Disability activists have been making headlines in recent months. It seems like everybody’s talking about the Terri Schiavo case, proposed cuts in Social Security, and the protests against the movie “Million Dollar Baby.” The disability community, in particular, is talking loudly about our rights, power and pride as a community.

We are driving home our point by taking it to the streets again this year with the 2005 Disability Pride Parade, “Unity Builds Community,” Saturday, July 23, in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood.

The event, led by Grand Marshal Steven Brown, Ph.D., co-founder, Institute on Disability Culture, not only will celebrate disability as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity but also will recognize Not Dead Yet for that organization’s work in opposing physician-assisted suicide.

“It takes a lot for people with disabilities, particularly non-apparent disabilities, to get to a place where they openly and proudly identify themselves as disabled,” says Disability Pride Parade Planning Committee Co-Chair Janice Stashwick. “Just as in other social/human rights movements, power is first cultivated through promoting internalized feelings of pride."

The parade steps off from Randolph and Halsted streets at noon and proceeds west on Randolph Street to Union Park (1500 west). A post-parade program, including musical, dramatic and variety entertainers with disabilities and organizational and vendor tents, will be from 1-3 p.m. in the park.

Grassroots volunteers from a variety of disability rights organizations make up the 2005 Disability Pride Parade Planning Committee. “We’re building on the momentum of last year’s inaugural parade and hope to make it an annual event,” says Gary Arnold, planning committee co-chair. “Last year we hoped to have 500 participants and ended up with more than 1,5000,” continues Arnold. “And this year we also mark the 15th anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) legislation.”

Disability Activist Brown, who also is an assistant professor and disabilities scholar at the Center on Disability Studies at the University of Hawaii, acclaimed author and poet, will speak at the post-parade program. His publications include Movie Stars and Sensuous Scars: Essays on the Journey from Disability Shame to Disability Pride.

Not Dead Yet’s Founder Diane Coleman and Research Analyst Steve Drake will be honored for their visible efforts in opposing the ruling on the Terry Schiavo case and the message of Clint Eastwood’s movie, “Million Dollar Baby.”
Post-parade performers include Blues musician Willie Williams, Essayist Mike Ervin, and the Chicago Spirit Brigade.

Everyone who believes that Disability is a natural part of human diversity and supports Disability Pride is invited to be a part of the parade.

“I believe the barrier to be overcome is not my Disability,” says 2004 Disability Pride Parade Co-Chair Sarah Triano, “it is societal oppression and discrimination based on biological differences Disability Pride Parade such as disability, sex, race, age or sexuality. It's time that we reclaim the definition of Disability and name our own experience. We must go out into the world with our heads held high, with our dignity and pride intact.”

New this year is online registration. Participants, co-sponsors and donors are encouraged to visit the parade web site at disabledandproud.com/parade.htm to register and/or make donations online. The planning committee continues to raise money to cover all the expenses of the parade, which include sound systems, stages, chairs and tents for the post-parade program in Union Park.

The web site also offers travel, housing and resource information as well as links to the parade’s sponsors.

Organizations can still sponsor the parade and be listed in all parade materials, if they act by Wednesday, July 13. Contact Laura Obara at lalaot (at) yahoo.com or call 711 and give the relay operator this phone number: 847-545-1807 (TTY).
Checks should be made payable to Progress Center for Independent Living. Write ‘Disability Pride Parade’ in the memo section and mail to Progress Center, c/o Laura Obara, 7521 Madison Street, Forest Park, IL 60130.
For more information, including answers to frequently asked questions, visit our web site at disabledandproud.com/parade.htm.
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