also about keeping a watchful eye on systemic threats.
Due to a recent memo sent out by the DOJ, Alisa and other disability advocates are incredibly concerned about the future of Home and Community-Based Services and a potential return to the "old way" of looking at disability, which favored institutionalization over independent living. (Read the memo [HERE]).
For Alisa, this policy shift underscores why passivity is a luxury the community cannot afford.
“We cannot sit around and allow history to repeat itself," says Alisa. "We cannot sit on the sidelines and wait to be saved. We have to work together now or there will be no one left to speak out for us.”
Through this combination of joyful community engagement and fierce vigilance, Access Mob is steadily building—and protecting—a more physically and culturally accessible Pittsburgh.
Want to get involved? Click HERE!
The Critical Voice of the Caregiver
Behind every service plan, waiver approval, and support schedule is a family that has had to fight, learn, adjust, and advocate every step of the way. Christine Brookins’ experience with her son Kellen is a powerful example of what that looks like over a lifetime.
Christine and Kellen’s Story:
Now almost 40, at 4 years old, when Kellen could not function in a typical childcare setting, I called every number in the Blue Pages of the phone book until I found someone who could help us. Not knowing at the time, what I found was Medicaid Waiver funding for Home and Community-Based Services. That afforded therapeutic support tailored to his unique needs. Thanks to that, a day in his life currently includes ACCESS transportation to his REACH day program, followed by time in the community with his Direct Support Professional. Because of these supports, Kellen is able to reside in the family home.
Kellen is minimally verbal, lacks safety and executive function skills. These are among the reasons that I sought legal guardianship. As his guardian, I am able to seek medical care, supports and services, and manage finances on his behalf.
Needing both physical activity and socialization, I sought out solutions for Kellen. Special Olympics is a big part of that. Being involved for 20 years, he now participates in five (5) sports, on three (3) teams. As a result, he stays active and the teammates and families have become friends.
Christine and Kellen’s story shows what caregiving and advocacy truly look like in real life. Families should not have to become experts in Medicaid, transportation, guardianship, healthcare, direct support, and community services just to help their loved ones live safely and fully. Yet every day, caregivers do this work quietly and relentlessly because the people they love deserve dignity, opportunity, and a meaningful life in the community. Advocacy begins in those moments: making the call, asking the question, refusing to accept “no” as the final answer, and building a path where none existed before. When we listen to caregivers and people with disabilities, we learn what our systems get right, where they fall short, and what must change so that families are supported instead of left to figure it out alone.
Knowledge is power in the caregiver's hands. Learn more about Christine’s Work [LINK to Outspoken]
Not sure where to start as a caregiver? Join the Caregiver Peer Network. [LINK to Register]
