Age: 53
Hometown: Gainesville, Georgia
Current Residence: West Irondequoit
Occupation: Certified therapeutic recreation specialist; founder and executive director of Rochester Accessible Adventures
When Anita O’Brien first started hosting weekly rides with adaptive cycles for people with disabilities, it was progress in the fight for greater accessibility. But it wasn’t enough.
She realized it was limiting that the activity was only available once a week and perhaps only if those who needed that accessibility had schedules that coincided with her own. Providing a truly equitable experience for anyone interested in cycling meant making the activity available any day of the week, without the need for special arrangements.
In 2015, this proactive thinking led O’Brien to start Rochester Accessible Adventures, a nonprofit organization that empowers businesses and local governments to provide inclusive services that are readily accessible to those with and without disabilities. Her focus is on the areas of sports, recreation and tourism. As executive director of Rochester Accessible Adventures, O’Brien takes an optimistic approach that treats the solution as inevitable, a given.
“We can always ask, ‘Why aren't we doing it yet?’ she said. “But I don't find that as productive as ‘Are we ready to start now?’”
Peter Abele, the owner of Erie Canal Boat Company in Fairport, teamed up with O’Brien early on, and by 2016, his business was renting out accessible bikes and kayaks to customers, resulting in a 31% sales increase. In partnering with Rochester Accessible Adventures, Abele was encouraged by O’Brien’s openness to everyone.
“She didn’t discriminate, for any particular reason,” he said.
RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ.
O’Brien and RAA went to work with more than a dozen additional organizations, such as schools, libraries, small businesses and the towns of Perinton, Victor and Irondequoit. For O’Brien, making spaces accessible to all doesn’t just mean following the Americans with Disabilities Act — the 1990 legislation enacted to ensure accommodations for those with previously limited access to essential services. There is a difference between an activity being physically accessible to a disabled person and that activity being designed with consideration for the quality of experience that person has. “If I invited you to my party, and I know you're coming, It's going to be very clear if I did anything about it,” she said.
O’Brien saw a need in the community for businesses and organizations that provided true accessibility without needing to be asked. Rather than burdening someone who needs access, that business takes responsibility for being inclusive of the entire community, and in turn gets more customers.
“People self-select out of something because they know ultimately there’s going to be hassle,” she said. “And they have to decide, ‘Am I in the mood for a hassle?’”
To remove the potential hassle entirely, O’Brien — together with RAA Inclusion Specialist Dee Mascari — collaborates with Rochester-area organizations over the course of a one-to-three year period, offering valuable training, self-assessment and the implementation of a plan.
Looking ahead, O’Brien is considering expanding RAA’s operations into other regions of New York State such as the Finger Lakes, the Southern Tier and even Long Island. The goal is to reverse the societal tendency to keep people with disabilities hidden and in isolation. Visibility is important, and there’s already been progress in the field of education.
“Generationally, we have more exposure and shared experience in school settings,” she said. “This group of kids will now be looking around them and saying, ‘But hey, why am I not seeing my classmates in these other settings? Why am I not seeing them at summer camp with me?’”
O’Brien’s vision is for Rochester to establish more spaces that are truly inclusive.
“That's the work that we need to do,” she said. “We need to continue it so that everybody is expected everywhere.” — DANIEL J. KUSHNER