Ways to Celebrate Disability Pride Month

July is Disability Pride Month and we are all in the celebratory mood here at Slick Chicks! This month is dedicated to celebrating education, activism, and of course pride (!) for those with physical, learning, and hidden disabilities. Below are some ideas to get you started celebrating the month: 

Due to the pandemic, the majority of the Pride Parades scheduled throughout the globe have been postponed until 2022. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t celebrate with your community virtually! Diversability offers a wide range of virtual events throughout the month including speeches from Senator Tammy Duckworth and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, demos from disability tech-startups, and a dating + disability panel. You can find Diversability’s event calendar here. 

The more discussion present in society, the more normalized disability will become. Take some time this month to talk to your loved ones about authentic stories, articles, etc. you have read from the disabled community. Dig deep and don’t just scratch the surface, the most change happens deep beneath! To help you get inspired to discuss, watch comedian and journalist Stella Young’s hilarious (and enlightening!) TED talk “I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much.” 

This past LGBTQIA+ Pride Month brought up the lack of accessibility offered during this year’s in-person parades and events. Lack of accessible entrances, disabled bathrooms, and rest points were too often common occurrences at this year’s and past year’s events. This is astonishing considering 1 in 3 LGBTQIA+ people have a disability. In order for this to change on a global scale, disabled people must be included in the conversation and disabled representation must be present in governing offices in our communities. This representation must be established through the uproar of the public-so start an Instagram Live, a petition, or a local gathering in your community and go from there! 

Sharing is caring! Fill your feed with educational resources of the month for your followers. Some of our favorites include: ADA’s publications and videos, Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, and Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law.