Andy Greene: ‘You cannot have an inclusive society without a strong disability community’

AN online festival has been arranged for the launch of World Independent Living Day (WILD) to celebrate the empowerment of disabled people.

Created by Islington disability rights activist Andy Greene, who also works with Disability Action in Islington, the festival on July 11 will include dozens of poets, musicians sportspeople and artists.

The line-up includes John McClure from Reverend and the Makers, blind pro skater Dan Mancina and comedian Rosie Jones.

An online platform, created especially for the festival, will include simultaneous British Sign Language interpretations and live subtitles.

The original festival was organised for May 5 in central London, but had to be postponed and transferred to a purely digital platform due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Greene said: “You cannot have an inclusive society without a strong disability community. You cannot have a strong community without having a vibrant culture.

“Together we will build this vibrant culture by carrying on the spirit of the independent living movement and highlighting the contributions of the people who make up the movement’s past, present, and future.

“Refusing to be silenced or spoken for, we have historically woven our individual experiences into shared knowledge and turned that knowledge into the demand for the right to independent living.

“As we have learnt from history, independent living is the only way to ensure that we thrive as individuals. When we learn from each other and from our history, disabled people become central in defining our place in society.”

The festival will run from 3pm to 6pm and will be available on wildaboutculture.com