Red Shirt Day for AccessAbility and Inclusion

What is Red Shirt Day?

Red Shirt Day for AccessAbility and Inclusion is a day when people across Canada come together and wear red in schools, workplaces and spaces everywhere as a visual display of support and celebration of our friends with different abilities ❤️

Why are we encouraged to wear red?

• To show support for persons and families who are living with disabilities
• To celebrate the achievements of people living with disabilities
• To pledge commitment to help create a fully accessible and inclusive society that honours and values the contributions of people of all abilities in all aspects of life.

Red Shirt Day takes place on the Wednesday of National AccessAbility Week each year. In 2022, Red Shirt Day will take place on June 1, and National AccessAbility Week is from Sunday, May 29 to Saturday, June 4.

Red Shirt Pledge

Disability, accessibility and inclusion does not end with just a one-day annual event. In order to make Canada a truly accessible and inclusive society, it requires the constant, year-round commitment and efforts of all Canadians to put it into practice in order to make it real, and to also advocate and take action to increase accessibility and inclusion.As such, by wearing red on Red Shirt Day, participants are also encouraged to make a commitment – a pledge – to educate and inform themselves on issues related to disability, and do what they can – individually and collectively – to remove physical, attitudinal and systemic barriers in their schools, workplaces and communities in order to make Canada a truly accessible and inclusive places/environments for people of all abilities. On Red Shirt Day, write down your Red Shirt Day pledge on a sheet of paper, and take a selfie/group photo of yourself/your group with it while wearing red. Or include your Red Shirt Day pledge in the text of your social media post. Click here to download the Red Shirt Day pledge form. 

On June 1, post a selfie or a group photo of you with your friends, classmates or colleagues – all wearing red – on social media with the hashtags #RedShirtDay, #RedForAccessAbility, #EasterSeals, #unstoppABLE.

Red Shirt Day is an Easter Seals initiative and was first celebrated in 2019.