WILD DAY IN 11th July (Press Release)

Image of an animated stage. large speakers either side. with crowd in front and a WILD logo in the spotlight

WILD DAY IN 11th July

Saturday, July 11, 2020 – The WILD Day In, streamed on our new inclusive online platform, available worldwide – World Independent Living Day CIC has teamed up with dozens of poets, musicians, sportspeople, artists to celebrate Britain’s disability community.

The lineup will feature performances and panel discussions where audience members will be able to ask questions and seamlessly join the debate through our custom made streaming tool. We have John McClure from Reverend and the Makers whose well-crafted lyrics have seen them perform at Glastonbury and Wembley stadium, writer and activist Penny Pepper who is more punk than all of the Sex Pistols combined, Alex Walls (aka the Disabled Guy Plays) whose current game of choice is Apex Legend, blind pro skater Dan Mancina who has his own non-profit skating school and comedian Rosie Jones who is a regular at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has written for Harry Hill and 8 out of 10 Cats. These are just a few of the fantastic people who will be performing and joining in with our various discussions on the day. The full line up and timing will be revealed on our website shortly.

The online platform, made especially for this festival, will see simultaneous British Sign Language interpretations and live subtitles. Studio Hyte , the platform creators, wanted to make an accessible version of the Zoom conferencing app and are highly respected in the field of design. Arjun Harrison-Mann, a lecturer at Goldsmiths University, and Ben Cain, a fine art lecturer at the Cass school of art have spent the last few months finalising the platform. Both Harrison-Mann and Cain have previously worked with DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) and the Serpentine Gallery to create an accessible tool that allows remote participation to protests.

Andy Greene, one of the founders of WILD CIC and a leading disability rights activist with DPAC, said: “The spirit of the Independent Living movement was about disabled people being empowered to take an equal place in an inclusive society and to demand the tools, resources, and support to do this. WILD is a long-term initiative to reimagine the transformation to an inclusive society with independent living being a central part of that vision.​

“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. WILD will carve out a space where disabled people participate in defining disability culture by telling our own stories on our own terms. 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.

Andy Greene, one of the founders of WILD CIC

“As we have learned 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.”

After the festival, WILD will be sticking around as a long-term initiative to promote Independent Living as a tool to transform society into something that is far more inclusive than it is today.

Notes for press:

– The Independent Living Movement philosophy emerged in the United States in the 1960s and is now enshrined in Article 19 of the UN ’ s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

– Independent Living goes against the charity and medical ways of viewing individual impairments (whether physical, sensory or cognitive) and instead proposes that society must be re-organised so disabled people are equal and able to practice their right to self-determination. Further details can be found here: www.enil.eu (European Network on Independent Living).

– The original festival was organised for 5th May 2020 (European Independent Living Day) at a venue in central London but had to be postponed and transferred to a purely digital platform due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

– We will be screening films from Together! 2020 Disability Film Festival (http://www.together2012.org.uk/ ) during the festival who have kindly offered us access to their films.

– The festival on 11 July will run from 3pm to 6pm and will be available on wildaboutculture.com

– For high quality photos of the participants and to organise interviews with the performers or the founders of WILD CIC please email press@wildaboutculture.com and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.

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  1. Festival set to offer a WILD day in as an escape from lockdown | WILDaboutCulture.com - […] big thank you to The Disability News Service for this wonderful article about our upcoming event on the 11th…

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