Shannon DeVido, Comedian, Drives People With Disabilities to the Polls
Citizen of the Week: Shannon DeVido
The local comedienne volunteers to drive people with disabilities to the polls in her accessible van
Nov. 03, 2016
Shannon DeVido will handily acknowledge that her van screams "soccer mom." But if you peep within, you'll run into that this isn't your run-of-the-mill Chrysler Town & Country. This bad male child is like something out of a space movie.
The front driver'due south seat, the cockpit if you volition, isn't really a seat at all. It's an open area for DeVido's wheelchair, which snaps into place when she glides upwards the peachy automatic ramp and slides onto a rails.
The steering wheel is small. She describes it as being the size of a wheel on one of those driving games at the arcade. "Y'all push information technology forrad for gas, and yous pull information technology back to brake," she says, "It's like an airplane."
Then there are the buttons "that plough on all kinds of stuff. Information technology'southward very Star Expedition-y," she laughs.
This Election 24-hour interval, on Nov 8, some lucky local voters may get a chance to feel this space van for themselves. On that 24-hour interval, she'south volunteering to use her wheels to have people with disabilities to the polls who may otherwise have trouble getting at that place.
This blazon of civic engagement is something new for DeVido, but the Bucks County native and comedic actress by trade says the insane election bike—and her fear of a Trump presidency—propelled her to take action. Plus, as she explains in the Q&A below, it's crucial that people with disabilities take a place in our political system, to show electeds that they're involved and that their problems matter.
While this is her first foray into politics, DeVido is no stranger to advocating for and being a positive function model for the disabled set up. She's used her other souvenir—comedy—to normalize people'south perception of the disability community, because, like anyone from a minority grouping can surely attest, we just want to be looked at and treated similar normal people.
In her popular YouTube series "Stare at Shannon," she puts herself in hilarious situations around Philadelphia in the effort to spotlight the sometimes absurd ways in which society treats people who just so happen to be wheelchair bound. In the episode entitled Supermarket Edition, for instance, she cruises around a local grocery store opening and munching on food in the aisles earlier really paying for it. No ane says a word.
She's also had an impressive national spotlight. In 2022 she made headlines for landing a recurring role on the Hulu comedy Difficult People that didn't call for an actress in a wheelchair. She also put in a couple guest appearances on One-act Central's sadly departed The Nightly Bear witness, where she was able to bring up problems in the inability community "in my own weird comedy fashion."
I have a feeling nosotros'll be seeing a lot more of DeVido in the years to come, but start: Election Day. I caught upward with her over the phone this week to chat most her latest part, which she sees as a way to brand sure the disability customs has a vox in deciding our side by side president.
Josh Middleton: Spending your day carting people to the polls is a big undertaking. Why are you ready to take on the responsibleness?
Shannon DeVido: At least for me, the independence to be able to become some identify is so amazing. This is a crazy election, and a lot of people with disabilities don't have a voice in information technology, they tin't share their opinion. There's not many things I can do to help this ballot. I detest cold calling. I'm not really good at candidature. Voting is 1 of the things in this land that'due south so important and I call back everybody should be able to exist office of information technology.
JM: What gave you lot the thought to exercise this?
SD: I have a very potent opinion in this election. I experience similar my moment was, "Oh my God. If I didn't have the ability to go vocalization my opinion for who I experience should be the president … that would be the most stifling, awful feeling—to know that I accept a voice and want to share it just I can't physically go to the polls." And then I realized, "Oh my God, there are people who can't." I don't want anyone to feel that style, just considering they don't take the power to go to the polling place by themselves.
JM: Are you willing to accept anyone to the polls, or are you mainly focusing on people with disabilities?
SD: Certain, I'll take anyone who needs a ride. Just I'1000 primarily looking for people with disabilities who tin can't go there, considering I have an accessible van. There are tons of people offer rides for people who tin get into a regular machine, simply at that place's non a lot of people out there who have the means to go a wheelchair or someone who can't walk into a regular car. With my ramp, a person with a wheelchair or people with, say a prosthetic or cane, can get into my van very easily.
JM: Why is it important that people with disabilities turn out to vote?
SD: At the Democratic Convention, you lot saw the vocalism of people with disabilities beingness heard for what I feel like was the outset time. But however, we're such a large department of the population that no i talks most. We haven't heard about whatsoever of the policies about how people with disabilities are going to be treated in the future. Ours is a voice that really needs to be heard, and information technology's not. I think a lot of times information technology's because the resource aren't there, or the sensation isn't there. Voting is the first stride in the process of hearing that voice and realizing information technology's an important one that needs to be heard.
JM: What issues are most of import for people with disabilities right now?
SD: Healthcare is a huge one. I'm dealing with healthcare problems all the time. For instance, I can't get my wheelchair passed through my insurance, because they say I don't need it—even though I've had it all my life and I'm pretty certain I do. The power to live independently is also huge. At that place's a lot of states that don't give resources to home wellness aids, so people with disabilities have to go into homes. That's a really large problem in the inability community. Also, employment. If y'all work, you can merely brand a certain amount of coin before you lose resources. For me, if I brand a certain amount of money, I could lose my home health aids and I wouldn't be able to live independently or continue my chore. Those kinds of things are the things no one thinks or talks virtually.
JM: How can people hitch a ride with yous on Election 24-hour interval?
SD: I've signed up on a website called carpoolvote.com. When you annals you can enter that you lot take an accessible vehicle, and they'll pair you up with people in your area who might need a ride. In addition, I've also set up a Google Doctor where people can sign upwardly directly with me. (You can notice that here.)
Photos by Sabina Louise Pierce 
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/shannon-devido-rides-to-polls/
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