Tina Guenette Pedersen
TIRELESS ADVOCATE FOR EQUITY IN ACCESSIBILITY
On Mother ’ s Day of this year , Tina Guenette Pedersen suffered a heart attack and a stroke while tackling long-haul COVID symptoms . She went blind for seventy-two hours . And then , she put the whole ordeal out there on the Internet for her podcast subscribers .
“ I wanted people to know : Here ’ s how they ’ re fixing me — and obviously it worked because I ’ m back ,” Pedersen says . “ Nothing stops me .”
Pedersen , who uses a bejeweled electric wheelchair for mobility , is the founder and president of Real Access Motivates Progress ( RAMP ), a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for accessibility and inclusion in schools , businesses and the community . She ’ s performed more than 170 roll-throughs , where she navigates spaces and provides assessments for clients ; she also connects them to low-cost accessibility resources . It ’ s good for business , she says : 26 percent of Rhode Islanders have a disability , and 11 percent use mobility devices .
“ The bigger issue is those sixty years or older will be half of Rhode Island ’ s population by 2030 ,” she adds , “ and 40 percent of them use a walker , wheelchair or cane either temporarily or permanently but are just considered elderly and not counted as disabled .”
“ THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE . DON ’ T YOU WANT THE WORLD TO BE ACCESSIBLE ?”
In addition to her work with RAMP , the four-time cancer survivor and threetime stroke survivor serves on multiple boards and commissions while regularly meeting with state leaders to elevate the discourse on equity in accessibility in Rhode Island . In the early days of the pandemic , she sat in on calls with the governor to offer perspectives from the community , as well .
“ I was a walker ; my life changed in ten minutes ,” she says of the stroke to her spine during a surgery seven years ago . “ This could happen to anyone . Don ’ t you want the world to be accessible ?”
Pedersen says no one should miss out on making memories with loved ones , especially due to something so fixable as inaccessibility . Last year , when she was working on her Habitat for Humanity house , she swung hammers and attached paintbrushes to sticks to paint her own ceilings .
“ They said to me , ‘ You can ’ t do that ,’ and I said : ‘ Watch me . I ’ ll find a way ,’ ” she says .
Pedersen ’ s positivity is infectious and so is her humor , which douses sometimesdark situations in effervescent light . She recalls when her accessibility van broke down on the highway . The responding officers had no way of transporting her wheelchair , so they flanked her as she cruised down the shoulder lane , waving to cars like the queen she is .
“ I have done more from my wheelchair than before I was in it : I ’ ve gone hiking , surfing , mountain climbing . I jumped out of an airplane ,” she says . “ My wheelchair gives me wings . If it wasn ’ t for my wheelchair , I couldn ’ t go out and spread my joy and my voice .” rampisinclusion . com >>
62 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l NOVEMBER 2021