Pittsburgh Accesibility

The other day, while walking around the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, I had a realization: I see more blind people out and about here than in any other city I’ve lived in. And that’s saying something. Over the last decade, I’ve lived in more than ten cities, including famously walkable places like Berlin. But here in Pittsburgh, I regularly see individuals with vision impairments navigating their environments independently. Not every day, perhaps, but certainly every week.

This isn’t something I’ve encountered elsewhere with such frequency. So what’s happening in Pittsburgh?

There are a few possible explanations. First, Pittsburgh has a surprisingly strong infrastructure for supporting individuals who are blind or visually impaired. From long-standing institutions like VisAbility Pittsburgh (formerly Blind & Vision Rehabilitation Services) to the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children and accredited university programs training specialists in visual impairment, the city has become a hub for support, training, and community.

Second, these resources are paired with a tangible culture of accessibility. Pittsburgh may be known for its steep hills, hollows, and quirky river-defined layout, but somehow, the city still works. I’ve seen people with white canes confidently crossing busy intersections, taking public transit, or simply walking their regular routes. They’re not always accompanied by others, and that’s the point: the city is navigable.

This leads me to a bigger takeaway about usability. When we think about user experience, we often limit our field of vision to digital tools or interfaces. But cities are interfaces too. And Pittsburgh, in spite of all its geographic constraints, shows what it looks like when a place is genuinely usable for people across a broad spectrum of physical abilities.

That matters—not just for the sake of inclusion or equity (though those are reason enough), but because accessibility is a test case for design quality. If your city can work for someone with no vision, it’s probably doing a lot of other things right too.

In that sense, Pittsburgh teaches us something powerful about the intersection of design, infrastructure, and human experience. And it’s a lesson worth carrying into every sector: from digital platforms to public programs to civic space, usability starts with real lives.

Copyright © 2025 Ryan Badertscher. All rights reserved.