Disability Pride

Disability Pride Flag

July is Disability Pride Month!

by Emily Kibler | July 26, 2024
What is Disability Pride?
Disability pride in its simplest form is the idea that being disabled is not something a person should be ashamed of, but rather is something to celebrate. 

Disabilities are more than the conditions, syndromes, diagnoses, and illnesses that might characterize a person’s heath–disabilities are identities. An identity is formed when a person realizes that an aspect of their experience has impacted the way they interact with the world (or the way the world interacts with them). Once a person recognizes an aspect of their identity, the next logical step for many people is to find others who share this identity. This creates a community. 

The disability community was born out of this drive for people to not feel alone in their experiences. For many years (and still today), disabled people were confined to homes, hospitals, and institutions and therefore did not have the ability to seek out others like them. However, as early advocates fought for increased access to education and other public spaces, a community began to form.

Today, the disability community is very vast and includes many sub-communities (such as communities related to being neurodivergent, mentally ill, physically disabled, chronically ill, Deaf or Hard of Hearing, Blind or visually impaired, and many more identities) plus there are even smaller communities for people with the same or a similar diagnosis. These communities are integral for many disabled individuals as they provide a safe environment to talk about the struggles and joys of being disabled with peers who get it. 

This is why disability pride exists. 

Disability has always been an identity with significant stigma. Many people, both disabled and not, still perpetuate the idea that the goal of a disabled person is to no longer be disabled. For example, this is seen with organizations like Autism Speaks that aim to “fix” a person or “cure” their disability. 

Disability pride questions that perspective by telling disabled people that they are perfect just as they are and don’t need fixing. Any treatments or procedures that a person might get for the medical side of their disability should be on their own terms and should be focused on easing symptoms rather than making a person act, look, or otherwise appear less disabled. The caveat to this statement is that as long as a disabled person is making an informed decision about their heath and is not pressured into a certain treatment, this is still disability pride, even if the treatment makes them appear to the world as “less disabled.” The point is to question the perspective of seeing disability as a bad thing to hide or erase and instead see disability as an aspect of a person’s identity that is just as valid and respectable as every other aspect of their identity.
What can you do?
The first step towards disability pride happens internally. Notice when you find yourself thinking that a disabled person is inspirational and question whether the person might find this demeaning. Disabled people do inspirational things every day that are worth celebrating.

In general, something that a person does every day and would likely do every day even if they weren’t disabled (like going to work) is likely not inspirational. Disabled adults are often treated like children, and you don’t want to add to that experience with a well-meaning but misguided comment. 

On the other side, work hard to ignore negative stigma when you have those thoughts. We cannot always control our thoughts, but we can control how we act on those thoughts. Support people in their diagnoses and do not question their identity based on your own perception of what you expect a person with a certain disability to act like. A person might use a wheelchair but can also walk some or even ride a bike. A kid might be doing very well in school but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t struggling. Trust that a person is the best expert on their own experience; you never want to be the reason that someone stops reaching out for help or following their passions. You might think that it is just a small comment or facial expression, but these little things add up over time and can be devastating to an individual.
How can I do more to help?
July is a great time to donate to your favorite disability organizations! If you are looking to donate, it is important to do a lot of research, not only on the organization itself, but also on the opinions that disabled people have about the organization. If you don’t have access to that information, here are a few quick tips to identify good places to donate.
  1. Disability led: The best places to donate are organizations that not only hire people with disabilities but also have disabled individuals in positions of power and on the Board. If this information is not on an organizations website, a good place to track down this information is on GuideStar.
  2. Fees for service: While it is not always possible for organizations to provide their services for free, this is an easy way to ensure that your donation is going directly to the consumers or clients of that organization, either through providing services or direct financial support.
  3. Appropriate language: Read through the mission, vision, and history of the organization. Look for keywords like “cure,” “suffers from,” “confined to,” or a strong focus on assisting families rather than the person themself that might lead you to believe that they don’t follow the ideals of disability pride. If you see “empowerment,” “advocacy,” “integration,” and a general focus on centering the services around the goals of the person who has a disability, you are on the right track.
Of course, we at Alliance of Disability Advocates are always looking for new donations! Therefore, it is important to us that we also stand by these principles.
  1. All Centers for Independent Living are required to have a majority of staff, management, and board members to identify as disabled. At ADA, 57% of staff, 88% of management, and 56% of the Board of Directors are individuals with disabilities.
  2. All services provided by ADA are free to consumers.
  3. If you want to learn more about us and make sure we pass your own personal language test, read our mission and vision here to learn more about us and our philosophy.