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Publication Date: April 2d, 2026
Author: Papillon
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Editors Note: The essay below inaugurates a new Hudson Common Sense series on accessibility within our city. Before we formulate a house editorial view on the matter, we intend to listen. Over the coming weeks, we will publish unvarnished perspectives from those who navigate Hudson’s streets and systems daily, sharing the direct words of local leaders, long-standing residents, and new arrivals alike. We begin here with Papillon’s firsthand account. An admission is also in order. In our initial haste to bootstrap this publication, and perhaps overly charmed by the visual flair of emojis, we inadvertently thwarted the screen-reading devices relied upon by some of our differently abled readers. Good intentions do not excuse bad design. To rectify this, every major story will henceforth be accompanied by a stripped-down, text-only PDF. We welcome further suggestions from readers on how to ensure that ideas in Hudson face no barriers to entry. Please be in touch.
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Image creatively remixed from The Economist.
Image provided by the author, Papillon.
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What does she see? A CoArc headquarters. CoArc is “an advocate and resource for people with intellectual and developmental differences and their families. We provide comprehensive services to children and adults, both in the community” as well as a second community called Camphill “an inclusive urban community in Hudson, New York, where people with and without developmental disabilities live, work, and learn together.” In Connecticut, Papillon was a special education assistant teacher. So she filled out the online application to be an assistant teacher at CoArc. This first Autumn, she wasn’t aware that her body was actually suffering. She did not follow up on the online application. Papillon ended up volunteering in the Hudson Camphill community.
What she didn’t realize was that being true to herself was harder than expected. Papillon started her new life in Hudson, NY, with a misguided idea that she would fit right into the community. Knowing that CoArc and Camphill were in the neighborhood, she thought the neighbors would see her before they saw her disability. When her parents were no longer around, she realized that the shopkeepers' expressing that we all have each other’s backs was more like the bait on a fishing line for their businesses. It turns out that being different makes people uneasy around Papillon. She thought she was building friendships, but eventually she was being left out of activities that she was sure she would be a part of. Papillon asked the facilitator of the Camphill writing group if they would like to express their views.
Papillon is a person who has always found a place for herself to work or volunteer in human services. She ran into the same problems at work as she did socially. People accepted her for a little while, then made the environment too unpleasant for her to stay. She never gave up looking for work. She knew that working with people with disabilities may be the reward for living through all the cons of having disabilities herself. She believes sharing the way she perceives the world may help other people who also have disabilities. Papillon started to truly listen to what her neighbors were saying about her. She was bewildered by the things that were being said. It became clear that her coworkers and new “friends” saw Papillon’s disabilities before they saw her. Some of the discriminatory comments were on the table for the National Council on Disability (NCD) to write laws to make life better for persons with disabilities. For as long as she could, whether in a work environment or a friendship group, she tried to blend in.
Papillon was in a bad habit of eating meals out or getting snacks at bodegas. In the 2-block area near her apartment, she found a bodega and a small grocery store. She was surprised when the cashier told her that the cost of the five items she picked out was over fifty dollars. From then on, that little grocer was used only for specific snack items. She realized this may be a “gourmet grocery store.” A second gourmet grocer moved into town. Papillon used this market as a take-out restaurant. Papillon lucked out because Hudson has a fantastic Farmer’s Market in the Spring and Summer seasons. A “food truck” would park on Warren Street. It was a grocery store. The products sold were local and organic. Now it has a storefront right off Warren Street. This newer grocer is a business that meets its patrons where they are financially. Every item in the store is labeled with three price tiers. “These price tiers are based on the Living Wage Calculator.” Papillon is grateful that this grocer is nearby. Her only personal struggle is that there are staff members who were once “bag boys” to bag the grocery items. This grocery does not have that service. So she does her best to pack up her grocery trolley as quickly as she can.
Papillon found a dog salon on Warren Street. It was a one-person business. Our dynamic duo could walk to the salon and always see the same person. For her Shih-Tzu, whose first part of life was spent in a puppy mill, this small business was a perfect setup. Years passed, and a new puppy came into Papillon’s life. She brought her new puppy to this Warren Street dog salon. The salon was growing in size. She never really knew who was grooming her puppy, and the puppy was becoming very anxious while walking towards the dog salon. She found a neighbor whose dog also got stressed by the changes, and the neighbor’s dog and her new puppy would go to a new groomer together. What is good for some isn’t always good for all involved. The dog salon also became a place that offered more services for our fellow canines. As the salon grew, it moved to a new location off Warren Street. The second grooming salon just disappeared one day. Papillon wants to be as independent as possible, so through a different neighbor, she got the contact info for a mobile dog groomer. The truth is, she had never been happy with the quality of the grooming her dog was receiving. Nor the mess that her house is left in post-visit from the groomer. Papillon spoke to her new driver about bringing the dog to a new dog salon. Using a non-mobile service is very complicated. Through the years living in Hudson, finding transportation to locations outside town has been difficult.
