Disability Pride Festival seek to showcase talents and build community

Eileen Rosensteel will perform her "Amazing Fat Lady Show" at Saturday's Madison Disability Pride Festival (Photography and copyright by J. Matzner)

In what the group hopes will become an annual tradition, Madison Disability Pride will hold the first Disability Pride Madison Festival Saturday at Brittingham Park.

The festival, which will begin at noon, is the first of its kind in Madison, and will include stage performances ranging from spoken word artists to Eileen Rosensteel's "The Amazing Fat Lady Show," which she began five years ago when she "saw a picture of a woman that looked exactly like me from 100 years ago and she was a professional freak."

"I wanted to know more about her and her life," Rosensteel said, so she took up the act as a way to honor the five characters she plays.

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Mike Mohr of the United Spinal Association will also speak at the event.

Disability Pride Madison Outreach Committee Chair Katie Ramos said the goal of the event is "to get the message out there that people with disabilities have talents and skills."

"The idea behind pride is that people with and without disabilities are working together to show that people with disabilities can do for themselves, and can do amazing things, and are doing amazing things," she said.

D. Allen, who is a member of The Sweetness of Gone, a band performing at the event, said seeing many different identities present at the festival will be exciting.

"Getting different aspects of the disability community together in one place will be really exciting," Allen said. "There isn't really such a thing as one disability identity."

The first disability pride event was held in the early 1990s, and the idea has expanded worldwide since then, according to Ramos. Chicago has an annual event that includes a parade and stage performances, and while Ramos said Madison's event will not necessarily be the same, the group was "inspired" by Chicago's event.

Funding for the Madison event came from sponsors, grants and donations.

Performer J. Ware, who writes short stories and poetry, said Madison provides a "very open, loving, warm community" that will turn out for Saturday's event.

"I think that this Saturday we'll have a great turnout because there's a lot of people that are affected by disability through their family, their friends, themselves and they will show support in any way that they can," Ware said.

Rosensteel shared a similar sentiment, and is excited for the connections Saturday will bring within the disabled and larger Madison community.

"I think there's some really great people that should meet each other," she said. "It's a great opportunity to celebrate the diversity of the disability community and have a lot of fun."

Sponsors for the event, which is free to the public, include many organizations such as Access to Independence, St. Mary's Hospital, WORT, the Wisconsin Arts Board, MG&E, among others. More information can be found on Madison Disability Pride's Facebook page.