July is Disability Pride Month

Being Visible with an Invisible Illness

July is Disability Pride Month! This year’s theme is “We Want a Life Like Yours.”  This theme comes from The Arc’s National Council of Self-Advocates. It reflects the disability community’s dreams for life experiences that are too often denied.

The American with Disabilities Acts (ADA) was signed into law thirty-four years ago on July 26, 1990, by George H.W. Bush.  The ADA website states, this historic law, “prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in many areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and many public and private places that are open to the general public.”

There are about 42.5 million Americans with disabilities, making up 13% of the civilian noninstitutionalized population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2021. This group includes people with hearing, vision, cognitive, walking, self-care, or independent living difficulties. 

Many able-bodied people may not consider disability rights to be important, but I am reminded of this quote, “the disabled population is the only minority group that anyone can join at any time due to accident or illness.”  Disability rights could suddenly become vitally important to you or someone you love.

Disability Pride Flag colors and meanings - from ADA website

“Flags symbolize solidarity, pride, and acceptance. In 2019, writer Ann Magill, who has cerebral palsy, created the original Disability Pride flag. Magill was motivated to create the flag after a less than pride-filled experience at an ADA anniversary event.

The original flag featured brightly colored zigzagging stripes over a black background. The zigzag symbolized the barriers people with disabilities face. However, this design caused symptoms in individuals with visually triggered disabilities when viewed on devices.”

Following community suggestions, Magill refined the flag: she straightened the stripes, muted the colors, and reordered them to accommodate red-green colorblindness. She showed how our community works together when we face conflicting access needs!

The new flag design is a collaborative effort, representing the community’s unity when addressing challenges. Magill waived her copyright, placing the flag in the public domain for everyone to use and remix.

The diagonal band of six color stripes cut across the barriers separating people with disabilities from society, representing light and creativity cutting through darkness. Each of the six color stripes hold meaning:

• Red: physical disabilities.

• Gold: neurodiversity.

• White: invisible disabilities and undiagnosed conditions.

• Blue: emotional and psychiatric disabilities.

• Green: sensory disabilities, including deafness, blindness, and other sensory disabilities.

• Faded Black Background: mourning and rage for victims of ableist violence and abuse.

Every single one of us who make up the disabled population is someone’s child, mother, father, sister, brother, spouse, as well as human beings in our own right.  We all deserve the opportunity to live our lives to the fullest extent possible without artificial limitations imposed by lack of access or accommodation. 

We are, each of us, a light in the darkness, and we must carry the torch to light the way for those walking beside us and those following behind us. 

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