Simply People event marks new chapter in local disability movement

by Don Barrie

(originally appeared in the Summer 2004 edition of CILT In The Stream)

    On Sunday, June 20, Torontonians with disabilities gathered at Nathan Phillips Square, to celebrate their achievements and uphold their pride through advocacy and entertainment.

    Titled “Simply People: Celebrating Our Lives & Our Identities,” it brought together several community leaders, advocates and allies of the disability movement in Toronto.

    This event, organized by a disability and post-secondary education advocacy group called the Canada-Wide Accessibility for Post-Secondary Students (CanWAPSS), began with a march from Dundas Square to Nathan Phillips Square. The march was followed by an afternoon concert featuring performers and speakers (both disabled and non-disabled) on stage at Nathan Phillips Square.

    “The idea for having it as a march came about as a suggestion from Uzma (co-founder of CanWAPSS), particularly since something like this had never been done in Toronto before by the disability community,” says CanWAPSS co-founder Mahadeo Sukhai, a 4th-year PhD student of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto.

    CanWAPSS is a new, grassroots advocacy group founded in Fall 2003 by Sukhai, along with Uzma Khan, a 4th-year Information Technology Management major at Ryerson University, and Julia Munk, founder of Students For Barrier-Free Access (SFBA) at the U of T. These three students formed this group out of a collaboration between SFBA at the U of T and RyeACCESS at Ryerson University. The CanWAPSS mission is to improve accessibility for post-secondary students with disabilities across Canada, through advocacy and support and special events. “Simply People” is the group’s first major event, and represents a practical approach to delivering its mission.

    “We'd always wanted a less political, ‘let's all get together and have a bit of fun’ atmosphere – while at the same time, of course, raise awareness.” Khan says. “I set up a conference call with Julia and Mahadeo the night before sending out the event's initial press release. We exchanged suggestions, but nothing seemed to click. We all knew that the name needed to reflect that people with disabilities are people too.”

    It was Khan that finally suggested "Simply People: Celebrating Our Lives & Our Identities," because she says it was the one title that included all of their thoughts and ideas for this event.

    The response from community groups was immediate, including the Adapted Scuba Association, ERDCO (Ethno-Racial Coalition for People with Disabilities), the U of T’s SFBA, SAC and the Graduate Students’ Union lent their support, as well as Ryerson’s RyeACCESS and RyeSAC, and the Checkered Eye Project (a group representing consumers with visual impairments). Some of the entertainers included a belly dancer with low vision, and several bands (e.g. one of them was called “In-Between Breathing”). The guest speakers gave brief discussions on key disability issues such as education, employment, ODSP, transportation and multiculturalism.

    “Our Simply People event brought the disability community together in celebration. Our event also demonstrated that an inclusive entertaining show is possible,” Khan says.

   While this event is regarded as a milestone for the local Independent Living movement, the inaugural event did fall short of some expectations.

    Although it was a beautiful day, not a lot of people showed up, about 20 for the march and about 40-50 for the concert,” says ERDCO chair Rafia Haniff-Cleofas.

    “Those numbers are pretty good considering it was the first event of its kind, but hopefully they will only go up in the following years,” says consumer Lynda Roy.

    “Given that we had to compete with Father’s Day, the turnout wasn’t so bad. But it must be bigger and better next year,” adds Haniff-Cleofas.

   Despite some other criticism regarding the limited amount of promotion done prior to the event, most consumers and event organizers are satisfied with how the day progressed.

    “I think the greatest accomplishment was how we put the simply people event together within less than two months (about 6-7 weeks),” Khan says.

    “We plan to make this an annual celebration,” Munk adds. “Next year’s will bring even more people together.”