by Elise

Original 2019 Disability Pride Flag

2021 Disability Pride Flag

During July, Creating an Accessible Environment for Everyone was one of the themes for Disability Pride Month. A flag, created for the occasion by Spanish dancer Eros Recio, was about the rights of those with disabilities. It has the colors of the three Olympic and Paralympic medals. Another flag was created by disabled writer Ann Magill. Her Disability Pride flag transformed the original 2019 Disability Flag—zig zags of vivid colors on a black background—into a spectrum of pastels. Magill’s recreation prevents visually triggering those who have seizure disorder or a visual disability. Each color represents a different disability. For example, white represents invisible disabilities such as stiff person syndrome which singer Celine Dion has. A Hidden Disability group presented London’s Gatwick Airport personnel with sunflowers on lanyards so that passengers with invisible disabilities know they will be properly accommodated. Now, over 200 airports, 40,000 businesses and the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin in 2023 recognize the meaning of the sunflower for those with disabilities.

***

Reseau express metropolitan (REM) light-rail stations in Montreal are not fully accessible. When the elevators are working, there is accessibility. When any of them are broken, accessibility is lost, affecting disabled people’s employment, their ability to run errands and perform other tasks. For example, the Gare Central elevator broke down at the end of July and still has not been repaired. Universal accessibility advocates group Regroupement des Activistes pour l’inclusion au Quebec (RAPLIQ) also point to too-narrow parking spaces and corridor widths, and ticket-purchasing machines and signs in braille unsuitable for people with disabilities. In spring, RAPLIQ sent CDPQ Infra, which own REM, a list of recommendations that RAPLIQ contends were ignored. RAPLIQ must now file individual complaints to CDPQ, which says it will retrofit. That is inadequate!

***

The Conservative government of the UK is proposing cuts to disability payments, arguing that the expansion of remote working gives disabled people more employment opportunities. Under 13 years of Tory rule, people with disabilities have experienced firsthand the impoverishing effects of austerity. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s spring budget promises to end the work capability assessments (which are used to determine eligibility for certain benefits) by 2028. Charities are alarmed by the proposed cuts. While the cuts and changes to the capability assessments won’t happen until after the 2025 elections, it seems quite possible that a Labour government, if elected, will keep the proposed policies.

***

Case Dominique School has been established in Congo-Brazzaville to educate children with autism and Down Syndrome, children who are otherwise considered bewitched or cursed and are, therefore, shunned by society. They will also learn social skills through socializing with peers and by greeting visitors in song. The school’s workers hand out flyers to the public to help raise awareness about autism.