Join the Workers World Party, Peoples Power Assemblies,  Peoples MTA and Parents to Improve School Transportation  NYC contingent for Disability Pride on Sunday, July 15, 2018. We will be gathering at 10 am in section D, located on Madison Avenue between East 24th and East 25th street, by Madison Square Park.

Our position in the parade has been registered by the PPA which over the last few weeks carried out a fierce “We Want the Shade” social media campaign to try to get the police to reverse the parade route so that the three hour Disability Pride Festival would be in the well-shaded Madison Square Park as in 2016 and 2017 instead of the northern section of Union Square Park which has no shade. People with Disabilities are much more likely to be medically impacted by extreme heat.

The parade is set to start at 11am. The parade will then go down Broadway to Union Square Park. There will then be a celebration in Union Square Park from noon to 3pm. Please bring hats, umbrellas, sunblock and wear clothing items to help keep cool.

For the first time in the last four annual NYC Disability Pride Parades, there are already at least two scheduled protests by the Disability Community during the parade.     From 11:30 to 12:30 there will be a protest in Union Square in front of Starbucks at 25 Union Square West near 16^th Street, to protest Starbucks’ plans to eliminate plastic straws and replace them with so-called “adult sippy cups,” under the pretense of helping the environment. Some peoples’ disabilities prevent them from raising a cup in order to drink and require a straw in order to enjoy their beverages.

At 12:15 PM, disabled people will gather on or near the Disability Pride Parade stage on 17th Street along the North side of Union Square Park to protest Governor Cuomo’s threat to close Independence Care System(ICS) offices and services whose specialized care has allowed many thousands of disabled peoples and seniors to remain independent rather than being forced into institutions.

We join the parade to bring much-needed attention to the level of brutality and discrimination disabled people experience. We fight to protect disabled Black and Brown folks from police brutality. Over 50% of people murdered by police have a disability, and the police continue to disable and kill Black and Brown people with impunity. We fight for police abolition!

We fight to end the super-exploitation of disabled workers! Federal laws allow employers such as Goodwill Industries to pay workers with disabilities far less than the standard minimum wage.

We fight for 100% accessibility in the subways! Accessibility is a right!

See you there this Sunday.