Disability Pride Month
Disability is a part of the rich tapestry of human diversity, and something that nearly all of us will experience at some point in our lives. It’s also a significant identity that defines how we experience the world. Yet people with disabilities have been marginalized and misunderstood for generations. All disabilities and their intersecting identities should be acknowledged, valued, and respected, and one way to do that is during Disability Pride Month.
Download a pdf of this information: Disability Pride Month Events
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 broke down barriers to inclusion in society. But barriers still exist, which is why we need to honor every kind of disability, the people who identify with them, and the wide range of supports they need to thrive.
The flag was originally designed in 2019 by writer Ann Magill, who has cerebral palsy. The flag has gone through a few iterations with heavy involvement from those all across the disability spectrum.
- Faded Black represents “the anger and mourning over the eugenics and the neglect that disabled people have to fight against.”
- Red represents physical disabilities.
- Gold is for neurodiversity.
- White represents invisible disabilities and disabilities that haven’t yet been diagnosed.
- Blue stands for emotional and psychiatric disabilities, including mental illness, anxiety, and depression.
- Green is for sensory disabilities, including deafness, blindness, lack of smell, lack of taste, audio processing disorder, and all other sensory disabilities.
Physical Disabilities
Impairment in a person’s body structure or function, or mental functioning; examples of impairments include loss of a limb, loss of vision or memory loss.
Invisible Disabilities
Invisible disabilities, also known as hidden disabilities or non-visible disabilities, are disabilities that are not immediately apparent, are typically chronic illnesses and conditions that significantly impair normal activities of daily living
Accessibility
Accessibility is the practice of making information, activities, and/or environments sensible, meaningful, and usable for as many people as possible.
Emotional Disabilities
An emotional or behavioral disability is a disability that impacts a person’s ability to effectively recognize, interpret, control, and express fundamental emotions.
Psychiatric Disabilities
a functional impairment of an organ or body system and includes mental illness, eating disorders and cognitive impairments.
Sensory Disabilities
These can involve any of the five senses, but for educational purposes, it generally refers to a disability related to hearing, vision, or both hearing and vision. Sensory disabilities affect access – access to visual and/or auditory information.
Tokenistic Representation of Disability
Examples meant to use disabled people to make able-bodied people feel good, or reduce disabled people into objects of inspiration.
Neurodiversity
the range of differences in individual brain function and behavioral traits, regarded as part of normal variation in the human population
Person First vs. Identity First
Person First language is when you use the word ‘Person’, then say the disability. For example: Person with Autism or Person with a Disability. Someone may prefer Person First terminology because they want to be recognized as a person separate from their disability. Identity First language means you say the disability first, then ‘person’, For example – Autistic Person. Disabled People. Many Autistic people prefer identity first terminology, but it is important to ask someone’s preference! The reason for preferring Identity First may be because someone feels that their disability is an integral part of who they are.
Avoiding Ableist Language
“This list has been compiled and changed over time with input from many different disabled people, people with disabilities, self-advocates, d/Deaf and hard of hearing people, people with chronic illnesses, sick people, mad people, neurodivergent people, etc. Also, people in community often disagree about whether a word should be on this list or not, and whether a word on this list is a slur as opposed to a non-slur that is nonetheless ableist in origin or use or both.”
What is there to be proud about?
This answer will differ for every person, but in a general sense, “disability pride” is meant to be a declaration of unconditional pride in being disabled, embracing it, and being part of a disability community. Every person has the right to be proud of who they are and what makes up their identity. That pride shouldn’t depend on being “successful” or “normal” by societal standards. It’s a direct encouragement to be seen and to interact fully, with disabilities upfront and not hidden or minimized for the comfort or convenience of others.
Ted Talks
- Stella Young video: “I’m Not Your Inspiration, Thank You Very Much”
- Maysoon Zayid video: “I Got 99 Problems; Palsy Is Just One”
- Not Hearing Loss, Deaf Gain
ROOTED in Rights
Rooted in Rights uses accessible digital media to advance the dignity, equality, and self-determination of people with disabilities.
The Arc
The Arc works to uphold their vision that every individual and family living with IDD in the United States has access to the information, advocacy, and skills they need to support their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes.
