Access Oak Ridge Fair set for Oct. 7
Marian Wildgruber, right, chats after an Oak Ridge City Council meeting. (photo:Ben Pounds )
Oak Ridge resident Marian Wildgruber helped organize the event and will speak at it. She spoke to The Courier News about the event, what she hopes to achieve, and living while blind with retinitis pigmentosa.
The event, Access Oak Ridge: Creating Communities For All Abilities, will take place from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7, at the Oak Ridge Civic Center and Senior Center, 1403 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
“This fair is for everyone from kids to seniors,” she said. “The takeaway is definitely planning our communities in a way that people can live, work and play to their full potential.”
She expressed her vision for that community.
“Housing, shopping, employment, recreation, health care are all aspects of our community that all members of the community, no matter what their abilities are, can enjoy,” she said. “That’s the dream. And we have to plan that from the beginning.”
The event will feature demonstrations by wheelchair basketball players from the University of Tennessee, Smoky Mountain Service Dogs, and Sunshine Ambassadors Dance Group. There will be adaptive outdoor recreation equipment to check out from Catalyst Sports, which has developed gear for adventurous sports including rock climbing for people who are paraplegic or quadriplegic.
Expert speakers on topics such as aging in place design, mental health, accessible travel, and more will lead talks. A room devoted to independent living and aging in place will have displays on managing low vision, occupational therapy aids, Habitat for Humanity home renovations, and more.
An art exhibit by Oak Ridge students will be in the Civic Center, as well as an art exhibit by Derrick Freeman, a Knoxville artist with autism. Live music will play from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. outside under tents, with free lunches starting at 11 a.m.
Another attraction will be an obstacle course from disAbility Resource Center in which visitors can experience a bit of what it is like to be a wheelchair-user, blind or deaf.
Wildgruber will talk about traveling with disabilities from 2:30 until 3 p.m. She said she’s flown from Munich to Seattle with her two baby and toddler children and her guide dog. She said she can see light and shadows but not specific objects.
“What I fight a lot with my disability are low expectations,” she said. “People assume that I can’t do things because I am blind.
“There are just so many people breaking through expectations, and they want people to see that.”
She uses a guide dog and says she can walk through restaurants, listen to audiobooks, and work out at the gym.
“I can do a lot of things that surprise people,” she said. She said text to speech technology “completely re-opened my world.
“Just changed my life as well as opening up a thousand and one career opportunities for people who are blind,” she said. She said texting on mobile devices has similarly opened opportunities for people with speech or hearing impairments.
“A lot of the people that are coming to speak and do demonstrations are people and kids with disabilities who have reached beyond, challenged themselves and achieved more than a lot of people who are not disabled think they can do,” Wildgruber said.
She said there are still challenges for people with disabilities, which she addresses as chairwoman of the Oak Ridge Disability Advisory Board.
A focus for her has been pushing for better pedestrian routes for people with mobility issues.
Kids are encouraged to come and participate in activities. There will be games, crafts and prizes. Free KN-95 masks and hand sanitizer will be available. All lunches are brown bag, and outdoor eating areas will be plentiful. Wildgruber said Oak Ridge transit will be free that day.
For more information, visit oakridgetn.gov/disability-advisory-board or contact Marian Wildgruber, City of Oak Ridge Disability Advisory Board Chair, mwildgruberdab@gmail.com or call 865-323-2877.