Papillon moved to Hudson from a city that was 52 square miles in size. When she needed a taxi, she would call a dispatcher, and a black car with the word “Taxi” written on the doors would come pick her up. She had no idea how secure that made her feel. Papillon never understood how Hudsonites defined a taxi business. The first time she needed a taxi, she discovered that there were many taxi companies, but each company had only one car. The cars often did not have the word “Taxi” on them. When Papillon volunteered a few days a week at an animal Sanctuary now called Tomorrow Tomorrow Sanctuary and Healing Center, she always called the same taxi company. She held her breath that the drivers would get her from her apartment to the Sanctuary safely. In August 2021, her living situation had changed, and she needed a reliable driving service to help her get to and from a laundry mat and eventually horseback riding lessons. Papillon called the Independent Living Center for a driver who was known to treat people with different abilities with respect. For 4 years, her rides to various places went absolutely stress-free. This driver became so well-known that he had to give some of the rides to other drivers he knew. Those rides often ended with the drivers behaving in ways that made Papillon very uncomfortable. So she reached out to members of the Camphill community and asked if anyone in their circles would be available to be her driver. The person who was recommended was someone Papillon had met years ago. Who would have known the simple act of transportation would be an adventure?
Papillon and her Camphill friend Kelly have noticed that the act of walking around our quaint town isn’t as easy as it may seem. Whether it is traffic lights hanging in spots where pedestrians can’t see if it is their turn to walk. There is also a lack of crosswalks. These circumstances make crossing the street a challenge. The large cracks in the sidewalks also make it difficult for people with disabilities to avoid falling. If sidewalks are cracked, the repairs must be done by the property owners of the land that borders the sidewalk. This issue has been discussed in Hudson City Hall. The direct question: Should the sidewalk repairs be made by the city? Kelly has also noticed this complication. “A lot of things are close by, which is nice -- but sometimes there's lots of walking to do. If people aren't good at walking, it might be tough for people. The walking part might be a little bit of a complication for some people. Pedestrian safety is not the best, especially if people have a disability like myself. We need to have clear pedestrian stop lights in place, because at a lot of intersections, it's really tricky to see the traffic light for cars and know when it's safe to cross”.
In 2015, in this quaint European-like town, Papillon came across another business whose mission was to support people affected by disabilities: the Independent Living Center. The Mission & Vision of the ILCHV Mission read as follows: “ILCHV is a disability rights organization that is led by and inspires people with disabilities to achieve self-determination and advocates for an integrated society.”
Papillon was going through a very stressful time in her life. She ended up receiving support from a peer therapist affected by the same condition as she has. That woman moved away, so Papillon lost contact with the center. What Papillon remembered about the center was the connection and the sense of understanding she and the other woman had of each other. In 2020, Papillon received her provisional peer supporter credentials. She reached out to the program coordinator and asked if she could work in this center to continue her path as a peer supporter. Due to the state of the world, they were not expecting new employees at that time. Her life has undergone many changes recently. These new adventures left her with a sense of fear of the unknown. She remembered how helpful the Independent Living Center had been in 2015. She felt that if she could discuss the newness of her life with someone who was differently abled like her, instead of her neighbors, their responses might be what she needed in the moment. She reached out to the Independent Living Center over a few-year period. The current peer advocates told her that their job was not to sit and share experiences, strength, and hope with each other. Their job was to refer people to agencies that would help them get what they needed. Papillon concluded that the ILCHV no longer provides the support she received in 2015. Currently, there is no intention to design a differently abled community, in which Papillon understands peer support. Papillon now wishes she had been stronger in 2015 to appreciate the peer specialist she worked with.
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Find the accessible, text only version of this Guest Op-Ed below.
Guest Op-Ed Accessible PDF.pdf
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Guest Op-Eds are independent. The author’s views do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial board or other contributors; likewise, publication does not constitute an author’s endorsement of other HCS content.