The Disability Pride and Power Parade 2024

⚡ DATE CHANGE ⚡

Due to the IPSC Palestine March also scheduled for July 20th, we have made the difficult decision to postpone our parade to the following week, Sat July 27th, to make space for both causes. We apologise for the disruption to your plans.

Ireland's Second Disability Pride and Power Parade is back on Sat 27th July 2024!

Our festival has been going for three years purely from the efforts of unpaid disabled volunteers. This is the first year we have kindly received a small grant from the Arts Council, but it is still not enough for us to afford some basic and important things, including the following:

An ISL interpreter (300 euro)

A wheelchair ramp for the stage (600 euro)

Hi-Viz vests, t-shirts and Megaphones for Volunteers and Parade Stewards

Disability Pride Flags to Print

A Marching Band

Disabled Speakers whom we can't afford to pay.

The parade is organised by Maryam Madani, Founder of Disability Power Ireland, a grassroots DPO (disabled person's organisation) meaning it is run by and for disabled people.

Our dream is to create a joyful celebration and movement which can eventually pay disabled people properly for their valuable contributions.

We know how badly a Disability Pride Month celebration like this is needed in Ireland and that is why we do it, despite the thousands of hours of unpaid labour.

We want to keep our events free for our participants, as 44% of disabled people are on the poverty line.

Our eventual aim is to create employment opportunities and participation for talented disabled people, among whom there is a 70% unemployment rate.

DPOs in Ireland are all currently unfunded, despite it being a requirement under the UNCRPD for the State to support us in order to carry out the vital role of DPOs in monitoring the Government's implementation of the UNCRPD (UN Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).

We cannot yet afford to hire disabled Policy Officers to do these unpaid submissions- unpaid because the expertise and lived experience of disabled people is not valued.

This is not a coincidence. The Government prefers to fund charities and disability organisations who will not rock the boat. This needs to change!

The Scrap the Green Paper Coalition Campaign and the Care Referendum have both shown that we can affect change from the ground.

Help us to transform the disability rights movement in Ireland, and to give the disabled community the joyful, colourful celebration we deserve.

For more information on the parade and what we do, see our website here (disabilitypride.ie)

Alt Text Poster Image: Image shows the disability pride flag in the background and reads in bold black, pink and white letters: "Disability Pride and Power Parade." Underneath are the words in bold red all-caps "Date Change: Sat 27th July 2024" flagged by two lightning bolts. On the right-hand side of the poster are the words in varying colours of pink, white and yellow: "2PM Garden of Remembrance to Custom House Quay; MC + Drag Performance Disgraceful Cabaret; Music Acoustic Punk Advocacy Service; Street Art Baubo Theatre + Mr. Balloonatic." At the bottom of the photo is an image of colourful participants in the parade from 2023, carrying signs with the pride flag which reads "Disability Power + Pride". In the top right corner is the Disability Pride and Power Parade logo and in the top left corner the Arts Council Funding Festivals logo.