Services
Pittsburgh Center for Disability Justice (PCDJ) is proud to offer all of our services at no charge to disabled adults residing in Allegheny County and some services to disabled adults in the greater Southwestern PA region. Our services are grant-funded, and we are grateful to our funders for supporting our work so that we may serve all of you! We do ask that if your household income is above the median for our area, you consider making a donation when accessing labor-intensive services.
We also offer all services to non-disabled people, such as caretakers, parents, community partners, organizations, and paid caregivers, for a fee. Please reach out to opal@disabledpgh.org to discuss your needs and the fee structure.
Further, PCDJ loves creating customized training to meet the needs of nonprofits, businesses, schools, workplaces, community groups, and more. We can work with you to present and teach on any topic related to or affecting disability. For rates and to discuss your training needs, please contact opal@disabledpgh.org.
Through an experienced Peer Support Specialist, PCDJ provides coaching, mental health services, case management, and service coordination.
Some examples of work that can be done through 1:1 Peer Support are building skills around emotional regulation, distress tolerance, problem solving, goal setting, and navigating relationships both professionally and personally. Additionally, 1:1 Peer Support can address filling out paperwork, making necessary phone calls, referrals, and connecting folks with other resources.
To learn more or get started with 1:1 Peer Support, please email bex@disabledpgh.org.
Our Peer Support Group cohorts are a unique model created and written by our staff. These groups are designed to teach self facilitation skills to the group itself, over time. The groups begin by meeting once per week with a staff member, and then the staff member teaches skills, and fades over time. Each group becomes what the individual cohort needs it to become, with some meeting more or less often, virtually or in person.
Within these groups, members connect with one another, and become part of one another’s support systems. Members learn to provide one another with the kinds of supports that are lacking in the lives of disabled adults. Things like social engagement, physical help with home tasks, body doubling with one another, helping with paperwork and phone calls, teaching and modeling skills around distress tolerance and emotional regulation, shopping and running errands together, and navigating relationships outside of the group are all commonplace once a group is established.
PCDJ launches at least two Peer Support Group cohorts per year. If you are interested in joining an upcoming cohort, please email opal@disabledpgh.org.
Resource coordination connects community members with tangible things such as waiver services, medical assistance for workers with disabilities, finding funding for basic and critical needs, as well as finding items of need.
To learn more or get started with Resource Coordination, please email opal@disabledpgh.org.
We build strong, resilient networks of mutual aid that can move nimbly to meet urgent needs. Recent examples of fulfilled needs from our mutual aid group include: picking up prescriptions, covering unpaid rent, loaning durable medical equipment (DME), providing childcare for unexpected medical events, shopping for someone who cannot, cooking meals, repairing technology, shoveling snow in the winter and mowing lawns in the summer, providing information regarding all manner of systems navigation and access, and much more. These networks are built on multiple virtual platforms, social media, and in-person, and are facilitated by our staff and volunteers.
Our durable medical equipment (DME) distribution program has grown in response to our community’s needs over the last five years and would now benefit from a dedicated storage facility. We are in the process of procuring an adequate facility to continue rehoming these vital resources, which are expensive and inaccessible to many.
To learn more about Mutual Aid, please email adrienne@disabledpgh.org.
And consider making a donation in support of our efforts to develop a dedicated Care Closet.
PCDJ hosts a Self Advocacy workshop monthly. These workshops are designed to deeply explore topics that disabled adults in our region may desire more understanding or support around. They differ from Skill Shares in that Self Advocacy Workshops are not intended to teach concrete skills, but to instead explore topics in a nuanced and in-depth way. These events are facilitated by PCDJ staff, while the focus topics are chosen by our community. Some example topics include advocating for oneself during the accomadations process in the workplace or higher education, sex and dating, the ADA and how to navigate the reality of its limitations, and how to make the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) process work for you.
To learn more about Self-Advocacy Workshops, please email info@disabledpgh.org.
PCDJ surveys the needs of our community through formal listening campaigns and informal data collection on inquiries, service access trends, and direct daily engagement.
Learn more about our data collection processes by emailing info@disabledpgh.org.
PCDJ conducts limited policy advocacy, partnering with local and national nonprofits to raise awareness on legislative issues affecting the lives of disabled people.
We have worked to bring attention to: discrimination against people with disabilities in need of organ transplants, Medicaid Home and Community Based Services Waiver waiting lists, protections for people with developmental disabilities who choose to carry their pregnancies, healthcare access, restrictions regarding parenting tasks for waiver recipients served by attendant care, and threats to general assistance.
Learn more about current advocacy efforts by emailing daeja@disabledpgh.org.
PCDJ hosts social events throughout the year. Most of these events are currently virtual, but we are looking forward to bringing back in-person events later in the year. These events are facilitated by PCDJ staff or volunteers and are themed.
Social events are a casual, light, and fun way to interact with other disabled adults in the region! Some examples of previous themes are karaoke, craft night, happy hour, info dump time, board games, specific video games, music mix exchange, and book discussions. We are open to considering anything our community can come up with!
Have an idea for a social event? Please email info@disabledpgh.org.