Posted by Thanks to the Calgary Foundation for including Disability Pride Alberta in their 20th year anniversary magazine.
“This 20th anniversary magazine shines a light on people who build trust and connections in their everyday communities. ”
To check out 20 of the projects that have taken place over the past 20 AMAZING years Click Here
I am the perfect me.
Copyright: Calgary Foundation, 2019
PROJECT: Disability Pride Parade, 2018
ORGANIZATIONS: Disability Pride Alberta Foundation and
Calgary SCOPE SocietyOne in five Canadians aged 15 years and older have disabilities that limit their daily activities. Canadians take pride in creating communities where everyone belongs, but for the 6.2 million people living with disabilities, changing society’s attitudes can be the real challenge.
According to Andrea van Vugt, who has epilepsy, people’s disabilities often make them feel invisible and even represent sources of embarrassment or shame. She decided that this needed to change.
After seeing a disability pride parade in Vancouver, she brought the idea to the people organizing speak-out events rooted in disability pride in her own city: Calgary SCOPE Society’s Disability Action Hall. Van Vugt envisioned a massive public celebration that would connect people with and without disabilities, thereby raising awareness and normalizing disabilities in the wider culture.
“The community is vast,” van Vugt says. “Disability is not a fixed category and there is no universal definition. Many disabilities are invisible. We need to talk about with each other and see each other.”
In 2018, the Disability Pride Parade lit up Stephen Avenue with food and cultural performances. It attracted over 1,000 people and has become an annual celebration of disability pride.
“The disabled community is a group that anyone can become a part of at any point in their life – and it has a culture that’s good for people to be aware of,” says van Vugt.
https://calgaryfoundation.org/FlipBooks/NEIGHBOURHOOD_GRANTS/index.html
Neighbour Grants offers up to $7,500 to help people build their sense of inclusive belonging in their own neighbourhoods and communities.
To Learn more about grants, awards and loans that may be available to you and your community, please check out: calgaryfoundation.org/grantsawards-loans/