A disability advocacy group in Calgary is shutting its doors this week — one year after the Alberta government axed its funding.

For 28 years, Disability Action Hall has given disabled Calgarians a place to connect, share their stories and fight for change. 

But due to financial challenges, its parent organization, SCOPE Society of Alberta, announced Friday will be the hall’s last day of operations.

“We’re all feeling a big loss,” said Colleen Huston, coordinator of Disability Action Hall.

“There is just so much benefit to the community when you have a dedicated group of individuals who are honoured for their lived expertise to inform policy, to critique, to be an incubator for ideas.”

Huston said the hall has been running on emergency funding — made up partially by community donations and remaining money from SCOPE — for the past year.

That’s because in early 2025, the provincial government decided to end its longtime funding contract with Disability Action Hall more than a year before it was set to expire, as it did for two other disability advocacy organizations in Alberta.

A provincial spokesperson told CBC News it’s unfortunate that the group has decided to cease operations, but said the landscape around disability support has changed since the hall’s inception.

“There have been significant changes to disability services and supports since they were established, including the establishment of the Office of the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities through the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities Act,” said Amber Edgerton, press secretary for Assisted Living and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon.

Edgerton said no cuts have been made to direct services, and the province is now focused on funding organizations that allocate resources directly to disabled Albertans and their families.

Huston, who has been working with Disability Action Hall for 25 years, said she’s grateful for the Alberta government’s support over the decades. Their funding allowed members to focus on their self-advocacy work.

But Huston disagrees with the message the province is sending.

“It’s a necessity. It’s an essential service. It’s no different than providing one-to-one support for persons with disabilities,” she said.

Longtime member Mary Salvani said the community made a big difference in her life.

“When I first came, I was ashamed of being disabled,” Salvani said. “But it taught me that it’s OK to be disabled and it’s OK to speak up for what you need, not just what your friends and family need.”

Salvani, who joined the group in 2010, said she’s angry about the closure and she feels like the voices of disabled people are being silenced.

“But I think most of us refuse to be silent,” she said.

Disability Action Hall is holding a final celebration on Thursday — one day before the group is set to shut down for good.

Huston said its legacy will live on through the change it helped to create, including Calgary’s low-income bus pass.