July 1st marked the beginning of Disability Pride Month. This commemorates the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26th, 1990. So what is Disability Pride and why is it important? Even in today’s society, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would be proud to be considered as having a disability. However, that’s exactly why Disability Pride Month exists and why Disability Pride is so important.

Disability Pride comes from the Disability Rights movement. On March 12, 1990, there was a protest of over 1000 individuals who marched from the White House to the Capitol Building. Once there, about 80 wheelchair users crawled up the steps of the building to showcase how inaccessible many public buildings were to those who have limited mobility or use mobility aids. That July, President George Bush signed the ADA into law in order to protect the rights of those with disabilities and ensure that public spaces would be accessible to as many people as possible.

The Disability Rights Movement

The Disability Rights movement has fueled a lot of these pushes for change and advancement for accessibility. The argument is that disability is not something shameful that should be hidden away from society. It should be accommodated in all spaces. Those with disabilities deserve the chance to live their lives in the same way as ablebodied individuals.

Disability rights pushes for the adoption of the social model of disability versus the medical model. According to the medical model of disability, disabilities are caused by faulty biology and should be fixed or cured in some way. However, the social model argues that disability is caused by three main barriers. These barriers are institutional (laws), environment (non-accessible spaces), and attitudinal (beliefs about disability which contribute to the other two). These barriers can only be dismantled through societal change, which is fueled by education and awareness. Physical differences do not need to be cured but need to be accommodated.

This movement argues that individuals should be given as many tools as possible to live as independently as they can. This includes having equal access to education and employment, which includes fair pay. For example, in the US, it is legal to pay those with intellectual disabilities less than minimum wage, which impacts their ability to be financially independent. Another example of lack of rights for those with disabilities is that many individuals who are on disability benefits cannot get married.

Because of the strict rules surrounding how much money these individuals are allowed to have, marrying a partner (even if that partner is also on benefits) disqualifies them from receiving benefits any longer, even if their partner does not make enough money to support two or more people. This also means they are limited in how many assets they can have, including savings. How can people with disabilities be considered to have equal rights or access if they do not have the ability to marry?

Disability Pride

This all feeds into why Disability Pride is so important. The historical stigma about disability may have lessened, but there is still a large amount of stigma present. This not only fuels societal inequalities but also impacts how disabled individuals feel about themselves and how much they may or may not advocate for their needs and rights as a result. Of course, being disabled is not the end all be all of a person’s identity, but it does influence how someone navigates the world. More importantly, it influences how the world interacts with disabled people.

Disability pride serves to educate people on how society causes disability for many people and what we can do to make changes and encourages a push for accommodations and societal changes, like universal design. Universal design encourages spaces and products to be as accessible to as many people as possible regardless of size, (dis)ability, or age. Spaces and products should be able to meet the needs of everyone who intends to use them.

The Disability Pride Flag

Due to the movement of pushing for Disability Pride, Ann Magill (a writer with cerebral palsy) developed the Disability Pride flag. She wanted it to represent the disability community as much as possible. Originally, the colors were bold and bright and the stripes were in a lightning design to describe the barriers disabled people have to navigate around. However, after feedback from the community, she made changes to accommodate those who were having their disabilities triggered by how the flag appeared on screens.

The colors were made to be more muted and the stripes were straightened in order to make the flag more accessible. The original design was reported as triggering migraines, seizures, and being difficult for those with sensory based conditions. The color brightness change also helped those with colorblindness. Some of the stripes were reordered in order to provide more visual contrast between the colors, which also was an accommodation made for color blindness.

So what do the colors mean?

Black/charcoal background: Represents the mourning and rage of the disability community due to mistreatment, abuse, and the violence that results in the ableist discrimination and death of disabled people around the world
The stripes represent cutting through the darkness and isolation and barriers
Green: Sensory disabilities (Deaf/HoH, Blind/Low-Vision, lack of smell/taste, other sensory based disabilities)
Blue: Psychiatric disabilities (Anxiety, Depression, other mental and mood disorders)
White: Invisible disabilities or not yet diagnosed.
Gold: Cognitive and intellectual disabilities, along with other forms of ND
Red: Physical disabilities

Supporting the Disability Community

What can we do to help support the disability community? The biggest thing is to listen! Individuals with disabilities know what they need best and they should be allowed to voice their needs and concerns and have them listened to. Support the movement! Ask how you can help in your local community to push for more accessibility, especially for public events which are often inaccessible even in 2024.

Support someone’s identity. Many people are taught that we should always use person-first language (a person with disabilities) as opposed to identity-first language (disabled person). However, a large amount of the community prefers identity-first language. The belief is that many disabilities cannot be separated from the life experiences of the person. The best way to know for certain is to ask! Ask how someone prefers to have their disability referred to and follow their lead!

Don’t ask invasive questions about their disability but definitely ask about their experiences if they’re open to talking about them. Many people, disabled or not, do not want to discuss the intimate details of their health. Unless knowing information is critical to accessibility accommodations or for safety, there is no need to ask.

Remember that not all disabilities are visible! You cannot tell by looking at someone if they are disabled or not. If someone identifies themselves as having a disability, never respond with “But you don’t look sick”. And especially not with “You don’t look disabled”. Someone’s age, size, or any other physical characteristics cannot always clue you into whether or not they have a disability.

And learn as much as you can. Try to consume media and content made by disabled people.

Hopefully this article has helped give you a head start into understanding the Disability Rights movement and Disability Pride!