Disability Pride Month is celebrated in July each year - and in 2013, Chicago's Disability Pride Parade explained their mission as:
"To change the way people think about and define 'disability,' to break down and end the internalized shame among people with disabilities, and to promote the belief in society that disability is a natural and beautiful part of human diversity in which people living with disability can take pride."
The Disability Pride movement is long-standing, and became more evident as a day of celebration in 1990 - the same year that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law. Boston celebrated its first Disability Pride Day that year, however many are also familiar with the earlier 504 disability civil rights movements of the 1970s which is chronicled in the movie Crip Camp, (Crip Camp Netflix link, Crip Camp YouTube link, which highlights the advocacy efforts of Judy Heumann and James LeBrecht, among others). The Capitol Crawl in March of 1990 created momentum for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act later that year. This July marks the 35th anniversary of the ADA, and many cities across the country celebrate disability pride with parades and festivals. Let's work together to support access and inclusion so more people can say it loud, "I'm disabled and I'm proud!"
The Disability Pride flag strives to be inclusive of all disabilities, the colors/stripes represent:
- Red: physical disabilities.
- Gold: neurodiversity.
- White: invisible disabilities and undiagnosed conditions.
- Blue: emotional and psychiatric disabilities.
- Green: sensory disabilities, including deafness, blindness, and other sensory disabilities.
- Faded Black Background: mourning and rage for victims of ableist violence and abuse.
Celebrate the Anniversary of the ADA on July 26 (a Saturday) on Friday July 25 by coming topping by UMBC's ADS/SDS Open House, or going on theAccessibility Walk and Roll UMBC Tour at Noon.
Learn more about the lived experience of people with disabilities:
- View The Ride Ahead film on July 3, at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (in-person only) on Youth and the Future of Culture, or on July 21 via PBS POV.
- Explore access to large events with NARIC's A View From the Accessible Seats article.- there are tips and resources for hosting as well.
- Accompany Andrew Leland's journey from sightedness to navigating blindness with How To Be Blind - for a deeper dive, his recent memoir is The Country of the Blind, A Memoir at the End of Sight.
- Learn of Lolo Spencer's journey from advocate to actor.
- Engage with Naheen Ahmed's CBC First Person article: My Disability Makes My Body Feel Unpredictable: Art Helps Me Lean Into the Chaos
- Navigating Personal Living Space with Heather Hogan on Making Accessibility a Part of My Home
- Navigating the existing healthcare system as exemplified with a chronically ill college student fighting against United Heathcare's denial of coverage.
Other ways to celebrate Disability Pride:
- Participate in the ADA National Network's 35th Anniversary Awareness Campaigns
- Attend Baltimore's Disability Pride Art Fest on July 12 (Sat) 10-2 at 400 Cathedral Street (EPFL Central Branch)
- The NYPL has a range of titles for reading a book about disability.
- Take in Michaela Otera's 2023 Disabled Beauty Series.
- Watch a movie that includes actors with disabilities.
- Visit the Society of Disabled Oracles - a creation of Alice Wong, Aimi Hamraie and Jen White Johnson. If they sound familiar, Aimi Hamraie has presented here on Critical Access Studies via the Dresher Center, and Jen White Johnson has conducted two HTLab on Zines as Tools for Action.
- Faculty can learn more about Accessible Course Design with this free webinar on July 24
Get familiar with local resources and technical assistance - here is a sampling of what is available at UMBC:
- UMBC Critical Disability Studies courses as a minor area of study
- Accessibility and Disability Services (check out Disability Pride events here)
- Student Disability Services
- Report a UMBC Campus Accessibility Concern via this online form and be an accessibility ally - this is after being a good campus citizen by bringing it to the attention of the responsible department, such as reporting a Facilities Management repair to 410-455-2550.
- Learn more about UMBC's Disability Studies First Year Seminar and American Sign Language courses.
- Become involved with student organizations such as Sign of Life (ASL), UMBC NAMI (Mental Health), Delta Alpha Pi (Honor Society for Students with Disabilities), DAU, Best Buddies, and more.
We look forward to celebrating with you all month long. We ALSO celebrate Disability Pride every day, and especially in October, when more people are on campus.
