DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH

 The month of July is- Disability Pride Month celebrates the anniversary of the ADA's passage and the work of activists like Heumann. The theme for 2024 is “We Want a Life Like Yours,” reflecting the disability community's strive for equality.

 

Disability pride month symbol

In October 2021 the new disability flag was unveiled, by its creator Ann Magill, shows a straight diagonal banner of five colors on a dark background.

The flag is an update of Magill's original 2019 disability pride flag, which showed the banner with zigzag lines.

  

Each color stripe has a meaning:

• Red - physical disabilities.
• Gold - neurodiversity.
• White - invisible disabilities and disabilities that haven't yet been diagnosed.
• Blue - emotional and psychiatric disabilities, including mental illness, anxiety, and depression.
• Green - for sensory disabilities, including deafness, blindness, lack of smell, lack of taste, audio processing disorder, and all other sensory disabilities.

The faded black background symbolizes mourning and rage for victims of ableist violence and abuse. The diagonal band cuts across the walls and barriers that separate the disabled from normate society, also representing light and creativity cutting through the darkness.

The first official celebration of Disability Pride Month occurred in July 2015, which also marked the 25th anniversary of the ADA. The ADA/ American with Disabilities Act was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990. This landmark law prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.

Disability Pride initially started as a day of celebration that year. 

A poem written by V K Munn

Disability to Ability

At one time, it defined me,

Crippled me,

Called ‘a cripple,’

My every waking hour evolved around it.

 From the weather to arches and pains,

It engulfed me like the wind on a stormy November day.

And I accepted it.

 There were days of complaining about what I can’t do.

Not realizing all that I could do.

I was a work in progress.

 

We always complain about

What we don’t have

Wanting this and that,

Lacking this or that…

 

There are many disabilities that are not visible.

Yes, I have a disability!

To look at me - it shows

I wear many braces.

You can’t miss them.

 

There’s Ajay, cervical collar,

Lily, lumbar brace,

The twins on my knees/PRN – as needed.

And lets me not forget Ethel the wrist brace.

And Lance the ankle brace/ PRN – as needed.

Yes, they have names, and why not!

These six braces have become a part of me.

So now you have been introduced.

 

My disability no longer defines me.

I have long ago decided to navigate this life,

Turning my Disability and its many challenges to Ability!

 V.K. Munn   2022 July 19

In Honor of Disability Pride Month