On July 29, 2023, CIL celebrated Disability Pride Month with a day of music, performance, disability rights and justice history, vendors, food, crafts, and kids activities. The event was a huge success (over 200 people attended!) and served as a chance to honor CIL founders, staff, board, and supportive community members of past and present. The theme for the event was "Honoring our Roots | Celebrating our Future." As CIL looks ahead, we continue to learn from the rich, 50+ year history of the Independent Living Movement.
Some of the activities featured that day included:
Altar Art Creations
Art table at which people could create an art piece to honor a past or present changemaker with disabilities, decorate a candle to bring home and light in honor of someone with disabilities that you would like to remember, or put the name of someone with disabilities on seed paper which could be planted at home to grow a plant in their honor.
Kids Corner
A booth at which kids could color a drawing of a changemaker with disabilities, a Black Lives Matter idea, or of people with disabilities. They could also create a collage or a piece of art with an image of a changemaker with disabilities, or create a beaded necklace or bracelet.
Balloon Twist Art
Chevohn created fantastic animals, flowers, swords, hats and more through the twist of a balloon.
BORP Fitness Center
Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program’s (BORP) fitness center was open to attendees, where they could try out equipment, meet their staff, and learn about their programs.
Disability Changemaker Role Play
Attendees “met” activists, artists, and other changemakers with disabilities through role plays by staff and young CIL consumers.
Cathy Skyvers by Sheela Gunn-Cushman
Keith Jones Ash by Chevohn
Leroy Moore by Tony Bibb Jr.
Brad Lomax by Chevohn
Neil Jacobson by Jalani Wagele
Alice Wong by Summer Wong
Ericka Hart by Tony Bibb
Johnie Lacy by Tina Lynette Woods
India Arie by Tina Lynette Woods
Lachi by Chevohn
Harriet Tubman by Chevohn
Other Performances
Poetry by Ciara Lovelace: “Chewed,” “Chances Are,” and “Finding Happy”
Songs from Sheela Gunn-Cushman: “Sir Duke” by Stevie Wonder, “Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston, and “Signs” by Five Man Electrical Band
CIL Memorial List
Throughout the day we also read the following names and shared stories as a way to honor the memory of the many who contributed to the CIL. The list includes people who worked at CIL and/or were instrumental in its work, from its founding through the mid/late 1970s. Current through May 22, 2023.
Compiled by Ken Stein.
Bob Allamand Tom Avilla Betty Bacon Jan Balter Shelley Bergum Don Berry Dr. Sheldon Berroll Edna Brean Anna Broaddus Charlie Brown Doug Brown Mary Brown Phil Chavez Catherine Caulfield Paul Church Chuck Cole Kitty Cone Dale Dahl Linda Davis Nancy D'Angelo Chris (Pocock) Domingo Phil Draper Kari Eells Charlotte Ferris Olin Fortney Molly Fredericks Adina Friedman
Sid Fry Don Galloway F.R. (Rocky) Gomez Sharon Hamner John Hessler Judith (Judy) Heumann Mary Ann Hiserman Joyce Jackson Neil Jacobson Steven Handler Klein Howie Harp Hal Kirshbaum Johnnie Lacy David Landes Larry Langdon Peter Leech Brad Lomax Scott Luebking Neil Marcus Michele Martin John McLaughlin, presumed / Thailand tsunami 2004. Earl McKeever Bob Metz Mary Elyn O'Grady Susan O’Hara Mary Jane Owen Clem Oishi
Michael Pachovas
Carmen Paz Anderson
Laura Rauscher
Dan Read
Ed Roberts
Kathy Roberts
Randy Roberts
Jack Rowan
Mariana Ruybalid
Greg Sanders
Dick Santos
Dottie SantaPaul
Si Shodel
A.J. Smaldone
Greg Smith
Sandra Thaler
Lynn Kidder Tijerina
Peter Trier
Ron Washington
Cece Weeks
Wally Whelan
Celeste White
Willie Winocur
Michael Winter
Jerry Wolf
Ray Zanella
Hale Zukas
