Monthly Spotlight - July 2024

Disability Pride Month

In July, we celebrate Disability Pride Month.

Disability Pride Month is celebrated every July and is an opportunity to honor the history, achievements, experiences, and struggles of the disability community. Why July? It marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), landmark legislation that was passed into law on July 26, 1990.  This day is a powerful one for the rights of people living with a disability in the workplace and beyond. It celebrates progress made in ensuring that equal opportunities, access and inclusion for all people exist in employment and public spaces.  The first official celebration of Disability Pride Month occurred in July 2015, which also marked the 25th anniversary of the ADA.

The original Disability Pride flag was created in 2019 by writer Ann Magill, who has cerebral palsy. Flags can raise awareness and are a symbol of solidarity, pride and acceptance, and the Disability Pride flag is no exception.  The original flag featured brightly colored zigzagging stripes over a black background. The zigzag represented how people with disabilities have to maneuver around all the barriers they face.  However, when viewed on the phone or a device, the 2019 design prompted symptoms in individuals with visually triggered disabilities. At the same time, the community offered suggestions.  Magill refined the visual elements with these suggestions in mind. The new version straightened the stripes and muted the colors. The stripes were also reordered to accommodate people with red-green colorblindness.  The flag is considered a collaborative design effort, with Magill saying the new design truly represents the represents the community because the community came together to solve a problem. Magill has waived her copyright and entered this flag into the public domain, so that everyone is free to use and remix it.

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 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.

Disability Pride Month is also recognized on National Disability Independence Day on July 26.

Link to image of 2019 flag.
Link to image of 2021 flag.

Sources: 

https://www.diversityresources.com/july-diversity-calendar-2024/
https://thearc.org/
https://www.weinberg.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/history-disability-pride-flag