This month marks the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Disability Pride Month was officially established nearly 10 years ago.
As one blind author and illustrator recently pointed out, disability comes in many forms, and the struggle for community, inclusion and acceptance remains as strong today as ever.
According to the American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 42.5 million people in the United States, or 13% of the population, had a disability in 2021. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide have a severe disability, which is 16% of the world’s population, or one in six people.
When is Disability Pride Month?
Disability Pride Month is observed every July and coincides with the anniversary of the signing into law of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990, to protect the rights of people with disabilities against employment discrimination and promote their inclusion in society.
President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act on the South Lawn of the White House. Joining him on stage are (standing left to right) Rev. Harold Wilkie of Claremont, California; Sandra Parrino of the National Council on Disabilities; (seated left to right) Equal Opportunity Commission Chairman Evan Kemp; and Justin Dart of the President’s Commission on Employment of People with Disabilities. George Bush Presidential Library and Museum
It also aimed to expand access to all levels of government, public accommodations, transportation, and communications, building on the protections guaranteed by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Although the 1973 law was the first law to address the rights of people with disabilities, its protections only applied to employers who received federal funding.
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Disability pride is celebrated around the world, including in the UK, South Africa and elsewhere, sometimes in different months.
What is Disability Pride Month?
Disability Pride Month was officially established in 2015 to mark the 25th anniversary of the ADA, and the first Disability Pride Month Parade was held in New York City that year.
Celebrations commemorating this landmark law began much earlier: The first Disability Pride event was held in Boston in 1990, the same year the Civil Rights Act was signed. In 2004, Chicago held its first Disability Pride Parade.
The idea of ​​disability pride, like LGBTQ and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) pride, is rooted in issues of visibility.
The Chicago Disability Pride Parade defines its mission in three ways: to change “the way people think about and define disability,” to disrupt and end “internalized shame among people with disabilities,” and to promote the belief in society that disability is “a natural and beautiful part of human diversity.”
Disability affects all of us. One in four Americans will develop a disability in their lifetime, said Patrick Cokley, a senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Cokley has low eyesight.
“If we pretend that this is just a small group or a tiny population that we’ve never heard of, then we do ourselves a disservice,” he told CBS News in an interview earlier this year. “And then we leave out all the other countless people who may have hidden disabilities, age-related disabilities or acquired disabilities.”
The starting point for interacting with people with disabilities
Marisa Hamamoto’s experience as a spinal stroke survivor who was diagnosed with autism as an adult highlights the intersectionality and diversity of the disability community.
Although she remembers experiences growing up where she felt like she never fit in, she believes dance is a universal experience that anyone can enjoy. In 2015, Hamamoto founded Infinite Flow Dance, an award-winning dance company based in Los Angeles.
“Growing up, I was the only Asian American in my neighborhood, and I was bullied at school for looking different,” she says, “but society, the dance world, sent the message that dance was something only a select few could do.”
Her nonprofit employs disabled and able-bodied dancers with a mission to promote disability inclusion through dance.
“Prejudice and discrimination prevent people from accessing education, employment, entertainment and so many other things in life. This isn’t right,” she told CBS News. “So we really want to change that perception.”
Part of it is education: Although Hamamoto’s work has expanded every year since founding Infinite Flow, she freely admits that she’s always learning.
According to Hamamoto, the starting point for interacting with people with disabilities is as follows:
do
please do not
Start the conversation by focusing on similarities rather than differences, and direct your questions at them, not at anyone else with them.
Ask “What’s wrong?” or “What happened?”
Ask permission before moving a cane or wheelchair. Their mobility device should be seen as an extension of themselves and treated as such.
Move a cane or wheelchair.
Remember that people with disabilities are people first, so treat them accordingly.
Being overly kind and overly cheerful.
“It’s important to be nonjudgmental,” she says, “because no two people with disabilities have the same needs.”
Hamamoto told CBS News that Disability Pride Month is important to highlight because it gives collective empowerment to people in the disability community.
She said the road to disability acceptance is a personal journey, but was quick to note that people with disabilities are not alone and there is strength in numbers.
“Some of us are born with disabilities, and others acquire disabilities at some point in life,” she says. “Disabilities are a big part of our lives, and they can also be strengths.”
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Michael LoPolo