New center in Arizona seeks to empower people with disabilities

From The Arizona Republic:

A new center near Tempe, touted as the only one of its kind in the Southwest, creates camaraderie among groups with a common goal: Empowering residents with disabilities.

The 62,000-square-foot Disability Empowerment Center of Arizona opened in October with the goal of helping residents with any type of disability lead independent, happy lives.

In Tempe an estimated 33,000 residents have some type of disability, said Phil Pangrazio, executive director of Arizona Bridge to Independent Living (ABIL), the organization that owns the center and helps people with any disabilities live independently. Across Arizona about 775,000 residents ages 5 and older have some type of disability, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) for 2005. ABIL and nine other organizations that help residents with disabilities occupy the center.

"It's been a long time coming," said Pangrazio, a quadriplegic resident who uses a wheelchair. "We wanted this to be a place people with disabilities could come and be empowered, to move towards being successful . . . to live a fulfilling life.

"It is about reclaiming one's life and being able to move forward," he said.

The $20 million center's large windows draw much sunlight and its motion-detected lights, power doors and wide hallways make it accessible to people with various disabilities. At 5025 E. Washington St., it is also near the light-rail line.

ABIL received a $16.5 million loan for the project from the non-profit Phoenix Community Development Investment Corporation, filtered through U.S. Bank as part of a federal tax-credit program, Roberto Franco, president of the Phoenix corporation, said. U.S. Bank earns the tax credit for facilitating the loan.

Its four-level parking garage has about 75 accessible parking spaces. A 45,000-square foot sports and fitness center that will have gymnasiums, accessible fitness equipment, a runners track, pools and other amenities is expected to open next year.

ABIL has received donations from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust and other organizations but still needs to raise $2.5 million more for the sports and fitness center.

Donna Powers, program coordinator for Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC), is one of many building tenants who has a disability. Powers, a Tempe quadriplegic resident, said she uses light rail and buses to make a "really fast" commute to work in her wheelchair.

Arizona Spinal Cord Injury Association can refer its consumers to legal services and wheelchair supply organizations in the building, spinal cord association executive director Paul Mortensen of Tempe said.

"We can kind of work and get the energy and synergy from each other," Mortensen said.

The spinal cord association serves more than 1,000 people with spinal cord injuries, including at least 100 from Tempe.

A class at the new center that helps residents adapt to their spinal cord injuries has expanded to 60 students per week, more than it could have held in its previous space, Mortensen said.

Arizona Autism United can create a clinic with tools needed to teach children with autism life skills in the new center, Aaron Blocher-Rubin, executive director of the organization said.

"This is really going to offer a new option for families," Blocher-Rubin said.

Cindy Walsh, agency director of the Valley Center of the Deaf, said she expects the new center's proximity to Tempe and light rail to attract more East Valley residents.

Part of another project, construction on a new housing complex for deaf senior citizens near Apache Boulevard and Loop 101 is expected to start this summer, Walsh said.