Disability Pride Month

Hello, Lovelies!

Let's have a brief discussion.

I am learning a lot about the different types of communities and things that go on in those communities.

I am a disabled person but I am isolated from others like me, so this is all new to me and I am here to educate and spread awareness as I experience and learn different things, so lets learn together.

As we know last month was Pride month!! I hope that all my fellow members of the Alphabet Mafia had a great safe time and enjoyed themselves!

But now it is JULY..So what does that mean? It is DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH!!

What is it and when did it start you may ask?

It was in 1990.

*The first Disability Pride Day was held in Boston, MA in 1990. This coincides with the same year the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law, creating a new era of change for the disability community. The United States first Disability Pride Parade was held in Chicago in 2004.

~July was decleared Disability Pride Month in celebration of the *ADA's 25th anniversary. The month is a chance to honor each person's uniqueness as "a natural and beautiful part of human diversity," according to America's Disability Community.

As a disabled person myself, this is important because it gives us a chance to be seen and heard in the community, to live our lives as proud disabled people. It gives us the needed visibility. It is a fairly new concept though, and is newly celebrated. Disabled people still don't have equality in life, or marriage and face a heap of hardship and still arent accepted as normal people, often getting treated as less than..

Often times there isn't accessibility or even proper representation in media about disabled people and we are often left out or an after thought for basic things like hanging out with friends, or events, or even finding housing that is accessible, a basic human right!! We are usually praised in the media for" overcoming adversary or being aww inducing or inspiring," just for living our lives or doing basic things that abled people do. And we are usually portrayed by abled bodied people in shows or movies that often get it wrong.(C'mon Hollywood, am I right?!)

That is why DPM is so important to put us out in the forefront!

As far as Pride month goes where we celebrate and bring awareness to our history, sexuality, gender or lack there of,and everything in between, a lot of people think that there is a separate pride for disabled people to do the same but that isn't the case as far as I know. We celebrate (lgbtq+) pride at the same time along with everyone else. Although the events are usually pretty discriminatory toward disabled people, despite the many times accessibility problems have been a stopping force to allowing disabled people to enjoy themselves like everyone else, this is still a HUGE problem that still isn't being addressed!

So stay safe and enjoy your summer!

Take time to learn about how to care for your family and friends that are disabled and learn a little about what they go through. Always remember Accessibility, and thanks for briefly learning about this with me!

PROUDLY BE YOURSELF and raise your flag* high! (Yes there is a flag for disability pride!)

_Stay Lovely_

LEARN MORE:

~ (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/07/02/how-disability-pride-month-started-and-what-means/7840560002/)

*(https://ncil.org/disability-pride-toolkit-and-resource-guide/)

*ADA: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas, including employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications and access to state and local government' programs and services.

*Disability flag: This flag represents the Disability Pride Movement specifically, its origin is from English-speaking countries, where there is a greater presence. A leading movement in events such as Disability Pride Month, Disability Pride Week and the parades of both events. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability_flag)