Preparations begin for disability pride parade

Preparations are underway for next month’s annual disability pride parade and festival, championing ways to celebrate and strengthen San Antonio’s diverse community that includes people with disabilities.

“We all have a voice, and everyone who believes that disability is a natural part of human diversity and supports the disability community is invited to be a part of the parade,” said Melanie Cawthon, disABILITYSA cofounder and executive director.

More than 300 volunteers are needed for the events.

This year’s abilitySTRONG Parade and abilityMARCH will take place downtown from 9 to 10 a.m. Oct. 26. The parade will proceed along a 1.3-mile route from Avenue E and East Houston Street to the Cattleman Square parking lot on Buena Vista Street.

The grand marshal will be San Antonio advocate Samuel Allen, who has Asperger’s syndrome. Texas Senate Bill 976, known as the Samuel Allen Law, went into effect Sept. 1.

Under the new law, a person who may have trouble communicating with others, such as someone with autism or who is deaf, is allowed to take a doctor’s note to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and have a code associated with his or her license plate number. If a police officer stops the vehicle, the officer’s routine check of the license plate before approaching the vehicle will let the officer know that it belongs to someone who has difficulty communicating. That can avoid possibly dangerous misunderstandings, supporters said.

The annual parade, and the festival that follows at Market Square, is sponsored by disABIL

ITY, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to educate, engage and advance individuals with disabilities by creating opportunities, sharing information and strengthening groups that support them.

Numerous organizations and agencies already have signed up for the parade, including the Bexar County Sheriff’s Mounted Patrol, Fiesta Especial Royal Court, Moonstruck Foundation and Rosie’s Gracious Heart. There will be floats, vehicles and carriages.

Wednesday is the deadline for parade entry applications. To sign up as a volunteer, please visit www.disabilitysa.org/ volunteer for more information.

“By bringing the community together we can begin to change the way we think about and define disability,” Cawthon said.

The free 13th Annual AccessAbility Fest opens at 9 a.m. the day of the parade at Market Square, 514 W. Commerce St., and runs until 2 p.m. It will have more than 140 exhibitors and activities.