Community Living And Support Services (CLASS)
Title: Expanding Accessibility Within and Outside of CLASS
Student Interns:
Katie Ferriby
University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
Ben Messenger
University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy
Academic Preceptor:
Mary Goldberg, PhD
University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Community Preceptor:
Maggie Larter
Program Specialist, CLASS
Courtney Walker
Director of Education and CPS Programs, CLASS
Community Site:
Community Living And Support Services (CLASS) is a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that helps adults with disabilities explore and participate in their community. CLASS achieves this through residential support, in-home services, structured day programming, and employment services.
Team’s Experience:
The Bridging the Gaps interns’ primary contribution to CLASS was a two-part accessibility project. First, they implemented a participant-led redesign of the resource room, turning it into a quiet, sensory space filled with new accessible items. Second, the interns created a directory of community outings to better align classroom and community activities, share accessibility notes with staff, and provide guidance on budgeting. The interns provided additional resources to staff and participants, such as oral health kits, oral health fact sheets, and a presentation. They created these resources with the help of 21 CLASS participants, staff interviews, and informal surveys.
Reflections
I could not have asked for a better way to spend my summer. Working at CLASS brought a ton of joy into my life. The participants and staff taught me so much about disability justice, accessibility, radical acceptance, and the power of laughter. My view of our systems, built environment, and care work has been fundamentally changed in these eight weeks. I see a part of myself reflected in each of our participants; they have all left a mark on my heart that I will carry forward forever.
Folks with disabilities are a vital part of our community. As able-bodied individuals, we should be doing more to foster relationships with our disabled peers and ensure that spaces are truly accessible. As public health professionals, we should think of disabled people at every step of everything we do. Thank you, CLASS, for welcoming us with open arms. Thank you for allowing us to be creative, providing us endless jokes and silly phrases, and showing me every day what compassion, empathy, and joy looks like in action.
Katie Ferriby
I had no experience working in the disabled community before coming to CLASS, and after being here for the past eight weeks, I can say there’s no better way I could have been introduced. The participants and instructors have shown me just how important it is to advocate for disability justice in the world we live in. However, they’ve also shown me what it looks like when that advocacy and compassion pay off. It’s often hard to find a place that engages with underserved populations that fills you with more hope for change than it does grief from the status quo. Throughout pharmacy school, I’ve had some community experiences, but none of those experiences came close to making me feel the same sense of community as this one. There’s a feeling of joy here that you almost never find in a field so geared towards rigid professionalism. I can safely say this is the best internship I’ll ever have.
Ben Messenger
