Speakers: Mallory Hudson and Paul O’Hanlon

One in five people who are eligible to vote has a disability. Despite passage of laws that expand voting access, people with disabilities continue to vote at disproportionately low rates. While mail-in ballots have made voting more accessible to people with disabilities, states across the country continue to pass voting laws that make it more difficult for disabled people to cast their ballots. During this session, our speakers will explore the personal and political power of people with disabilities as they discuss voting rights, access, and barriers.

Join us for our upcoming Community Lecture Night! This will be a hybrid event, so people may attend either in person or online. Please register for the event whether you plan on attending in person or online so we can notify you of any change. All registered attendees will receive the zoom link regardless. Walk-ins are still welcome. Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pcOqvrz4iH9QwyqHbUlnxOQzBWq19nkGa

• When: Monday, September 30th from 6:00-7:30 PM
• Where: East Liberty Carnegie Library located at 130 S. Whitfield St., 15206 AND online via Zoom AND streaming on YouTube
• Parking: on-street (pay until 6pm) or in the lot behind the building (pay until 10pm)
• Public Transit: Nearby buses include the 71B, 71C, 74, 77, 82, 86, 88, and 89
• Building Accessibility:
  • Meeting is on the 2nd floor; there is an elevator inside the building, accessible from either the front or back entrance, and the meeting room is immediately across from the elevator.
  • Restrooms on the 2nd floor are accessible.
• Meeting Accessibility:
  • There will be sign language interpreters at all lectures available in-person and on zoom, and closed captioning available at least on Zoom. 
  • A limited number of wired headphone connections to the sound system will be available for personal sound amplification. You may use our headphones or bring your own. First come first served.
  • Chat will be disabled on Zoom during the lecture to better serve people using screen readers. Participants will still be able to message the hosts.
  • When it comes time for the Q&A, people may ask in person, by asking in the chat so the host can read it out loud, or by raising their hand on Zoom so the host can call on them to ask by voice or by ASL.
  • For more information, check out our Technical Info page.
• Masking / Air Quality:
  • For the safety of immunocompromised and vulnerable community members masks with a minimum rating of KF94 or KN95 will be required for all in-person attendees. (Speakers and interpreters may be unmasked, but will be required to take a COVID test on the morning of the event.) If you are unable or do not wish to wear a mask you should attend via Zoom. 
  • Air filtration will be provided by Clean Air Tools Pittsburgh.

If anyone has any other access needs please contact accessmobpittsburgh@gmail.com as soon as possible, but no later than Wednesday, September 25th.

Speaker Biographies:

Mallory Hudson is a Community Organizer with Keystone Progress Education Fund. Mallory is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied psychology, studio arts, social work, and public health. Over the last decade, Mallory has worked in the disability community across a wide range of settings including health care, research, community mental health, and home and community-based services. Mallory recently joined the board of directors for Open Up Pittsburgh and Inglis Community Services.

Paul O’Hanlon is a retired lawyer. For twenty years Paul worked for Neighborhood Legal Services and was the Chief Attorney of the Housing Unit at his departure. For the next fifteen years Paul worked for a Disability Rights law firm with systems change experience in housing, public transportation, and voting/election law. In 2008 Paul initiated Ballots for Patients, an Absentee Ballot service to hospitalized voters in Allegheny County. Along with the late Rachel Freund, Paul helped form the PA Disability Voting Coalition and spearheaded its We Count! campaign that highlighted the shameful performance of human service agencies in performing their duties to provide voter registration services to people with disabilities receiving services.

Funding for this lecture comes from a grant from the Three Rivers Community Foundation.