An annual monologue performance in Butte gives people with disabilities a platform to share their experiences and advocate for their needs. The event has had success building empathy and community between the performers and the audience.
On a Friday night in early June, about a hundred people gathered under the high-vaulted ceiling of the East Middle School auditorium in Butte. A large screen on stage projected the name of the production: “Let’s Talk Disability.”
Lucy Galarus was on the stage. The monologue from the soon-to-be junior at Butte High School centers around advocating for inclusion and access as a public school student with cerebral palsy.
“I’ve had to fight a lot with the schools, along with my parents, who run interference when I need them to. It’s better for dad to send an email than for me to say something I shouldn't,” Galarus said.
Galarus was among ten people to share their stories.
“The biggest thing for me is educating people because if they understand, then some of these things can be changed,” Galarus said.
This year’s production was the second iteration of the event, which aims to give people with disabilities in the community a platform for expression and advocacy.
It started two years ago, when Barb Knapke and other members of a women’s disability group in Butte were celebrating a birthday.
“And we’re sitting at the coffee shop and telling the funniest stories about our disability that we can think of,” Knapke said, “and we’re all just laughing and one story’s leading to another story and it was just hilarious. And somebody finally said ‘we should do a show’.
That spur of the moment idea blossomed into something very real.
“Less than a year later, we were on stage, doing a show,” Knapke said.
The group partnered with Ability Montana and the Orphan Girl Children’s Theater to stage the first performance in the spring of 2022. Cassie Wick is an organizer with Ability Montana, which promotes independence and advocates for people living with disabilities. She said the response from the first show was so positive, they immediately decided they had to do it every year.
“It’s opening things. I think it’s even bigger than we know,” Wick said.
In between performances, the group played videos that shed light on other issues people with disabilities face in their daily lives like housing access and employment.
While the production shares these stories, Knapke said the most profound effect is the connection fostered among the participants.
“There are two quadriplegics in this show. A woman of 30 and a young man of 25. And they live less than a half an hour away, but I'm not sure they ever talked before. And they have done nothing but chat,” Knapke said.
Wick said those relationships have brought the community much closer together in the two years the production has run. She added that as the community grows, so does their ability to join together and advocate.
“Now it’s like, when it’s time that we need to have voice for things, we can gather the troops and say we’re doing this, we’re going to council or we’re writing letters or we’re doing the things that facilitate change,” Wick said.
Knapke and Wick say they intend to continue the event in Butte, and hope to bring it to other communities in Montana.
“And now, for everyone it’s like ‘we’re doing this every year.’ And we are thrilled about that. This is a really important event and we are so grateful to be able to share it with people,” Wick said.
