Fighting early bad weather and a few down CTA stops, the seventh annual Disability Pride Parade kicked off July 24 to well over one thousand attendees.
Running from the corner of Van Buren and Dearborn to Daley Plaza, the Disability Pride Parade is held each year in order to raise awareness for disabled persons of all different races, creeds and sexual orientations.
"A while back, a woman named Sarah Triano wrote an essay and won an award of $10,000," stated president of the Disability Pride Association, Janice Stashwick. "Her vision was to use that as feed money to hold a parade where disabled people could feel proud about themselves, so she turned to the gay community for help."
This year, the grand marshal of the parade was LGBT- and disability-rights activist Eli Clare. Clare is a noted lecturer and author of the book Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation.
The theme of this year's march, "Pride Revolution," an idea that the disabled community could join in support of other discriminated groups, particularly interested Clare and, according to a few event organizers, echoed the outreach between the disabled and LGBT community of the first such parade.
"It has become clear to me that pride isn't simply about one individual, it is about the entire community," said Clare. "It is an incredible honor to be surrounded by so many great people at an event like this one."
Past grand marshals have included activist Kathy Martinez and actor Robert David Hall, of TV's CSI.
