A Conversation on Accessibility and the Arts

Itzhak Perlman and Marca Bristo

In 2016, the Harris Theater hosted a conversation with Grammy and Emmy award-winner Itzhak Perlman and the late disability rights activist Marca Bristo about access, the arts, and shifting attitudes toward disability throughout Perlman’s extraordinary life and career. This event was free and open to the public as part of ADA25, the citywide celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and presented in partnership with ADA25 and Access Living.

ADA 25 Chicago celebrated and leveraged the 25^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), to bring together public, private, and non-profit sector leaders and organizations from throughout the Chicago region to work together to fulfill the promise of the ADA, particularly in the areas of education, employment, community inclusion and technology. More than 200 organizations from all walks of life committed to launch new programs and initiatives that would increase opportunity, equality and accessibility for people with disabilities. While ADA 25 Chicago ended after 2015, legacy projects continued this work forward including ADA 25 Advancing Leadership, which has a bold strategy and groundbreaking programs—the first of their kind in the nation—for bringing greater disability inclusion to tables of power and influence in the Chicago region.

Since 1980, Access Living has provided peer services and advocacy to over 40,000 people with disabilities, and has won systemic improvements in housing, public schools, public transportation, public access, and long-term care.

The recording of this conversation was made possible by Rush Medical Center, whose mission is to provide the very best care, education, research, and community partnerships to meet the needs of the individuals and the diverse communities they serve.

About Marca Bristo
Marca Bristo was the founding president and CEO of Access Living from 1980 until her retirement in August 2019. She passed away from cancer September 8, 2019. The former president of the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), Bristo worked with the broader civil rights community on the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Former President Clinton appointed her to chair the National Council on Disability (NCD), a role she held from 1994 to 2002.

Bristo was the most recent emeritus president of the United States International Council on Disabilities. She was a member of the Obama Foundation Inclusion Council and co-chaired the Human Rights Watch Disability Advisory Committee. She served on the boards of Rush University Medical Center, Forefront, and the Ford Foundation. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Beloit College and another in nursing from Rush University. Read more about Marco Bristo's extraordinary life and legacy in The New York Times.

About Itzhak Perlman
Treasured by audiences throughout the world for his remarkable artistry, Itzhak Perlman, who contracted polio at age four, is also one of the most important and committed advocates for accessibility, and a source of inspiration for young musicians with and without disabilities. In 2015, Perlman was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama for his contributions to the arts and work on behalf of people with disabilities. Having performed with every major orchestra and at venerable concert halls around the globe, Perlman was granted a Kennedy Center Honor in 2003 by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in celebration of his distinguished achievements and contributions to the cultural and educational life of the United States.. In 2009, Perlman was honored to take part in the Inauguration of President Obama, premiering a piece written for the occasion by John Williams alongside cellist Yo-Yo Ma, clarinetist Anthony McGill, and pianist Gabriela Montero, for an audience of nearly 40 million television viewers in the United States and millions more throughout the world.

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