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As the City's disability equity manager at the Office of Equity and Human Rights, Nickole Cheron brings her lived experience to the job. She has created tools that empower people who have disability – so they can better access city programs, services and events and make their voices heard.
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If you have a disability and you need help accessing a city program or service, you can send a request to the City.
But what would it look like if people didn’t have to wait for government to help them? What if they could navigate the city environment freely? Nickole Cheron, the Office of Equity and Human Rights’ ADA Title II Disability Equity Manager, helps make the city more accessible.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires the City to remove barriers so that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else in things like employment, public services, and transportation. Under the law, Portland has to provide meaningful access to city programs, services, and activities.
What drew you to this work? I went to film school and was accepted into Columbia for a graduate degree. But I had to pass on the opportunity – when I visited the campus, it was not accessible for me. So I decided to go to school in Miami. But then I learned that I couldn’t get the disability benefits I needed in Florida. So I couldn't afford to pay for school and for caregivers. And so that couldn't happen.
I got quite depressed. I was back living at my mom's home. So, I was really down. And then I got really mad and I decided, you know what? Screw this. I'm going to work in government, and I'm going to make it better for people with disabilities. And I did. I moved out to Oregon to go to Portland State University and I got an MBA and a master’s in conflict resolution. I did an internship in Mayor Katz's office. Someone told me about a job at the City doing disability work. I applied for that job and I got it.
What do you bring to your job?
I am a member of the disability community here in Portland, and I experience barriers every day, navigating our city. And, you know, good governance happens when your staff represents the community you're serving. I bring that perspective back to the city and say, hey, you know, we can do better.
Another skill I bring is really getting back to people and being like, hey, when are we going to do this? You've got to be persistent. You want to bring people along with you, though. So I try to also use humor where I can, to get the buy-in and bring everybody along.
What do people with disability need to know about what the City is doing?
We do a Disability Equity and Engagement Survey every two years. There’s data from 4,000 people. We see that people in North Portland use their wheelchairs in the road instead of the sidewalk because of sidewalk conditions. It helps us understand what the community's barriers are. So please take our survey. That data really helps City decision makers prioritize the needs of the disability community. And reach out to the three city councilors that represent your district! That is truly where community has the power and they have a voice.
How does someone with a disability make a request to the City?
Use our ADA accommodation request form. Let us know you've encountered a barrier, whether it’s an issue with Portland.gov or a physical barrier along a sidewalk. The request form is about removing barriers, modifying policy, and accommodations. We’ll get your request to the right person at the City. You can also call the PDX 311 program by dialing 311 on your phone. Their call-takers can help you fill out the form. We don't know what you're encountering if you don't tell us.
Do you have a favorite success story? Adaptive Biketown could be a case study for what good government looks like.
Nike partnered with the City and they created Biketown. The disability community was like, hey, what about us? We can't use those bikes. We want recumbent bikes and tricycles. So I helped the folks at Portland Bureau of Transportation develop a survey. We went to bike events and reached out to adaptive sports groups. We wanted to know, what does the disability community wants from public bikes?
What we found was that, overwhelmingly, people wanted to be able to use bikes for recreation. But accessible bikes are really expensive. So what they wanted was accessible bikes that would be available at a very low cost. We put together a steering committee of people with all different types of disabilities and we came up with Adaptive Biketown. You know, the disability community says, “Nothing about us without us.” The program has been successful because we did it right.
How can the average person help?
There's all this stigma still about understanding what disability is. People try to use other words than the word disability. I always have to say, it's OK, you can say disabled. Those of us who are from this community, we don't think it’s a bad word. You don’t have to say otherly-abled or the differently-abled. Also, the activists that came before the ADA fought really hard to have person-first language. In other words, we are people who happen to have disabilities. We don’t think our disabilities or the word disabled is a bad thing.
What should people know about working for the city? We are here to serve the public. And I think that that's a pretty important and admirable career to choose. I go to sleep at night knowing that I am making an effort to make my city and my community as accessible and as inclusive for people like me to live their best lives in.
What do you do when you’re not on the job? I am a bit of a show kid. I love going to live music. I go to one or two movies a week in the theater. The theater is my sanctuary. There are no distractions, and I get so engulfed in the story. And I honestly have the best friends in the world. I'm sorry for the rest of you, but my friends are the best and I love them so dearly and I take any opportunity I have to get together with them and have some crazy adventures in our city.
What do you like most about Portland? I love the history. It's really fun to research and learn about the history of Portland. I love the food scene. I love how weird Portland is. I also love how green it is. I'm a diehard Portland fan. When I meet new people I get to say, I love Portland and I actually work for Portland. I am all about Portland.
Find more information
Disability Equity and ADA Data for Portland
Resolutions, Ordinances, and Policies governing ADA Title II compliance at the City