Happy New Year from us and 2021 highlights in less than a minute!

Members of the Disability Action Hall wish you "Happy 2022!" 

Here are just some of the highlights Hall members were up to from 2021,  Bring on 2022! (click on the video, plain text is below)

Sharing our voice - Supporting essential workers and fighting for better oversight for supportive roommate models.

Protecting services - We are resilient and speaking up for Albertans with disabilities & services.

Disability Pride - Being part of this group celebrating disability pride made me realize I am proud.

Confidence and connection - Public speaking and meeting new people.

Celebrate Access - including everyone and addressing food security.

Maintaining relationships - Celebrating what makes us unique.

Networking and meeting new people - Meeting online helped me meet new people and connect with friends every week.

Showing what we do - Making videos about being proud to be disabled.

Valued and supported - Having a place where my opinion is valued.

Community - We are growing, we are having fun working together that we don't want to leave the conversation.

Working with youth - Working with the University creating messaging using a disability lens.

Collaboration - Working with the disability workers talking about essential services and keeping good workers.

Welcoming community - I don't think I've ever felt so safe and welcome in a group before.

Advocacy - We are glad that there is a group that advocates for people with disabilities, to governments at various levels, for improved programs for us.

Warmest wishes of the Holiday Season

Members of the Hall wish you 

Happy Hall-i-days! 

Happy holidays from the Disability Action Hall and Happy New Year

We wish you a safe, warm rest and look forward to seeing you in the New Year! 

Happy International Persons with Disabilities Day! Get Proud by Practicing

Celebrations are happening worldwide.

This December 3rd, 2021 for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities we celebrate YOU! 

Enjoy the poetry reading of the late poet, writer, and disability activist Laura Hershey, we present the poem on its 30th anniversary "You Get Proud by Practicing." 

(Plain text of the poem is just below. The video may also be enjoyed with captioned text within the video on YouTube and read in the description).

You Get Proud by Practicing 

by Laura Hershey (1991)

If you are not proud
For who you are, for what you say, for how you look;
If every time you stop
To think of yourself, you do not see yourself glowing
With golden light; do not, therefore, give up on yourself.
You can get proud.
 
You do not need
A better body, a purer spirit, or a Ph.D.
To be proud.
You do not need
A lot of money, a handsome boyfriend, or a nice car.
You do not need
To be able to walk, or see, or hear,
Or use big, complicated words,
Or do any of those things that you just can’t do
To be proud. A caseworker
Cannot make you proud,
Or a doctor.
You only need more practice.
You get proud by practicing.
 
There are many many ways to get proud.
You can try riding a horse, or skiing on one leg,
Or playing guitar,
And do well or not so well,
And be glad you tried
Either way.
You can show
Something you’ve made
To someone you respect
And be happy with it no matter
What they say.
You can say
What you think, though you know
Other people do not think the same way, and you can
keep saying it, even if they tell you
You are crazy.
 
You can add your voice
All night to the voices
Of a hundred and fifty others
In a circle
Around a jailhouse
Where your brothers and sisters are being held
For blocking buses with no lifts,
Or you can be one of the ones
Inside the jailhouse,
Knowing of the circle outside.
You can speak your love
To a friend
Without fear.
You can find someone who will listen to you
Without judging you or doubting you or being
Afraid of you
And let you hear yourself perhaps
For the very first time.
These are all ways
Of getting proud.
None of them
Are easy, but all of them
Are possible. You can do all of these things,
Or just one of them again and again.
You get proud
By practicing.
 
Power makes you proud, and power
Comes in many fine forms
Supple and rich as butterfly wings.
It is music
when you practice opening your mouth
And liking what you hear
Because it is the sound of your own
True voice.
 
It is sunlight
When you practice seeing
Strength and beauty in everyone,
Including yourself.
It is dance
when you practice knowing
That what you do
And the way you do it
Is the right way for you
And cannot be called wrong.
All these hold
More power than weapons or money
Or lies.
All these practices bring power, and power
Makes you proud.
You get proud
By practicing.
 
Remember, you weren’t the one
Who made you ashamed,
But you are the one
Who can make you proud.
Just practice,
Practice until you get proud, and once you are proud,
Keep practicing so you won’t forget.
By practicing.

You get proud

(Used with permission)