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Disability advocate chosen as Mardi Gras float ambassador: “My old wheelchair is covered in rhinestones like a mirrored disco ball!”.
Prominent disability rights advocate Elly Desmarchelier will play a key role in representing LGBTQIA+ people with disability as float ambassador for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance in this year’s Mardi Gras Parade.
Cerebral Palsy Alliance is a global centre of expertise for services and support, research, technology and innovation, and advocacy.
The campaigner, who is also a writer and sought-after public speaker, spoke with Powerd Media’s Emma Myers ahead of the event.
“I’m very excited,” Elly says. “You might see me in a very rainbow sequined mini dress with some fabulous rainbow wings. I might have bedazzled an entire wheelchair because why not go the full way when it goes to Mardi Gras?”
The disability advocate states that too often, queerness is downplayed, overlooked, or erased entirely by a person’s disability.
I feel a lot of the time that I'm not recognized as a member of the LGBTIQ community because I'm disabled
Elly Desmarchelier
According to Say It Out Loud, 1 in 9 Australians with disability identify as being part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“I think it's so important to recognise that members of the disability community are also part of that community.”
The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Free to be’, a celebration of the strides toward true equality.
The overall theme for Mardi Gras this year is about flying. And our float is going to have the theme of ‘free to fly,’” Elly explains.
The idea of having freedom to move where you want to move and to fly as high as you want to fly or as far, I think speaks to a lot of people with disability
Elly Desmarchelier
The theme seeks to remind society of the original purpose of the parade, which started 47 years ago as LGBTQIA+ rights protest marches. The theme doubles down on its message, proclaiming on the festival’s website that the community is “not truly free until we are all free to be.”
“People in our community have been harmed throughout the year, so there's moments of remembrance,” Elly says.
“There's always things that need improvement and systemic change that needs to happen for LGBTIQ+ people…That’s what we need to remember.”
Elly will proudly lead the ‘Free to Fly’ themed float at the Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday March 1, 2025.