Summer is the time of year where people come together to celebrate the lives, cultures and achievements of disabled people with a host of Disability Pride events. But this year they’re all cancelled due to Covid-19. Luckily, many of the organisers have arranged virtual events so that disabled people can continue to celebrate Disability Pride online.
Read on to find out which Disability Pride events are taking place virtually, how you can get involved and which online platforms they’ll be hosted on.
Learning Disability Pride – 15th to 21st June 2020
Learning Disability Pride is a week of celebrations across Britain. It’s led by Gary Bourlet, a leader in the People First movement and Founder of Learning Disability England.
People with learning disabilities, their friends, families and supporters are encouraged to organise their own virtual events or simply raise awareness of learning disabilities on social media.
For instance, you could host a virtual gathering on Zoom where you can share what life is like with a learning disability, your likes and dislikes and your goals and achievements.
If you’re on social media, you can support Learning Disability Pride by sharing your stories, blogs, photos and videos using the hashtags #LearningDisabilityPride or #LDPride.
To find out more, visit the Learning Disability Pride website or follow updates on Facebook.
Autistic Pride Online Celebration – 20th June 2020
Autistic Pride Alliance is hosting a virtual event called Autistic Pride Online Celebration. For the day, a group of Autistic Pride organisers will come together to create an online event that celebrates the lives of people on the autistic spectrum.
The day will be filled with speeches, entertainment and art, and will involve all ages and backgrounds. Guest speakers will include representatives from Autistic Pride organisations across the UK and the world, including London, Aberdeen, Ireland, Nebraska and New Jersey.
The event will take place on Saturday 20th June from 9:30am to 11pm British Summer Time and will be held on Zoom and streamed through YouTube.
To see the full line-up of guest speakers and more about the event, go to the Autistic Pride Online Celebration Facebook event page.
Disability Pride Brighton – 12th July 2020
Disability Pride Brighton is an annual event that takes place at Hove Lawns in Brighton. The event is usually a fun-filled festival with live music and performers, information stalls, art areas, face painting and food outlets.
However, due to lockdown restrictions, the festival has been cancelled and organisers are planning to stream events online instead.
Founder of Disability Pride Brighton, Jenny Skelton, said: “I am planning to have a Disability Pride Festival online that will probably consist of mainly pre-recorded contributions, which will then be edited together at Latest TV.
The festival will be shown on several platforms on Sunday 12th July, including Latest TV’s Channel 7 and YouTube. If coronavirus restrictions allow, we may have live performances, but I don’t think that will be possible.”
You can find out more about the virtual events being streamed by visiting Disability Pride Brighton and follow updates on Facebook,
Norfolk Disability Pride – Various dates 2020
Norfolk Disability Pride is an annual event that usually takes place in September at The Forum in Norwich. The event aims to celebrate the lives of disabled people within Norfolk. It also promotes services created by and for disabled people, highlights the diverse talent of disabled people and reduces ignorance and access barriers by businesses and other non-disabled communities.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the event being held at The Forum in September has been cancelled and instead the organisers are arranging virtual events to take place throughout 2020.
Katherine Deane, Access Ambassador at the University of East Anglia told us: “Norfolk Disability Pride was busy organising its third annual event for September when we got hit by Covid-19. We were so disappointed, but decided we had no choice but to cancel.
However, we are now planning a series of online events over the year with our stallholders and members of the disabled community. We hope to have displays, talks, debates, songs, and art of all kinds in our virtual Norfolk Disability Pride.
We know from previous years how creative and inventive our community is and we invite anyone who wishes to contribute to get in touch by emailing us at disabilitypride@equallives.org.uk.”
You can also get up-to-date information about the virtual events by visiting the website Norfolk Disability Pride and follow #DP20 and #NorfolkDisabilityPride on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Do you know any other virtual Disability Pride events that are taking place this summer? Please share them in the comments box or on Facebook and Twitter.
By Emma Purcell
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