So, what does Disability Pride look like today? One focus which is often not mentioned when people discuss Disability Pride, is that ultimately Disability Pride is about organising and making changes to the barriers we face by working together to campaign and keep up the fight until something is done about it. This can be done through supporting mainstream campaigns but also through organising with other disabled people to pull together as the voices of many are much more powerful than a single voice trying to be heard in a busy world where we’re already not part of the thought process.
The other key part of Disability Pride is about making our community visible to the world as we’re still overlooked continuously, even by the government, for example, disabled people make up the largest part of the population with a protected characteristic and yet when you hear lists of protected characteristics including race, religion, gender, etc so often disability isn’t even on the list, despite it having the same protections. So go out and make yourself seen, not so much because you’re proud to be disabled throughout this month, but to share that you’re proud to be a part of the disability community, that we exist, that we matter, that we’re valid members of society who have a right to live full and complete lives and that we will not be overlooked. It’s about making ourselves visible as a whole community, standing up together and letting the world know that we are not going to disappear, and we will continue to fight for equality, for access, for non-judgemental attitudes, and we won’t hide away whilst we do it. *