Disability Rights Center for KS
Find Kansas Resources for Disability Issues
Missouri Disability Portal
The Disability Portal is the State of Missouri’s disability resource website. It includes links to federal and state programs and services for Missourians with disabilities, provides information on laws, rights, and etiquette, and offers a searchable resource directory on local disability service organizations.
SACK (Self Advocacy Coalition of Kansas) speaks up at the local, state and national level to ensure the rights of people with disabilities to:
- live independently, to exert control and choice over their own lives,
- fully participate in and contribute to their communities through full integration and inclusion in the economic, political, social, cultural, and educational mainstream of United States society
Mental Health Peer Support Free July 18
If you are a person with a mental health disability, join your peers to share information and successful techniques addressing the needs and challenges that you face.
Advocates in Action Free July 25
Open to all people with disabilities and anyone in the community who wants to participate in civic activities at the city, state, and federal levels of government impacting people with disabilities in Kansas and Missouri. All are invited!
Tech Talk – Blind/Low Vision Free July 17
Tech talk is a peer support group for blind and low vision consumers. It is a recurring Zoom event, on the third Monday of the month from 5:30-6:30pm. Each Tech Talk will have a guest speaker who will share information on topics that interest participants.
InnovateHER: Ice Cream & Impact Free July 5
The Golden Scoop is a life changing, non-profit ice cream and coffee shop. They provide innovative and meaningful employment for individuals with developmental disabilities and delicious ice cream and coffee to the Kansas City community. We’re so excited to come together, enjoy some delicious coffee (FYI, we strongly support eating ice cream for breakfast), and hear more from The Golden Scoop team on their work.
Midwest Ability Summit Free August 18
The Midwest Ability Summit (formerly the Kansas City Ability Expo) is collaboration between several metro-wide organizations. Their purpose is to create a truly metro-wide ability expo for those with disabilities and older adults, their families, caregivers, healthcare professionals and as a FREE educational opportunity for the entire Greater Kansas City community.
Blindess Community Changemakers
Former New York Gov. David Paterson, blind since childhood, is the subject of the first episode of Alphapointe’s Foresight, a video and podcast series that explores the past, present, and future of vision loss through discussions with changemakers in the blindness community. (Recorded Past Event)
Sensory Safe Spaces, KC – The following organizations host specific low sensory events and reserve spaces for attendees with sensory needs.
Martin Luther King Jr. Park, LegoLand, KC Royals @ Kauffman, The Nelson Atkins, Kansas City Zoo, Kansas City Symphony Johnson County Museum
- Lauren Melissa Ellzey @autienelle
- Vilissa Thompson @VilissaThompson
- Samantha Renke @SamanthaRenke
- Haley Moss @Haley.Moss
Education
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Blair Imani @BlairImani
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Alice Wong @SFDirewolf
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Rikki Poynter @RikkyPoynter
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Shane Burcaw @ShaneBurcaw
LGBTQIA+
- Jessica Kellgren-Fozard @JessicaOutOftheCloset
- Annie Segarra @Annieelainey
- Julian Gavino @TheDisabledHippie
- Aaron Philip @aaron_Philip
Wellness
- Keah Brown @Keah_Maria
- The Chronic Couple @the.chronic.couple
- Zora Zoe @Zoraaax6
- Charleigh VIctory @Charrvictory
Art and Fashion
- Tess Daly @Tess.Daly
- Luke Sam Sowden @LukeSamSowden
- Sinead Burke @TheSineadBurke
- Chella Man @ChellaMan
Food and Fun
- Dylan Alcott @DylanAlcott
- Christine Ha @TheBlindCook
- Carmen Sturdy @EveryLastBite
“The Whole Person, a local nonprofit that provides services to people with disabilities, will be hosting a celebration of the passing of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) 32 years ago. In addition to celebrations, there will be voter registration and the Bookmobile will be providing book giveaways, library services and games. “
Demystifying Disability
“People with disabilities are the world’s largest minority, an estimated 15 percent of the global population. But many of us—disabled and nondisabled alike—don’t know how to act, what to say, or how to be an ally to the disability community. Demystifying Disability is a friendly handbook on the important disability issues you need to know about.“
Disability Visibility: First person stories
“From Harriet McBryde Johnson’s account of her debate with Peter Singer over her own personhood to original pieces by authors like Keah Brown and Haben Girma; from blog posts, manifestos, and eulogies to Congressional testimonies, and beyond: this anthology gives a glimpse into the rich complexity of the disabled experience, highlighting the passions, talents, and everyday lives of this community. It invites readers to question their own understandings. It celebrates and documents disability culture in the now. It looks to the future and the past with hope and love.“
We’re Not Broken – Changing the Conversation by Eric Garcia
“This book by an actually autistic journalist is an important read for both parents and people on the spectrum. It addresses many of the common myths about autism and shows how much neurodiverse people can contribute to the world if people take the time to understand us and give us a chance.”
