Skip to main content
search
Tag

#DisabilityPride

Jul 05

What is Disability Pride Month and why do we need one?

By Disability, Sex & disability, Undressing Disability

What is Disability Pride Month and why do we need one?

Happy Pride Month everyone!

June and July mark queer/LGBT+ Pride Month and Disability Pride Month. While most people will know what LGBT+ Pride Month is and how it is celebrated, there is more confusion around Disability Pride Month.

If you have ever wondered what, when and most importantly how to mark the occasion, then our blog will explain everything you need to know.

Why do we need Pride months?

Pride months allow us to celebrate, mark and commemorate our communities. Queer Pride started as a protest and has now become a joyful occasion which aims to make the community more visible. It also retains its roots in political protest by highlighting the struggles of LGBT+ people.

Disability Pride Month works similarly in that it aims to highlight the difficulties that disabled people face while connecting the community and making it more visible.

What is Disability Pride Month

In July, disabled and neurodivergent people mark Disability Pride Month in many ways. Some people may prefer to use the month to share political views, comment on current affairs close to the interests of disabled people or campaign for change. Others may prefer to host or attend events for the community aimed at creating safe, accessible spaces.

Some people may also use the month to share information on their situation or health conditions. Many may use hashtags to connect and make their related content more visible.

Disability Pride is built upon the social model of disability and is described as moving away from the medical model of disability. The social model of disability identifies barriers, organisational barriers, negative attitudes, and/or social exclusion which make it difficult for disabled people to go about their everyday activities. The social model seeks to change these barriers rather than a person’s impairment. When these barriers are removed, disabled people can be independent and equal.

There is no right or wrong way to mark the month!

When is disability Pride month?

The entire month of July starting on the 1st.

Why are you talking about disability and joy?

Quite frankly, it’s grim out there.

Between the cost of living crisis, general elections, war….there are multiple reasons why the current climate feels very negative and depressing at the moment. Not to mention, we are often juggling our own health and healthcare which isn’t easy.

Finding time for some joy is essential self-care. It allows us to stop, take a moment and find a way to feel a bit of happiness and maybe a chance to smile.

We asked disabled/neurodivergent people to share with us what brings them joy. This could be what they do for self-care, something about disability that they like or something they love that makes them smile.

What to learn more about Pride month? Visit our blog on the celebration.

What makes you feel joyful?

“It doesn’t necessarily mean I’m proud of my deafness and my other disabilities as such, it means more that I’m not ashamed of them and I don’t feel I need to make excuses or hide my true self. It means I can be myself authentically and unapologetically. Do I some times wish them away, yes, when I’m in pain or I’m feeling frustrated. Do I want to always feel like that, no I don’t, because people around me accept me for me and I accept me for me. That’s what disability pride means to me” – Jennie Williams

“I love Disability Pride Month as I love that anyone who’s disabled, and there’s a lot of us, comes together to show the entire world just how amazing we are.” – Luke Sowden

Jul 14

Disability Pride Month 2021

By Sex & disability, Undressing Disability

A guest blog post by Damian, from the Undressing Disability Team. Damian shares his personal experience of learning to accept and love himself as a disabled person and why he now celebrates Disability Pride Month.

Damian wears a pink tshirt and leans against a brick wall. He is white with short brown hair and dark rimmed glasses and a light beard

When I was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) at 14 years old, I found it hard to come to terms with. I wondered what it would mean for my life. It took me a very long time to “own” my disability and not be afraid or ashamed to show it.

I think it was hard when I was first diagnosed as I had to give up a lot of the things that I enjoyed doing, like running and playing football. There was nothing in the way of support or guidance back then.  Looking back now, I think I was affected more than I realise by the fact that I did not get to finish my last year at school. The school decided it wasn’t safe for me to be on the premises after I slipped down a couple of stairs on my crutches. They had no interest in making things more accessible for me so I had to leave and was only allowed to sit a few of my exams. To be honest it was hard getting people to accept that I had a disability. Back then, hardly anyone had heard of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome so the fact I had to leave school and was seeing my friends less made it really hard. I missed out on a lot of the experiences teenagers usually get to enjoy.

“I tried to hide my disability”

Some people thought I was making my condition up as there was nothing to see. That’s possibly one of the main reasons I began to hide my disability as much as I could. I would only tell a small amount of people and that was usually if I absolutely needed to.

I wear support braces on most of my joints and always used to wear clothes that covered them up. If people could see my wrist brace, for example, I would just say that I’d sprained my wrist instead of explaining about my condition.  I would only ever wear shorts on holiday as I did not like people seeing my knee braces. But I was still worried about what strangers would think about seeing me like that.

It took nearly 20 years for me to be more confident about myself and my disability.

Now I am very much of the thinking that if I have to wear braces and supports, I want people to see them.  I quite often wear ones that stand out so it’s not unusual to see me wearing pink wrist supports. It makes me more confident about my disability and I guess it helps others to be more aware of me. Hopefully they can give me more space and not bump into me.

My brightly coloured accessories become quite a conversation starter at times and I am now happy to talk about my disability. It is something I will not hide ever again. It plays a big part in who I am. I wanted to write about this for Disability Pride Month as I know that whilst some people are posting on social media about all the things they are proud of, others will be lacking the confidence to do that. I hope in sharing this it helps in some way. To see what others are sharing search the hashtags #DisabilityPrideMonth or #DisabilityPride. 

I now speak passionately about being disabled and I’m very proud of who I am.  Part of my role here at Enhance The UK is to answer questions for the Love Lounge and by helping to run the Undressing Disability campaign. Joining the team at Enhance the UK has given me both confidence and a platform to talk about my disability and experiences in the hope of helping others realise they do not have to hide their disabilities.

Throughout the month of July we’re sharing posts on our Instagram Stories that relate to #DisabilityPrideMonth with the aim of bringing together the disabled community so we can celebrate, and learn from each other’s experiences. Follow us @UndressingDisability.

 

Stay Connected

Keep up to date with all our latest news, insights and resources by joining us on twitter @ETUKUndressing and Instagram @UndressingDisability.

The Love Lounge is a free service offering advice on questions relating to disability, sex, dating and relationships. Get in touch.

Close Menu
Top