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In May 2021, Amanda Parezo was sitting in a Philadelphia park after a kickball game when a stray bullet struck her. The moment the bullet hit and she lost feeling, the occupational therapist recalled everything she knew about spinal cord injuries.
As a friend leapt to her aid to stop the bleeding, Parezo was already looking ahead.
“As I'm watching her … I'm thinking about the patients we had with gunshots to the head and all different severity, from mild to extremely complex severe cases, and then I had a laugh of like what I'm gonna look like in a wheelchair and what that's gonna be like, and I just remember all of those moments just hitting me at once,” Parezo told PA Local. She knew she would permanently need a wheelchair.
During her recovery, she got one, and a new calling.
Still an occupational therapist, the Thomas Jefferson University professor has used her tragedy to push to end gun violence and bring awareness to the struggles that people with disabilities face.
Parezo’s work and advocacy earned her a nomination for our PA Local Heroes series, sponsored by Ballard Spahr.
After the shooting, Parezo spent nine days in the Temple University intensive care unit before moving to a rehab center for three months. The adjustment was difficult.
“I cried so much,” Parezo said. “I was just really grieving what happened. My body, my lifestyle was very active. I loved working out, I loved doing yoga, I loved going out to restaurants and bars.”
When she got home from rehab, she realized her apartment was inaccessible. The ramp into the building was too steep, and the inside of her unit too narrow. Parezo would look out the window and watch people get coffee and go about their day, mourning her lost mobility.
Things slowly improved. As she recovered, Parezo started taking acting classes and playing tennis. And she found a home that could accommodate her.
But life in a wheelchair came with barriers, ones she felt compelled to address. She started to highlight those problems and talk about solutions, amassing thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram, and eventually speaking at events. The advocacy quickly became a major part of her life.
Parezo’s longtime friend Kathleen Adams said she has always been “a little firecracker full of life.” Adams was with Parezo when the shooting happened and supported her during the recovery. Adams said she is impressed by the way her friend has harnessed the traumatic event.
“She is so determined to make an impact not only with this community, but just to help people who have been affected by gun violence too, not just the accessibility work,” Adams said.
And having a friend in a wheelchair has changed how Adams looks at Philadelphia.
“I've seen her have to bump off on the sidewalk into the street to get around an obstruction, and you know, she's heading into traffic, and that's terrifying and it's not fair,” Adams told PA Local.
She has helped Parezo shoot social media videos about accessibility issues with curbs and sidewalks around the city.
Social media plays a big role in Parezo’s advocacy work. Families navigating a disability often contact her asking for help. One time, the mother of a daughter with a spinal injury from a car accident reached out to her on TikTok and Parezo talked to the woman about day-to-day obstacles the girl never had to think about.
“I like to problem solve and be able to help the mother or daughter feel independent, help her daughter feel safer, help her feel like she's still the same girl that she was before she was in this accident,” Parezo said.
She struggles some days.
Her injury comes with chronic pain, which she describes as “like I’m getting crushed by a trash compactor.” That strain, she said, “makes me sadder, and then that makes my pain worse.” The cycle can make it hard for her to get out of bed.
She overcomes it by focusing on the things that bring her joy, and finding ways to adjust activities to her new reality. One of those balms is tennis, a sport from her childhood that she returned to as an adult.
Learning to play it in a wheelchair was a tall order, she said, but she kept at. When she’s on the court, she’s at her “happiest,” she told Spotlight PA
The support of other people with disabilities also helps her when she’s low. She credits her past patients with helping her get through rehab.
“These people with these severe brain injuries are getting out of bed to come to [occupational therapy] and participate, and they enjoy it, and … that was just such a motivation for me because they were so grateful to be there,” Parezo said. “I started to be grateful for what I do have still.”
Her advocacy isn’t just about creating a more accessible world, she said. It’s about crafting a more inclusive one, in which people like her are full participants in public life.
“We want to feel like we're part of a group,” she said of people with disabilities. “We don't want to be left out.”
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