Lee Ann Pendergrass on Handing Over the Reins from the State to SILCGA

In this episode of Accessibility Now, we speak with Lee Ann Pendergrass, who became the first Statewide Independent Living Coordinator for Georgia’s Division of Rehabilitation Services in the 1990s. Lee Ann worked closely with the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia (SILCGA) during its formation and played a behind-the-scenes but crucial role in shifting power and funding directly to community-led Centers for Independent Living (CILs). She reflects on the cultural and political shift that occurred as people with disabilities asserted control over their own services—and offers a call to action for the next generation to carry that work forward.

00:00 – Intro
01:08 – Lee Ann’s early work in Florida’s CIL network
03:00 – Becoming Georgia’s first statewide IL coordinator
05:00 – Partnering with Pat Puckett and the early formation of SILCGA
07:25 – Bridging tensions between the state and grassroots advocates
10:05 – Navigating “militant” advocacy and state constraints
13:05 – When the council and state began aligning toward shared goals
15:45 – Major milestone: local CILs gaining control from state employees
17:55 – Expanding advocacy: nursing homes, ramps, employment, and the ADA
19:55 – Georgia’s culture and the shift toward direct self-advocacy
22:30 – 30 years of SILCGA: why it matters and what it made possible
24:10 – A message to the next generation: “Don’t give up.”