International audiences wowed by Glasgow’s empowered Disabled People

International audiences wowed by Glasgow’s empowered Disabled People

March 28th, 2019

Purple Poncho Players welcome worldwide visitors and receive standing ovation from First Minister

In a whirlwind week, Glasgow’s Disabled People have wowed visitors to the city from more than 70 countries, showcasing GDA’s model of peer support, empowerment and participation, to a rousing chorus of our Purple Poncho Player’s latest showstopper: ‘People Make Glasgow, People Make Change’.

After just over a fortnight of rehearsals, our Purple Poncho Players took Glasgow’s conference scene by storm this week, opening the official welcome dinner for Glasgow’s EuroCities network guests on Tuesday, after an intimate workshop where our Drivers for Change members told European leaders all about GDA’s model of peer support, participation and empowerment.
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Purple Ponchos open the formal EuroCities dinner at Glasgow City Chambers, singing ‘People Make Glasgow, People Make Change’
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Drivers for Change celebrate peer support, participation and empowerment with Eurocities visitors from Utrecht, Brussels, Paris, Leeds and Bristol!

No rest for the wicked, as the very next day our Purple Ponchos took on their biggest challenge yet – a Scottish Exhibition Centre performance to over 1500 delegates at the British Medical Journal’s International Healthcare Improvement conference, themed ‘People Make Change’. As we opened the conference alongside First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the audience of medics from over 70 countries cheered and sang along in an electric atmosphere, to our performance of the Scottish Declaration on Human Rights, and new material based on GDA members’ real lived experience. The whole arena gave a standing ovation, including the First Minister, who said ‘We talk a lot about Equality, Human Rights, dignity and respect, but I’ve never seen these things better expressed than by the Purple Poncho Players tonight.’

‘We talk a lot about Equality, Human Rights, dignity and respect, but I’ve never seen these things better expressed than by the Purple Poncho Players tonight.’
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP, 27 March 2019, SEC

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Purple Poncho Players performing to 1500 medics from 70 countries, and First Minster Nicola Sturgeon

The First Minister today welcomes a delegation of GDA women to Dundee for her Advisory Circle on Women and Girls, while another group of GDA Drivers for Change heads to Edinburgh for the Parliamentary debate on progressing our Fairer Scotland for Disabled People UNCRPD delivery plan!

You can read more in our Briefing for MSPs, and follow the action on Twitter!
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