Disability Pride Month

What is Disability Pride Month?

Disability Pride Month celebrates the day the American Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26th, 1990 by George H.W. Bush. This federal civil rights law prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in everyday activities. It guarantees that people with disabilities have equal rights to and opportunities regarding employment, purchasing goods and services, and participating in state or local government programs just as anybody else.

According to the founders of Disability Pride NYC, the aim of Disability Pride is to "promote inclusion, awareness, and visibility of people with disabilities, and redefine public perception of disability."

Along with Disability Pride Month, the Disability Pride Flag was created in 2019 by a writer, Ann Magill, who has Cerebral Palsy. For the 20th anniversary of the ADA, Magill attended an event which was held in the basement of an independent living center. She was upset that it wasn't out in public; this inspired her to make the Disability Pride Flag.

The flag on the left shows Magill's original design that she created. The zigzag design represented the struggles and barriers that people with disabilities have to maneuver around. However, when this flag would be viewed on a device, the design prompted symptoms in individuals with visually triggered disability. After receiving suggestions from the community, Magill refined the design. The new version (on the right) consisted of straightened stripes and muted colors. Furthermore, the stripes were reordered to accommodate for those with red-green colorblindness.

According to Magill, this flag symbolizes the community because everyone came together to collaboratively redesign the flag.

Each color has a specific meaning:

• Red: physical disabilities

• Gold: neurodiversity

• White: individual disabilities and disabilities that haven't yet been diagnosed

• Blue: emotional and psychiatric disabilities (such as mental illness, anxiety, and depression)

• Green: sensory disabilities (such as deafness, blindness, lack of smell and taste, etc.)

• Faded Black: represents the victims of ableist abuse and violence