Disabled people take to the streets in Toronto October 4th

We’re still here, and we’re still marching.
 
The fourth annual Toronto Disability Pride March is taking place on Saturday, October 4, 2014 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, starting at Queen’s Park and ending at Ryerson’s School of Disability Studies (99 Gerrard St. East). The purpose of the march is to raise awareness of the issues facing disabled people in our community. Those issues are not limited to each individual’s daily challenges, but rather are compounded when we encounter other systemic barriers along lines of class, race, gender, age, sexual identity, ethnic origin, poverty, etc.--which place a bigger and more oppressive barrier to us as a whole.
 
Starting at 1:00 pm, at Queen’s Park, speakers will address the marchers. We have some great speakers lined up: Onar Usar (York University), David Meyers (Ethno-Racial people with Disabilities Coalition of Ontario), Charles Silverman (Ryerson University/OCAD), Kevin Jackson (TDPM organizer), Melissa Graham (TDPM organizer), and Kathryn Church (Ryerson University).
 
Far too often the issues faced by disabled people are dealt with behind closed doors. When housing is built, social assistance rates are cut, or public services are put in place we are often the last to know. But this march isn’t just about those things that we would often identify as barriers, it is about being recognized as a community with shared struggles.
 
With Toronto’s municipal elections on the horizon, and disabled people fighting against austerity and oppression around the world, this is a critical time for solidarity, visibility and action. Like many movements our struggles have remained the same over the last four years of marching, but we are seeing incremental changes. Slowly people are waking up, and rising to the call for action. Like ADAPT in United States, and Disabled People Against Cuts in the UK, we will show the ruling class that disabled people and their allies are a powerful force that will not be silenced in the name of austerity.
 
Please join us on Saturday October 4 at 1:00 PM in Queen’s Park, Toronto. For more information visit Toronto Disability Pride March