Disability Pride Month is celebrated every July as an opportunity to celebrate the Americans With Disabilities Act. The landmark legislation broke down barriers to add more inclusivity in society.

Executive director of Taconic Resources for Independence in Poughkeepsie, Lisa Tarricone, knows a thing or two about the challenges the disabled community faces.

“So, during a hiking trip, I must have slipped off in this garment ledge. And I fell about 100 feet and I fractured my back. And I have a spinal cord injury as a result and I’m a wheelchair user,” said Tarricone.

Tarricone says prior to her hiking accident she was a very active person so what happened weighed heavily on her spirit.

“After the initial shock of the diagnosis and the prognosis that I would be living life in a wheelchair and the denial associated with that for several years,” said Tarricone.

Tarricone says after coming to terms with her new reality, she turned her pain into purpose and became an advocate for many in the disability community.

“I started working for an independent living center in Westchester County. I developed a newsletter called Make Waves, where I wrote stories about issues of impact affecting our community. And my career took off from there as a disability rights advocate,” said Tarricone.

Tarricone is also the woman behind the second annual tri-inclusion festival event. She is one in four people throughout the U.S. Living with some type of disability. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is 27.4% of Americans.

Tarricone says 33 years after the passage of the Americans Disabilities Act, people still face a lot of discrimination.

“Because they can't access a restaurant. They can't use a public restroom. Someone who's deaf cannot communicate effectively in an emergency room because there's a lack of an interpreter or at a bank. So, people are impacted each and every day and are disenfranchised and this is inactive and this these are discriminatory practices,” said Tarricone.

Tarricone has teamed up with local leaders to bring more inclusivity to Dutchess County and other surrounding areas.

“I think the most important thing, one of the most primary components of advocacy work for advocates is to really partner with the communities to empower communities, people with disabilities themselves to make a change in their communities,” said Tarricone.

For more information, visit www.taconicresources.org or call 845-452-3913.