Now in its fifth year, FestAbility: A Celebration of Disabilities, the largest gathering by and for people with disabilities in the region and their families, returns to the Missouri History Museum on Saturday, Oct. 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
FestAbility is a nonprofit organization that celebrates the disability community through education, empowerment and unity.
The day kicks off with the Disability Pride March, which will begin at the park’s Visitor’s Center and end at the Missouri History Museum’s North Plaza. Activities throughout the rest of the day include participatory adaptive sports demonstrations and sensory room, disability-related vendors and community organizations, children’s and adult book readings and a book giveaway, art activities, therapy dogs and an adaptable fashion show. Featured on the stage will be C-Quig, a rapper with autism, and a “FestAbility Cabaret” performance.
That Uppity Theatre Company will also offer a free, nonpartisan photo booth, to shoot pictures of current and future voters in conjunction with the St Louis Public Library. Voter registration and information will also be available.
Confirmed community resource tables include: Missouri History Museum, Paraquad, Different Dynamics, Mindseye, That Uppity Theatre Company, St. Louis Public Library, Starkloff Disability Institute, St. Louis Artists First, St. Louis Office on the Disabled, Achilles International, Deaf Inc, Variety, Society for the Blind & Visually Impaired, St. Louis Arc, Miriam School & Learning Center, St. Louis Community College, Great Rivers Greenway, Missouri MENTOR, UMSL, Missouri School for the Blind, Special School District, Easter Seals, Heitholt Law LLC, Opera Theatre St. Louis, Firefly Supported Living & Employment Services, AAA Auto Club of Missouri, and the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum.
Food trucks including Zacchi, This ‘n’ That Eatery, and Bootheel Boyz will be on site from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“It is exciting to see how the festival is expanding in its scope, both for members of the disability community and other organizations,” said Joan Lipkin, artistic director of That Uppity Theatre Company, Dance the Vote and the DisAbility Project, a longtime supporter of the festival. “This year, up-and-coming autistic rapper C-Quig will join the program, and Uppity is introducing a cabaret featuring singers with and without disabilities who will be performing well-known and loved songs. The festival is also expanding their offerings from years past, with book readings for adults in addition to the popular children’s story time, and a little free library in the reading room, where anyone who attends is invited to take home a book.”
For more information, go to festability.org.
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