Kathy A. Hertzog was a student at the former Lausch Elementary School in the Exeter School District when her teacher gave her a lower grade on her math notebook than her classmates.   She let her teacher know how unfair she thought that was because she knew she had done just as much work as the others, but in a different way.  And so began her career as an activist for people with disabilities. Her disabilities have been diagnosed as cerebral palsy or a spinal cord injury at birth or possibly both.  That didn’t matter to her. What did matter was living independently and making sure that other people with disabilities could do the same.

Her family still owns Apollo Pools & Spas in Exeter Township, but she stayed in Erie after graduating cum laude from Edinboro College in 1988 with a degree in communications,  Since then, Hertzog has been on the White House lawn for the signing of the federal law that protects the rights of people with disabilities and has helped found Voices for Independence in Erie to help people with disabilities live in the community.  She’s a past board member of the Pennsylvania Council on Independent Living, an agency supporting independent living centers statewide.
Now 48 and still living in Erie, Hertzog operates an Internet-based business, landlordassociation.org.

As she went about her life, she saw laws and regulations improve, and Hertzog eventually got the right type of care she needed to continue living on her own.  Then in recent years things began to go downhill, with the state changing the structure of and placing restrictions on the agencies people with disabilities had been using to hire their attendants and relied on for other services, Hertzog said.  Now, the agencies are laying off staff, including people with disabilities, she said.  “We’re sliding back now,” Hertzog said. “The agencies have all these restrictions. You can’t do this. You can’t do that.  “It’s a big pain in the independent butt.”
 
And so Hertzog’s activism continues, because she’s afraid that people with disabilities are going to end up in nursing homes if service cutbacks continue.  The savings the state hoped for won’t happen because nursing home care is more expensive than attendant care, and people with disabilities who were working won’t be paying taxes any more, she said.  “We’ve gone to legislators, called them and met with them face to face, and explained how it’s hurting people with disabilities,” Hertzog said. “We’ve had restore-the-cut rallies. We’re coming at it from every possible angle.  “These are not policies that have to be kept. These are policies that, if people demand it and the community demands it, can be reversed. It can be put back the way it was.”