Local Disability Documentarian Awarded 50K Grant in 'Leaders for a New Chicago' Program

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"People with disabilities should have just as much fun, if not more, than people who are able-bodied."

That's the message of Vanessa Harris, a Chicago disability advocate who has been awarded $50,000 through the Leaders for a New Chicago program.

Harris will receive a $25,000 no-strings-attached grant for personal development, as well as a matching $25,000 grant for operating expenses for her nonprofit, Strategy for Access, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Her organization produces films and other media celebrating and informing Chicago's disability community.

Strategy for Access also runs the website disabilityvoteil.org, which provides information for people with disabilities to register to vote and cast a ballot.

Harris, who was diagnosed with a chronic condition that causes a loss of bone density, tells the Tribune she founded Strategy for Access on a whim after a car-buying experience.

"It was sort of a stressful situation, because I didn't know where to go to get one," she says.

"And the dealers that I went to were not necessarily ethical, because I didn't know where to go to get one."



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