The Inner West Disability Pride Fest returns to Newtown on April 9 from 11am-1pm.
Part celebration, part protest, the Inner West Disability Pride Fest celebrates the right of disabled people to be visible and proud. It challenges the discrimination faced by people with visibility.
The event features disabled speakers and performers, including Deb Roach, a champion pole dancer with one arm and speaker Professor Simon Darcy from the University of Technology Disability Research Network.
All speeches and performances will be AUSLAN interpreted; the venue is wheelchair accessible; and a quiet area will be available. The event will also be livestreamed.
Inner West Disability Pride Fest is organised and run entirely by people with disability, for people with disability and with support from Inner West Council.
Event organiser Hannah Solomons said the festival aims to “celebrate people with disabilities — unique, valuable and distinctive.
Champion pole dancer Deb Roach said: “There are so many instances in my life, as a person with a disability, where I’ve felt like I was expected to be less visible, like I was expected to stop trying to fit in because I was on the outside and should be content with looking in.
“In disability pride, we stand in solidarity and say that we refuse to accept less or to observe from a distance”.
[For more information email innerwestdisabilitypridefest@gmail.com.]