NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's one of the main things Nashville's known for today: the nightlife. A woman said a community encountered some obstacles to enjoying that nightlife. She's looking to help.
"People with disabilities never want to feel like a burden," said Cynthia George. "We want to feel included, but we don't want to feel like a burden."
There are a whole lot of places where Cynthia feels at home. She has a lot of downtown memories.
"I remember when they first put this Hard Rock in," she said, walking on Second Avenue. "I would come down here and see all of my friends, all the people I knew."
Cynthia is also a professor of social work at Tennessee State University. Another home is the stage. She's a punk rock artist.
"I'm not going to give up my edge to become an academic," she said.
"It's a full shaved head!" Cynthia continued, showing her haircut. "Full mohawk, or I call it a prohawk!
The punk rock professor now has another home.
"This is the Nashville Mayor's Office of Nightlife," she said.
Cynthia's advisory work there has to do with what she discovered from her life experience.
"A car wreck that occurred in 2009, I had a brain and spinal cord injury," she said. "I struggle with maintaining my gait from that head injury, so I have what's called gait apraxia."
It was eye-opening for Cynthia to use a walker and try to get through crowded music venues. She found people with disabilities were often placed in the back of shows where they couldn't see anything.
"I started having my own problems with parking to get into venues, dealing with 'can I even get my walker in? Am I going to have to leave my walker outside while I go into the restroom?'" Cynthia said.
She's created the Disabled to the Front advisory group for the Mayor's Office of Nightlife.
A part of what she's looking to address is RideShare drop-offs. Cynthia said people are sometimes dropped off where there isn't space for wheelchairs or a ramp to get onto the sidewalk.
"There are venues that simply don't have an ADA space available," she continued.
Cynthia hopes to address a lot, and she said both the mayor's office and venues around Nashville are listening and working with her.
"Nightlife is Nashville," Cynthia said. "People with disabilities deserve equal access to that. We want to be able to see the show. We want to be upfront, to be part of the crowd."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Breaking barriers and moving to the beat! One local dance company is making it possible for young people in wheelchairs to move and groove like everyone else. Good for your mental health, good for your physical health and good for your dose of positive news today. I hope you check out what they're doing!
-Rebecca Schleicher
