BARRHEAD - Talking and believing in equality is hard when you don't include people.
That is according to Des Hughes. She made the statement during a June 17 organizational meeting to discuss the painting of a decorative crosswalk on Barrhead's Main Street to raise public awareness of the struggles people with physical and mental face in getting equal access as part of Disability Awareness Month in July.
The crosswalk will be Main Street at 51st Avenue between Rocky Mountain Roots and the Scotia Bank. Painting will be on Sunday, July 7.
The group hopes to install two signs, probably on nearby light standards, explaining the crosswalk's significance.
The crosswalk parallels a similar one painted in rainbow colours by the Barrhead United Church's OutProud group for Pride month.
To help fund the project, the Barrhead Accessibility Coalition will be canvassing local businesses.
Hughes noted that Home Hardware has agreed to donate the necessary paint for the project.
She also added they have received a lot of assistance from the OutProud group.
Under the town's Decorative Crosswalk Policy, which the council approved in May, the originating organization bears the costs and labour for maintaining the crosswalk.
The crosswalk will be painted in the colours of the Disability Pride Flag: green, blue, white, gold, and red. Green represents sensory disabilities, blue represents emotional and psychiatric disabilities, white stands for non-visible and undiagnosed disabilities, gold stands for neurodiversity, and red represents physical disabilities.
The colours are painted in diagonal stripes on a black or charcoal background.
"The slant represents barriers to access and equality while the charcoal commemorates and mourns the disabled people over history and even today who've died due to things like ableism, violence, negligence, suicide, illness and eugenics," Hughes said.
Cris Schaffrick added that, to their knowledge, the crosswalk will be the first for disability awareness in the province.
"Possibly even Canada," she said.
Shaffrick added that the project is a collaborative effort, and representatives from several community organizations are working together to make this project a success.
Schaffrick said they are also disappointed that the Barrhead Neutrality group is campaigning by circulating a petition to create a bylaw prohibiting such displays.
The group wants to limit all crosswalks and flags on the municipal property to be "neutral," and such crosswalks should be limited to the traditional white striping and flags to the Canadian, Alberta, and municipal.
Schaffrick said she helped staff the Barrhead Accessibility Coalition's booth at the recent Barrhead Street Festival, handing out Disability Pride Flag buttons and information on Disability Awareness Month and telling fair attendees about their plans for the crosswalk, and received nothing but positive responses.
"Many people with and without disabilities expressed interest in what we were doing, and when I talked about our plans for the crosswalk, I did not get one negative response. It was just the opposite. Many community members said that they would do their best to help us," she said.
Schaffrick reiterated Hughes' earlier comments that to be truly equal, people with disabilities need equal access.
"And to do that, we need to raise awareness, foster inclusivity and advocate for a more equitable society," she said, adding that Disability Awareness Month and the disability pride crosswalk were small steps in helping achieve that goal.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
