photo/foto: Laura Bluher

#IAMCHAIR

[excerpt from Performing Disability Working Group Statement]

We, the disability performance working group, are deeply grateful for the conversation that has emerged since our action at the Sala Rosa. We would like to acknowledge the commitment of the organizers to dialogue and the solidarity of the artists involved in the Trasnocheos and other Encuentro participants. 

The first day we met we were shocked that one of the major venues of Encuentro was inaccessible and furthermore this was not communicated through the program. In response several members of our group climbed the stairs of the Sala Rosa to make evident and unavoidable the inaccessibility of the space. Inaccessibility is a daily violence, supported by a culture of ableism, encountered by people experiencing disability and their allies, particularly in Montreal. 

As part of the action an ironic ‘elevator fund’ was presented, and to our surprise participants generously donated a total of $158.45. We will, in turn, donate this money to local Montreal activists doing important work around creating a more accessible Montreal. In solidarity with this work we will be circulating a petition targeted at the municipal and provincial authorities, calling for a more accessible Montreal.