Disability rights advocates who spoke at a City Council hearing on disabled access to World Cup games and other 2026 activities slammed the city for persistently failing to ensure accessibility at a wide range of public events and facilities.<\/p>\n
The hearing Tuesday began with city officials and an organizer for next year\u2019s World Cup soccer events describing the work being done to make those activities accessible to people who use wheelchairs, are visually impaired, are neurodivergent or who have other disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That includes work now under way at Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park, where a FIFA Fan Festival<\/a> will host thousands of people attending watch parties during the games next June and July. The city is adding new accessible paths, realigning curbs, rebuilding sidewalks with 12 new wheelchair ramps, and installing a new inclusive playground, said Meg Kane, the host city executive for Philadelphia Soccer 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAccessibility is the cornerstone of our operational planning,\u201d Kane said at a hearing of the Committee on People with Disabilities. \u201cWhether it\u2019s through physical infrastructure or the distribution of information, we recognize our duty to ensure that all individuals have opportunities to experience the magic of the World Cup in support of that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n There will also be infrastructure improvements around Lincoln Financial Field, where the games will take place, and in neighborhoods where celebrations of the World Cup and the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary will take place, Streets Commissioner Kristin Del Rossi said. A transit accessibility plan is being developed, and at the Linc, a sensory room<\/a> and a host of other existing accessibility features will be available, officials said.<\/p>\n But Councilmember Kendra Brooks, who led the hearing, and disability advocates also highlighted repeated complaints that events like the annual Christmas Village, as well as many city facilities, including City Hall and Rebuild-funded recreation centers, have numerous unaddressed barriers to access<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not just about one event. This is about the city\u2019s systemic failure to enforce its own accessibility policies,\u201d said Vicki Landers, executive director of Disability Pride PA. \u201cI\u2019ve been through the city\u2019s event-planning process, and the truth is, accessibility is not even a part of the conversation. There is no required accessibility plan, no checklist, no mechanism for proactive inclusion. It\u2019s not even an afterthought. It\u2019s just absent.\u201d<\/p>\n Fears of an inaccessible Philly 250<\/p>\n Landers said the Christmas Village, a festive marketplace held at LOVE Park and Dilworth Plaza every fall, is \u201cblatantly inaccessible.\u201d Vendors are allowed to repeatedly violate accessibility guidelines, year after year, without consequences, she said.<\/p>\n Booths are often too high to reach or too cramped to approach, she said, there aren\u2019t clear navigation aides for blind attendees, accessible seating is in short supply, portable restrooms are not ADA compliant, and signage for the accessible restrooms is inadequate. Uneven ground and oversized cable covers make navigating the sites \u201ca nightmare\u201d for people using wheelchairs and other mobility devices, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we look towards the Philly 250 celebrations in 2026, I\u2019m deeply concerned. This will be a major milestone in the city\u2019s history, a global stage, but unless major changes are made now, Philly 250 will replicate the same exclusions that we\u2019ve seen for decades,\u201d Landers said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf that doesn\u2019t change, Philly 250 will not be a celebration for all. It will be another missed opportunity, another example of ableism in action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She called on City Council and Mayor Cherelle Parker to enforce Philadelphia\u2019s accessibility policies, conduct event inspections similar to health and safety inspections, require accessibility audits led by people with disabilities, deny permits to events that don\u2019t meet standards, and include disability community leaders in Philly 250 planning.<\/p>\n Landers also said she was disappointed that the city\u2019s Office of Special Events, which enforces event regulations, did not send director Jazelle Jones or another representative to the hearing. A spokesperson for the office said Wednesday they couldn\u2019t send someone because the hearing had been rescheduled and conflicted with a critical out-of-state training event for Fan Festival operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n The office relies on expertise from several city agencies \u2014 including the Office for People with Disabilities, Risk Management, License & Inspections, and others \u2014 \u201cto review the necessary applicable documents in advance of each event to strengthen accessibility and inclusivity,\u201d the spokesperson. The statement did not address the claim of lax enforcement.<\/p>\n A broken door at City Hall<\/p>\n The speakers described a host of other events, from that very committee hearing in City Hall to political rallies and concerts on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where a variety of problems make it difficult or in some cases impossible for people with disabilities to meaningfully participate.<\/p>\n Yvonne Hughes, a commissioner at the Mayor\u2019s Commission for People With Disabilities, described being with a group of people with disabilities heading to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Fairmount Park. Staffers wouldn\u2019t let their vehicle get close to the festival site, and told them to park some distance away and walk instead, she said.<\/p>\n Sponsors of events also often invite the public to attend without making accessibility plans in advance, requiring people with disabilities to alert them that they\u2019re coming, said Hughes, who has a visual impairment.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you accessible? Are you going to have closed captions? Is there going to be an interpreter there? That should be done automatically. Any time an event or anything is being done, we should be included. Most of the time we\u2019re not included,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She and others noted how difficult it is even to get to City Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s no accessible parking spot, so drivers of paratransit vans stop in traffic and passengers have to roll their wheelchairs through the street and onto a sidewalk, Hughes said. Brooks, who for years worked for an organization that provides services to kids with disabilities, said there\u2019s no way for wheelchair users to get to City Hall by subway.<\/p>\n Once they arrived outside City Hall for the hearing Tuesday afternoon, some of the speakers couldn\u2019t get in initially because \u201cthe dumb door is broken again,\u201d Landers said.\u00a0<\/p>\n There was no screen with close captioning in the meeting, so one participant who recently lost their hearing was using a captioned feed on her phone to follow the conversation, a speaker said. An American Sign Language interpreter was present to help hard-of-hearing participants who know ASL.<\/p>\n Brooks said she\u2019d also heard complaints that some of the city\u2019s Rebuild projects to reconstruct playgrounds, rec centers and libraries have had accessibility features removed to save money.\u00a0<\/p>\n Carousel House, a rec center in Fairmount Park for people with disabilities, has been shuttered for years<\/a> as its Rebuild project has been delayed, leaving former users without any adequate recreation facility, said Tamar Riley, a member of the Carousel House advisory council.<\/p>\n A call to fix access now<\/p>\n In addition to cracking down on non-compliant event vendors, Landers, Hughes and other speakers asked the city and 2026 organizers to make several improvements to next year\u2019s events.<\/p>\n They want seating space that accommodates wheelchairs and walkers; ramped entrances and exits; subtitles, sign-language interpretation, assistive-listening devices, and printed materials in accessible formats; accessible bathrooms, since most portable restrooms aren\u2019t accessible; sensory-friendly zones; and ample handicapped parking.<\/p>\n They also asked SEPTA and rideshare companies to ensure availability of accessible transportation, and asked organizers to provide free or discounted event tickets for medical assistants accompanying people with disabilities.<\/p>\n