This document is a poem written from the perspective of a person with a disability. In three sentences, it summarizes: The poem expresses the feelings of a person with a disability who feels unseen and treated without dignity by others who see their disability first. They describe hurtful experiences at school and daily life where they are disrespected and their boundaries have been broken. The person conveys that they deserve to be treated with respect like anyone else.

7. I am a person
I am a person, who happens to have a disability, A lot of
people see me as one who has no capability. I am a
person, who has got good caring heart, Who has
remained unseen right from the start. I am a person who
has finished school, where I learned that teachers and
peers see me as a fool. I am a person who feels hurt
every day, Because people say mean things and smack
me out of the way. I am a person who deserves to be fed,
Not sent away every night hungry and off to bed...
I am a person whose sexual boundaries have been
broken leaving a void inside me, That has kept me as a
prisoner instead letting me be free. I am a person who
deserves to be treated with dignity, honour, and respect,
Instead I feel like I am a reject. I am a person who feels
broken into pieces like is a puzzle, because the words
inside me had been muzzled. I am a person who deserves
to be treated well, Instead I am living inside a jail cell. I am
a person who needs to be heard. Yet no one has stopped
and cared enough to listen to any of my words.
‐Mary Salvani

8. Excerpt from “You Get Proud by
Practicing” by Laura Hershey
Remember, you weren’t the one who made
you ashamed,
But you are the one who makes you proud.
Just practice, practice until you get proud,
and once you are proud, keep practicing so
you won’t forget.
You get proud by practicing.“
http://www.thenthdegree.com/proudpoem.a
sp

9. Social messaging campaign

10. I define me!
http://proudtobedisabled.com/Videos/ScopeProud60sec.mpg

11. We work on disability pride!
‘I feel so proud of myself when I am on stage
as a performer as an actor. I feel like I am
on top of the world. But in every day life I
feel just ‘disabled Jen’.
Then I went to a workshop and my mentor
said this to me…
She said it is up to you. You can turn that
around. You can be “Proud Disabled Jen’ in
the everyday world.’

12. Annual gatherings like ‘Speak Out’
will be June 7, 2013. Friends
joined us from the Southern,
Central and Northern Alberta for
the last 15 years

16. Working in Groups, coalitions
And networks
helps spread our message
Of pride and disability culture.
,

18. Celebrating our right to love, disability arts and the outdoors…