What is Disability Pride Month? Originating in USA to celebrate that in 1990 over 1,000 people marched from the White House to the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress pass the Americans with Disabilities Act, Disability Pride Month is today celebrates across the world.
It’s all of the month of the July and its a way for us disabled people to embracing our disabilities as an integrate part of who we are, rejecting shame and stigma both from society and from internalized ableism.
Because there a lot of stigma in society, all the way from people thinking that the word disability is a dirty word, to how disabled people face daily discrimination in every part of their life due to lack of accessibility and knowledge, to more systematic problems like we are significantly more likely to living in poverty.
Disability Pride Month has also been criticised as some people say they don’t want their disability celebrated, and they don’t feel it is given them any kind of pride.
But I think Ardra Shephard from “tripping on air” put it perfectly “Being proud to be disabled isn’t about liking my disability. It isn’t about pretending that disability doesn’t straight-up suck. Rather, claiming disability pride is a rejection of the notion that I should feel ashamed of my body or my disability. It’s a rejection of the idea that I am less able to contribute and participate in the world, that I take more than I give, that I have less inherent value and potential than the able-bodied Becky next to me.”
Happy Disability Pride Month
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