An event was held in the atrium at City Hall on Friday to give Calgarians a better understanding of the issues faced by people with disabilities on a daily basis.

The United Nations designated December 3 as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and members of the community, disability service organizations, March of Dimes and the Premier’s Council came together to host the IDPD event in Calgary on Friday.

“Since it’s a Sunday this year, we decided to come together and celebrate today,” said Lauri Brunner, Alberta representative, March of Dimes Canada.

The theme of this year’s IDPD is ‘Transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all’ and the goal is to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities and to increase awareness.

A number of displays and information booths are set up in the municipal building and experts were on hand to talk about how spaces can be built to ensure everybody has equal access and mobility.

Brunner says technology and innovation make a huge difference in those areas but events like this help bring people, information and ideas together in one place.

“I think events like this help because it pulls us all together in one place and we can celebrate together and we can showcase together,” she said. “Often times we are fractured in our community and people don’t know if there’s one place to go to find all those events and services but really there are lots of small organizations, big organizations, they’re all doing great things to help persons with disabilities.”

The event is also a celebration of the successes and achievements that persons with disabilities have made in the city.

“We also have some amazing artists here today that are showcasing some of the work that they do,” said Brunner. “Hopefully we can get a Canadians with Disabilities legislation in place very soon and I think that will improve the lives of all Calgarians, particularly in transportation and access to government services, to have those things embedded in legislation will help us all and move us forward.”

As of 2012, one in seven Canadians, age 15 and older, reported a disability.

The event is on from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the atrium at City Hall.

For more information on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, click HERE.