Disability Pride Month

"Disability Pride Month celebrates disabled persons embracing their disabilities as integral parts of who they are, reclaiming visibility in public and interacting fully with their disabilities out in the open, and rejecting shame and internalized ableism. It is a time for the disability community to come together, uplift, and amplify one another’s voices and be heard. Disability pride has been described as 'accepting and honoring each person’s uniqueness and seeing it as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity.'

Disability Pride Month is celebrated each year in July. Disability Pride initially started as a day of celebration in 1990—the year that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. That same year, Boston held the first Disability Pride Day. The first official celebration of Disability Pride Month occurred in July 2015, which also marked the 25th anniversary of the ADA. Since then, cities across the country have celebrated disability pride month with parades and other festivities."

Source: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/diversity/resources/celebrating-heritage-months/disability-pride-month/

"The original disability pride flag, created by Ann Magill in 2019, underwent a makeover by Magill for accessibility purposes in 2021. They altered the original zigzagged design because it worsened symptoms for individuals with visually triggered disabilities, including seizure and migraine disorders. Magill’s updated design features muted colors and a straight diagonal band from the top left to the bottom right corner.

The original flag’s zigzags represented how disabled people creatively navigate barriers. On the improved flag, the parallel stripes stand for intracommunal solidarity. The colors on the flag symbolize various disability experiences. The black background mourns disabled people who have died due to negligence, suicide, rebellion, illness, and eugenics. The stripe’s color represents disability types:

• Red: physical disabilities
• Gold: cognitive and intellectual disabilities
• White: nonvisible and undiagnosed disabilities
• Blue: psychiatric disabilities
• Green: sensory disabilities

Society presents many obstacles – stigma, shame, inaccessibility, ableism – to proudly identifying as disabled. Frequently, non-disabled people infantilize disabled people and strip us of personal dignity and autonomy. Disability Pride Month is a time to positively assert our identity, listen to disabled voices, and advocate for appropriate accommodations inside and outside of faith communities. The disability pride flag is an outward symbol of the identity, resilience, and capacity of the disability community. Consider flying or displaying the disability pride flag at your faith institution this Disability Pride Month as a symbol of solidarity with your disabled constituents."

Source: https://www.respectability.org/2022/07/disability-pride-flag/