Edith Prentiss

Prentiss was born in Central Islip, New York. She was one of six children of Robert Prentiss, an electrician, and Patricia Greenwood Prentiss, a social worker.[1]

She graduated with a degree in sociology from Stony Brook University. She attended the College of Arts and Science at Miami University in Ohio.[1]

One of her early jobs was as an outreach caseworker for ARC XVI, a senior services center in Fort Washington.[1]

She appears in the documentary film The Biggest Obstacle, which follows disability rights activist Jessica Murray.[3]

Prentiss was a member of the community board for Washington Heights, Manhattan.[4] She was also a founding member of the Advisory Committee for Transit Accessibility (ACTA), a volunteer group of community members set up to work with the New York City Transit Authority on a range of accessibility issues.[5]

In 2004, Prentiss drew attention to the paucity of wheelchair-accessible taxis in New York. (At the time, there were currently three in use, and she described her chances of catching one as "like a unicorn".)[6] The number subsequently increased to 231, and after a class action in which Prentiss was a plaintiff, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission undertook to make the city's fleet 50% accessible by 2020. This deadline was missed with the COVID-19 pandemic said to be the reason.[1]

The MTA honors Edith Prentiss at 175 St Station in 2021

Prentiss had asthma, and in later life became diabetic. She started using a wheelchair in her late 40s as her asthma became severe.[1]

In May 2021, she was inducted into the New York State Disability Rights Hall of Fame.[1]

On July 22, 2021, the MTA honored Prentiss with a plaque on the 175th Street station elevator - her home station.[2]

The filmmaker Arlene Schulman studied Prentiss for the last three years of her life. Schulman planned to create a documentary with the title Edith Prentiss: Hell on Wheels which Prentiss objected to as she thought it was too mild.[1]

• Edith Prentiss at IMDb