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07/15/2015 08:00 AMOn Sunday, July 12, Guilford’s Joe Genera looked out on a sea of supporters as he emceed the first-ever Disability Pride Day NYC (New York City) Parade and Celebration.
The day’s huge parade down Broadway and amazing celebration at Union Station Park was a joyful event with thousands attending. Disability Pride Day NYC 2015 also helped to mark the 25 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. An active ADA advocate who helped push the ADA envelope, Joe was present at the signing of the law in 1990. In the past several years, he’s emerged as a Renaissance man with credits including singing at the Met, acting roles in television as well as film and on stage, and authoring a new book, Arrested Youth
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Joe uses wheelchair and envisions a world where everyone, instead of some, will one day, “see the person, not the disability.”
As an actor, “one of my biggest obstacles is to [make sure people] see me first and the chair second,” says Joe. “It took a while—it was about two years of frustration. Now I’m at the point where, ‘I’m Joe, and I’m here.’ I’ve been cast in roles because of this chair and I’ve also been cast in roles because I’m Joe and I can do what I do.”
For many years, Joe, 53, had all but abandoned his dream of performing, instead creating a lucrative business leasing his classic car collection to businesses including theaters (one appeared on the Long Wharf stage) and film production companies. On a whim about five years ago, he emailed a producer in Los Angeles about trying out for a TV role in a murder re-enactment show taping in Danbury. The producer, who lives with epilepsy, immediately recognized Joe’s ability and connected him with the production, and he got the part. From there, his acting work took off.
The talented performer was glad to contribute his trademark humor, energy, and positivity to Sunday’s Disability Pride Day NYC event. Joe was asked to participate through NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, working with NYC Disability Pride Parade & Celebration’s main organizers Amy Misner-Threet and Brooke Fox. The NYC Disability Pride movement was founded Mike LeDonne, a world renowned jazz pianist and Hammond organist.
“He has a daughter with a disability, Mary, she’s 11 now,” says Joe. “The entire family’s passionate about quality of life and equal rights for anyone with a disability. The day was actually Mike LeDonne’s daughter’s idea; because ADA’s 25th anniversary was coming up. I became aware of the parade and celebration about two months ago. They were looking for volunteers, and one thing led to another.”
Twenty years ago, past New York Governor George Pataki had requested Joe’s presence at an Albany event recognizing ADA’s fifth anniversary. Joe says the full circle moment which came with his involvement of the 25th ADA anniversary in NYC this past Sunday, was “a tremendous honor,” especially because of his involvement since the beginning.
However, even with a quarter century of law in place, Joe and many other activists say many barriers remain. While ADA’s ideas, in principal, are effective, compliance requires some investment and that causes complications. Unfortunately, some don’t recognize there are alternatives that could help break down barriers without breaking the bank, says Joe.
“There are cost-effective solutions and also provisions in ADA; the most important of which is ‘reasonable accommodation,’” he points out. “If it’s reasonable for an entity to be able to financially afford things, it’s fine, but in cases where an entity can’t afford it, then reasonable accommodations could be made.”
For example, an NYC second-floor deli operator who can’t afford to install an elevator could instead put a doorbell on the first floor, so that a server can be summoned to assist a person who can’t access the business.
“ADA has a lot to do with making program changes,” Joe adds. “There are many creative ways around this, and I think the lack of knowledge has been the biggest detriment. Another misconception is that businesses, schools, government buildings built before 1990 think they’re grandfathered and exempt. But ADA is an orphan—it doesn’t have any grandparents. So they have to do the best they can in terms of accessibility.”
As a Guilford resident who often commutes by car and train to work in NYC, Joe says the shoreline has made many gains in making accommodations.
“Shoreline towns and even New Haven are so much better than they were 25 years ago,” says Joe. “There’s a lot of new construction and the mindset is a little different. It’s more accepting out here. I kind of got a little bit of culture shock because I got very comfortable with the area’s accessibility; and then five years ago I started working in New York City, and it’s hard! It’s a very old city architecturally, so it’s a severe challenge trying to make a lot of things accessible.
“The biggest thing is transportation. The idea is that it’s only $2.50 to take a ride on the subway anywhere in the city, but only about 20 percent of the subway stops have elevators.”
At first, Joe tried buses to get around the city, transferring four or five times to get to auditions and jobs.
“But in this business, you have to be on time,” he says. “In 2012, after being stuck in traffic on I-95 and taking five hours to get in and blowing an audition because of it, I was ready to throw in the towel.”
As luck would have it, Joe decided to check for alternatives online and found a new company, Accessible Dispatch—and a new job. The company is owned by the same couple that owns New Haven’s Metro Taxi service.
“The program was less than a month old. You press an app on your phone and an accessible taxi shows up and takes you away. Well, I used them so much the owners called me to ask why. One thing led to another, and I became their spokesperson!”
Joe grew up in Guilford from the age of six. After he graduated from Guilford High School (Class of ‘78) he first began focusing on acting, singing, and playing piano. Several years later, while anticipating the birth of his daughter, fate intervened. While working under a car on a lift in a garage he owned with his dad, the car fell, crashing down on Joe from a height of six feet.
“It fell in a matter of seconds and essentially broke me in half,” says Joe, who spent six months in the hospital. His daughter was born six days later and “life took off,” says Joe.
“I was injured in 1982 and prior to that never gave thought to access much,” says Joe. “I did have a neighbor who had a disability and his house had ramp. As a kid, I thought that was great, because I could ride my Big Wheel on his ramp. Now I realize being raised around that made me not afraid of wheelchairs, and that he was no different from other dads.”
After the accident, Joe says he thought his performing dreams had “gone away for good.”
“From 1982 to 1990 came the realization, for me, of how inaccessible the world was in a lot of ways—from steps to job hiring practices,” says Joe. “I got involved with advocacy on the state level three years after the injury.”
His work with Connecticut Spinal Cord Injury Association led to working on bringing about ADA. Joe worked on ADA in Washington, D.C. between 1989 and 1990.
“We thought what we were doing was on par with the Civil Rights Act,” he says. “We felt granting rights to people with disabilities was as important as granting civil rights back in the ‘60s. But even now, so much more needs to be done.”
After Sunday’s parade and celebration, Joe says he hopes the thousands who turned out to support and enjoy the event will inspire continuing change for the better.
“Hopefully, this event has opened a lot of eyes and is going to reach a lot of minds and hearts,” says Joe, adding of his part in spreading the word, “I’ve always felt that we need to create more understanding about what it means to have a disability, and I like to accomplish that through openness and humor. I’ve been in this wheelchair for 30 years, and I’m here to say that we can accomplish great things when we all give each other a chance and work together.”
Joe Genera’s acting credits include (TV) 30 Rock, Unusual Suspects, Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives, (Theater)The Many Faces of Elvis and Pinocchio the (Rock!) Musical, and upcoming films Russian Doll and Irony of Catharsis. His book Arrested Youth is set to publish soon. For more information, follow Joseph P. Genera on Facebook. For more information on Disability Pride NYC, visit http://disabilitypridenyc.com.