What does Disability Pride Mean To Me

July is Disability Pride Month. It began in 1990 with celebrating the day the Americans With Disabilities Act was signed into law and has expanded to encompass the entire month. While I’ve been very vocal about how the ADA is in many cases a toothless law (it requires the disabled person to sue to gain access, often not accessible or feasible), I am probably more vocal about disability pride and how important it is.

During the month of July the history and accomplishments of disabled people in all areas of life are celebrated. It’s also a chance for us to proclaim our own pride in being disabled. Coming right after June, which is LGBTQIA+ pride month, it continues a summer of pride for many individuals and a summer of awareness.

Why Disability Pride is Important

Our western medical model, seen especially in the hyper-capitalized medical system of the United States, sees disabilities as deficits. The entire study of psychology is based around social norms (cis, white, neurotypical) and “fixing” maladaptive behaviors and patterns of thinking. This leaves many individuals, especially those who live with mental health conditions and/or neurodivergence thinking that somehow they’re at fault, that they’re flawed or broken, rather than the culture or society in which we live.

Disability pride then, to me, is permission to remind myself of this fact, that my disability falls as much into the social model of disability (that the society doesn’t accommodate me) as it does the medical. I remind myself of what I accomplish, and I use it as an opportunity for education and further disability liberation.

You see, there’s nothing wrong with being disabled. Our society likes to put the reason for certain illnesses like fibromyalgia, or chronic pain, on the individual. They say that we’re not trying hard enough or they say that if we only did (fill in the blank) we’d be cured. Disability liberation is a chance to explain the falsehood of the cure narrative in many cases, and explain that you cannot blame the person for their neurotype or how their body functions. There are too many variables and things that we don’t know. And disability pride serves as a vehicle for education to change this belief.

Disability Pride Month is important to me because it’s a chance to proudly proclaim that I am who I am. It’s a month to celebrate my abilities and just how far we’ve come. It’s also a month to contemplate just how much further we can go.