Note: Currently only 6% of media characters are portrayed with disabilities. Only .36% of those characters are played by actors who share the portrayed disability. Most Media about Disabled People has been created without proper consultants or input from the proper communities and are therefore not accurate, controversial and ableist. We’ve listed a few movies here that have been created by and for different members of the Community.
Crip Camp – Netflix
A groundbreaking summer camp galvanizes a group of teens with disabilities to help build a movement, forging a new path toward greater equality.
CODA
CODA is a 2021 coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Sian Heder. An English-language remake of the 2014 French-Belgian film La Famille Bélier, it stars Emilia Jones as Ruby Rossi, the titular child of deaf adults (CODA) and only hearing member of her family, a teenager who attempts to help her family’s struggling fishing business while pursuing her own aspirations of being a singer.
Life, Animated – Vudu, Hulu
After watching animated Disney movies, including The Little Mermaid and the Lion King, a young autistic man finds a common language with his parents, and sees his communication skills develop.
Loop – (short) Disney+
A non-verbal, autistic girl and a chatty boy are partnered on a canoeing trip. They must both learn how the other experiences the world.
Mylein & Melanin Hosted by Dawn & Daana
“Hosts Dawn and Daana, from Georgia and Wisconsin respectively, both have Multiple Sclerosis. The women started their podcast because of a lack of Black voices in the MS community and they wanted to add perspective from their real life experiences, Dawn and Daana told Jessie Wolfe on her blog Following Wolfe Tracks.”
The Accessible Stall Hosted by: Kyle Khachadurian & Emly Ladau
“The Accessible Stall is a disability podcast that keeps it real about issues within the disability community. Because we each have different disabilities and mobility levels, we approach everything we talk about with two unique viewpoints, offering our listeners a fresh insight into how differences in disability can color your experiences and perspectives. And we never shy away from offering our honest opinion. Even if they go against the grain of the disability community at large, we always speak our minds.”
Disarming Disability
“The podcast’s mission is to powerfully deconstruct disability through candid conversations with experts exploring topics related to disability. The podcast looks to educate, empower, voice, and build a more inclusive society. Our vision is that people will connect to the history, policy, stories, and research on disability to launch their advocacy efforts and create more inclusive communities.”
Power not Pity hosted by: Bri M
“Welcome to POWER NOT PITY, a podcast that centers and celebrates the lived experiences of disabled people of color. “
DisaVisability hosted by Alice Wong
“In-depth interviews and discussions with disability community leaders and creators, on disability identity, culture, activism and politics, with an emphasis on intersections of disability and race, gender, sexuality, and other marginalized identities.”
Down to the Struts, hosted by: Qudsiya Naqui
“A look at accessible design, both physical and cultural, from a wide variety of angles and voices.”
The Manic Episodes hosted by: Mary Lambert
“A super-gay podcast by super-gay singer-songwriter Mary Lambert and her partner Wyatt about bipolar disorder, queer relationships, and self love. And poems. “
Inclusive Education Project Hosted by: Amanda Selogie and Vickie Brett
Disability rights is the next frontier in civil rights. The Inclusive Education Project Podcast offers a fresh, smart perspective on what it takes to truly make our educational systems and communities inclusive. Tune in each week as the hosts share insight on topics ranging from education reform to advocating for equal rights for all students, and participating in modern activism. This show will also offer user-friendly resources to help you and your family navigate the educational playing field.