Emily F. Keller: Journalist

Obituary of Arleen Wolsiefer Probeyahn

    Arleen Wolsiefer Probeyahn, an advocate for people with disabilities who had three autistic sons, passed away on October 19th. Her husband of fifty years, Roy Probeyahn, said the cause of her death was heart failure.

    Probeyahn was born in Queens and raised in Merrick, Long Island. She met her husband at Wellington C. Mepham High School in North Bellmore, where both were students, and the two were married in Merrick in 1961. The three Probeyahn sons – Roy, Jr., Michael, & Glenn – are now in their 40s.

Obituary of Judy Record

    Judy Record, a longtime member and former chair of the Suffolk County Handicap Advisory Board (now known as the Suffolk County Disabilities Advisory Board), has passed away. She was 69.

    Her husband Gilbert Record said, “I’m still reeling from it. I miss her so much. We were so close for 41 plus years. It’s just very hard to get used to it. Judy always had a smile – always – and I never heard her say a bad word about anybody. She was just an upbeat positive person especially so even with all her aches and pains. I think I was very lucky to have her and I wish I had her longer.”

Obituary of Irene Jill McGinn

    Irene Jill McGinn passed away December 3, just months after retiring from the Long Island Developmental Disabilities Services Office (LIDDSO), where she worked as director.

    The U.S. Senate passed a resolution honoring McGinn upon her retirement from the LIDDSO. The resolution said McGinn “rendered faithful, conscientious and valuable service to the Long Island Developmental Disabilities Services Office” and called for a celebration of her service on September 16, 2010.

Obituary of Anna Capell

    Anna Capell, an activist from the Bronx, passed away in September following a bout with pneumonia. She was reportedly in her 80s.

    Capell was born with a spinal disorder and has been a quadriplegic for the majority of her life. According to Co-op City News, doctors purportedly told Capell’s parents that she would not live to turn 18, and so it was unnecessary to send her to school.

Obituary of Laura Hershey

    Laura Hershey, a well-known activist, nonfiction writer and poet passed away November 26 following an illness. She leaves behind her partner, Robin Stephens and their daughter, Shannon, her mother, father and brother John Hershey.

    "She was a genius who lived with disability and lived well,” Stephens told The Denver Post.

    Hershey was an organizer for ADAPT and Not Dead Yet, a protestor against Jerry Lewis's muscular dystrophy telethons and an activist for gay and lesbian rights. She attended United Nations conferences on women's rights in Kenya and Beijing.

Kathy Urschel Passes Away After Accident

    Athlete Kathy Urschel of Baldwinsville, New York passed away November 9 following an accident three days earlier.

    Urschel, 46, was a longtime member of the United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) and a Paralympian.

    USABA Executive Director Mark Lucas released a statement expressing his sorrow and praise for Urschel. “A remarkably resilient, genuine, inspirational woman and fierce competitor with a zeal for life,” Lucas said.  “Kathy lost her sight and hearing and faced them as minor inconveniences, leaving us with the legacy that true success in life is how we choose our attitude in any situation.”

    Urschel had raced across the country on a tandem bike in seven days and won a silver medal in cycling at the Atlanta Paralympics. She participated in a canoe race in New Zealand and in the Sydney Paralympics, where she finished in 11th place. She was inducted into the Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

Obituary of Paul Miller

     Paul S. Miller, a lawyer and disability rights advocate, passed away on October 19 at his home on Mercer Island, Washington. The cause of his death was cancer. Miller was 49.

    Miller, who was born with dwarfism, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School. He was a commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for ten years and an advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

    Miller was a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he directed the disabilities studies program. He was also an expert on genetic science who wrote about social and ethical issues in the Human Genome Project. Miller was born in New York and grew up on Long Island.

    James Weisman, general counsel for United Spinal Association, met Miller shortly after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), when Miller’s job was to recruit people with disabilities into the Clinton Administration. The last time Weisman saw Miller was at a 20th anniversary celebration of the ADA.

    “He was an amazing example of never underestimate people with disabilities. He was brilliant and funny with a very ironic sense of humor,” said Weisman. “He could have gone out and been a zillionaire. He dedicated his life to making the world a better place.”

Harry Wieder Remembered for Humor, Activism and Diversity

By Emily F. Keller

    Harry Wieder fought for civil rights by teaching people about pride.

    Whether he was advocating for gay rights with the group ACT UP, writing lengthy and humorous emails about the city’s transportation policies, or instructing his friends to “get down on your knees and hug me,” Wieder was unapologetic in his demands.

    In his 57 years of life, Wieder fought many battles for equal rights and respect as a gay, disabled, Jewish dwarf. He was remembered as a four-foot giant with an edgy sense of humor and a persistent presence in society’s cultural, educational and political institutions. His work often focused on New York City’s transportation network, which enabled Wieder to access his activities.

    Wieder passed away in late April after being struck by a taxi as he left a meeting of Community Board 3 in his Lower East Side neighborhood. He was a longtime member of the board. Friends and politicians held a memorial for Wieder at The Cooper Union May 20.

    Click here to read the article published at Transportation Access.

Communities Celebrate Harry Wieder’s Life

    Friends, neighbors, politicians and activists from some of Harry Wieder’s social justice networks celebrated his life on June 20 at Cooper Union in lower Manhattan.

    No family members were present, but a close cousin from Israel, Tommy Wieder, sent a written statement read by Michael Schweinsburg. He talked about Wieder’s acceptance of all people, and his love of New York.

    “I’m not sure you could find anybody who knew New York as well and as intimately as Harry,” Tommy Wieder wrote.

A Trip to Dance

     As Clara Bailon pushed over sidewalk cracks outside her home in the Bronx, she told stories about the old days.

    She remembered being left on the curb on her way to the beach with friends by a bus with a broken lift in the 1980s. She recalled quitting her job at a bank in lower Manhattan after graduating from college because glitches in the transit system made it difficult to show up on time. She talked about harassment and indifference from transit workers and commuters. She remembered being tripped over on the subway stairs during rush hour.

    “You have to learn to be a little assertive having a disability,” Bailon said about her experience with Access-A-Ride and the subway and bus systems.

    Bailon has spent decades asserting herself within a complex transit system that expands its accessible options gradually but incompletely. She praises the “good Samaritans” who have stepped in where the system falls short, lifting her wheelchair over gaps between subways and platforms where wheels sometimes stall, and offering directions to accessible subway stops that comprise less than one-fifth of the subway system.

    Published on Transportation Access. Click here to read the article.