Parade celebrates variety of people with disabilities
More than 1,000 participants join the march to Olympic Plaza for festivities
More than 1,000 people joined together Sunday morning to march from Bankers Hall to Olympic Plaza in the Disability Pride Parade.
The event marked the 20th anniversary of celebrating disability pride and culture in Calgary, according to Colleen Huston, co-ordinator of Disability Action Hall, which organized the parade along with Disability Pride Alberta.
The parade celebrated people with a wide variety of disabilities, including physical, cognitive and in-between.
“We’ve had celebrations in the past but this is our biggest ever,” Huston said. “We’ve done smaller ones but this is a first.”
Beginning at Bankers Hall at 11 a.m., participants walked, rolled, strolled and danced their way down Stephen Avenue toward Olympic Plaza, where the festivities continued with guest speakers, food and music.
Featured performers included the STAR (Special Talents in Arts and Recreation) Division of the Youth Singers of Calgary, along with violinist Aleksandra Danicic and local group the Sadlier-Brown Band.
Huston said the international disability pride movement is all about “reclaiming the word ‘disability’ and celebrating it.”
“I think it’s really up to the individual what is disability and what does disability look like,” said Huston, who lives with attention deficit disorder.
“It comes from a place of reclaiming disability, from a place of pride, when many of us have been shamed and ostracized for our labels. It’s grounded in a human-rights movement. It’s very much modelled after lots of other human-rights movements, like the feminist movement.”
Disability Action Hall, a group of people with disabilities and their allies, has been active in Calgary since 1998, advocating for services in the disability community.
Huston said events like Sunday ’s parade that celebrate the qualities that make people different is empowering for those taking part.
“Many people realize that disability is what defines us, but it’s not just the only thing that defines us,” she said.
It comes from a place of reclaiming disability, from a place of pride, when many of us have been shamed and ostracized.