Celebrating Disability Pride Month

July is Disability Pride Month. It's a time to celebrate the creativity, resilience, and achievements of disabled people. It's a journey that is different for every disabled person.

For some, the sense of pride comes from a place of self-acceptance, feeling proud of who they are and the person that they have become. For others, the pride comes from the challenges they have overcome. For some it comes from being a part of the disabled community.

Disability Pride isn't a constant for every person. Some may feel it all the time or only some of the time. Some people may not feel it at all, and that's okay. There isn't a right or a wrong way to experience Disability Pride. The important fact is that Disability Pride month is about starting positive conversations about disability. It's a time for embracing disabled identity and rejecting the negative stereotypes that colour people's attitudes.

Raising awareness around disability is a critical aspect of Disability Pride. It creates opportunities to have positive conversations about disability, whilst also recognising the difficult and uncomfortable aspects that come with being disabled.

Disability Pride Month encourages open, positive conversations about disability and challenges systemic ableism, harmful stereotypes and discrimination. Bringing home the message that accessibility is everybodys' responsibility.

The flag is an important symbol of Disability Pride Month. The black background represents the barriers and darkness that disabled people face. The diagonal stripes are together in solidarity, like light cutting through darkness and as disabled people cut across barriers in their lives.

Each coloured stripe represents a different category of disability:

• Red = Physical Disabilities
• Gold = Neurodiversity
• White = Invisible or Undiagnosed Disabilities
• Blue = Emotional and Psychiatric Disabilities
• Green = Sensory Disabilities.

Together the colours represent unity and resilience.