What is Disability Pride Month?
“Disability pride has been described asaccepting and honoring each person’s uniqueness and seeing it as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity”
"Celebrating Disability Pride Month"
American Bar Association (americanbar.org):
Disability Pride Month evolved from a single day commemorating the signing of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act in July 1990 to a month-long celebration, beginning in 2015.
Disability Pride Month celebrates disabled persons embracing their disabilities as integral parts of who they are, reclaiming visibility in public and interacting fully with their disabilities out in the open, and rejecting shame and internalized ableism. It is a time for the disability community to come together, uplift, and amplify one another’s voices and be heard.
Did you know?
Disabled people make up 15% of the world's population representing all ages, races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds.
Disability Pride Flag
The Disability Pride flag was designed in 2019 by writer Ann Magill, who has cerebral palsy, to represent the diversity of the disabled community:
- Red - physical disabilities
- Gold - neurodiversity (autism, ADHD, traumatic brain injury, OCD, PTSD, C-PTSD, dyslexia, epilepsy, etc.)
- White - invisible disabilities and undiagnosed disabilities
- Blue - emotional and psychiatric disabilities, including mental illness, anxiety, and depression
- Green - sensory disabilities, including deafness, blindness, lack of smell, lack of taste, audio processing disorder, and all other sensory disabilities
- Black - mourning for disabled people who have died due to violence and abuse from discrimination
- Angled stripes on field of black, light cutting through darkness
(weinberg.cuimc.columbia.edu)
Did you know?
Sloped public crosswalks were not always standard, and public stairwells and staircases didn't always have handrails or safety bars.
|
|
|
Americans with Disabilities Act
Disability Pride Month also celebrates the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (July 1990), which was enacted into law, ensuring that disabled persons cannot be denied access to public spaces and services. It also codified certain public accessibility accommodations to ensure that all people—regardless of ability—can interact with information and services. (ada.gov)
Examples of public accessibility accommodations:
- sloped curbs/crosswalks - to allow for easier travel for people who use wheelchairs, walkers, and other mobility devices
- handrails/safety bars - to aid people who need mobility and/or dexterity support
- wheelchair and mobility device accessible bathrooms, walkways, ramps, voting booths, parking spaces, elevators, etc. - to provide adequate space for the use of various mobility devices
- Braille on directional and informational signs - to support independent travel for blind or low vision people
- Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS) - push button crosswalk signals with locator tones, visual, and audible directions
While not necessarily required by ADA, many public services, companies, and online spaces provide assistive technology to help ensure that people of all abilities have access to information and entertainment. Although most of these types of accommodations were developed for disabled people, both disabled and nondisabled people use many of them.
Examples of assistive technology:
- communication boards (printed cards or on electronic devices) - created for people with speech disabilities, whether physical or neurological
- plastic, bendable drinking straws - created for hospital patients who must remain lying down to drink independently
- large print books
- text size/font type settings on electronic devices
- hearing aides
- speech-to-text/text-to-speech features on computers, devices, websites, and apps.
- alt text on websites and social media posts to describe photos and illustrations
- closed captioning on TVs, online videos, and social media
- dark mode on computers, websites, devices, etc.
By adopting an open perspective on how people with disabilities navigate the world, we can recognize that providing specific accommodations is not only essential for some individuals but also beneficial for all. Large print books, developed for people with visual impairments, can be helpful to individuals with dyslexia, ADHD, and those without disabilities as well. The same applies to type and font settings. Closed captions, developed for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, can be beneficial for anyone who benefits from seeing and hearing information simultaneously, or for those who simply need to watch a show without sound. Dark mode screen settings can improve visibility for people with visual impairments, such as those who are sensitive to bright light or are photophobic. Dark mode can be more comfortable, accessible, and easier on the eyes for anyone.
Adaptive Resources at the Library
If you need assistive technology at the library, Harris County Public Library has you covered! Here at HCPL, we want everyone who visits our libraries to feel empowered to get the most out of their library experience. Each library branch offers adaptive equipment and resources that can be used in-house and some that can be checked out for use at home, including vision kits, memory kits, and comfort kits.
Learn more about library adaptive services and resources
Request Accessibility Service at HCPL
Explore Disability Pride
HCPL has thousands of books by and about people living and thriving with disabilities.
Add a comment to: Disability Pride Month: Accessibility & Accommodations