Submitted by Project Access on Mon, 07/27/2015 - 11:45
Three people in wheelchairs marching in the NYC Disability Pride Parade. One holding a sign saying 'Better Together'

Thousands of people marched through the streets of New York for the city's first Disability Pride Parade on Sunday.
People in wheelchairs and with guide dogs and parents carrying their disabled children marched during a hot day through the center of Manhattan after Mayor Bill de Blasio kicked off the event.
The event, subtitled 'Inclusion, Awareness, Visibility' saw people carrying signs of support and asking for better access to public transport and housing.

De Blasio said July was 'disability pride month' in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and that he was proud of the city being a national leader in supporting rights for disabled people.
The parade, organized by the city, is now scheduled to be an annual event. Its route started at Manhattan's Madison Square Park and went along Broadway to Union Square Park.
The closest subway station to this year's parade however, does not feature an elevator system to accommodate wheelchairs.
'I would say (it's) discriminating, in a way. We're celebrating access,' Dustin Jones, a disability rights activist who uses a wheelchair, still found a way to participate in the parade, told New York Daily News.

The nearest subway stations for the parade were at 34th Street-Herald Square or at the end of the parade at 14th Street. MTA did, however, set up pickup and dropoff locations for Access-A-Ride.
Though the lack of elevators in the nearest subway station could have been a potential hindrance, Disability Pride NYC executive director Michael Schweinsburg said it didn't appear to be an issue.
'Nobody has brought up any objection to the proximity of elevator subway stations to the event itself,' he told the Daily News before the parade.
And still, thousands of people still showed up to celebrate disability pride.
'Disabled and proud,' said a sign carried by a woman in a wheelchair.

Photo credit
Reuters
City
New York
Demographic
Institution
Daily Mail