Peace Bridge to shine white Sunday for invisible disabilities

The Peace Bridge will shine white on Sunday night for Invisible Disabilities Week, the only one of 15 Canadian landmarks in the campaign visible in two countries.

The Invisible Disabilities Association, a U.S. non-profit, started the annual campaign in 2014 to convince the public that a disability does not need to be visible to be real.

Statistics Canada’s 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability found that 27 per cent of Canadians aged 15 and older, or about 8 million people, lived with at least one disability.

Lauren Pires of Mississauga, Canada’s first ambassador for the Invisible Disabilities Association, hid her own disability for more than 30 years. Central Core Disease, a rare neuromuscular disorder, limits Pires to about a third of the physical strength of an average person.

“If you’re still hiding your disability and you see city hall lit up for Invisible Disabilities Week, I hope you learn that this week exists and that there is a community around it,” Pires said in a news release.

Pires arranged 12 lightings in Ontario and New Brunswick in 2025, the campaign’s first year. The Peace Bridge and landmarks in British Columbia joined this year.

The Niagara Sign at Lock 3 of the Welland Canal in Thorold will also light up white on Sunday, its third lighting for a Pires campaign in 12 months.

“Not everybody lives online,” Pires said. “But people of all ages drive or walk past these buildings every day.”

The campaign recommended Mather Park or the Niagara Parkway in Fort Erie as the best spots to see the bridge on Sunday night.

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