MILWAUKEE — Jennie Pucci is an Italian Milwaukee resident, and She's proud of her heritage. Every year she looks forward to Festa Italiana kicking off her summer.
"It's just a party, you know." Pucci told TMJ4. "Just roaming around, being on the lake is perfect. It means a lot."
But this year, Jennie says her experience will be different. Her nephew, Peter, has cancer. His ability to walk around a festival is very limited.
"Chemo gets you tired," Pucci said. "So my sister, his mother, asked the Italian Community Center if they had wheelchairs to rent and she got a notice back that there will be no wheelchairs and there's going to be no strollers."
That's when Jennie reached out to TMJ4.
We called the Italian Community Center, who runs the festival. They weren't available for an interview, but they told us over the phone they didn't have enough volunteers to staff wheelchair and stroller rentals.
That means if you are planning on going this year, and you need a wheelchair or stroller, you need to bring your own.
Independence First, a disability advocacy organization, says the festival isn't required to provide wheelchairs or strollers. However, they say it makes spaces more inclusive when festivals can provide the service.
"And it's dollars," said Rebecca Rabatin, the Community Access and Legislative Policy Analyst at Independence First. "They're losing dollars from people with disabilities who want to attend these events."
Pucci says the family is still going, but they'll have to bring their own chair for Peter. That's an extra burden for them.
She says her family will manage, but a heads up from the festival would have been nice.
"These older people, they're not aware of it. It's not on any site and I just thought it was wrong."
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