On Celebrating Disability Pride Month
Disability Pride Month is here! Shame isolates people, but we can change it with Disability Pride celebrations. Throughout July, encourage your communities to amplify disabled voices & the beauty and joy in our lives. It’s high time to stand in solidarity and own our spaces which is long due.
Divided by ages, races, genders, classes, castes, religions, ethnicity, and socioeconomic backgrounds worldwide. United by Disability. We are beautifully diverse. We do not conform to the preconceived notion of health as per ableist standards. This Disability Pride Month let’s reclaim our spaces in public and society where we have been left behind. Let’s start loving, embracing the community, and being compassionate. I wish you an inclusive Disability Pride Month, and the other 11 months of the year because we practice pride every month, every week, every day. Yes! some exceptions are there when we have to go to hospitals, take medicines, and bear the pain which becomes part of our lives…..
Puneet Singh Singhal is the neurodivergent founder of 123ssstart
As a person with disabilities, I want to clear that disability is part of my existence but not my whole identity. There are other things that define me.
Let’s talk about inaccessibility and systemic ableism!
Inaccessibility for people with disabilities is not passive or unintended. It is an active form of exclusion, discrimination, and Ableism. Instead of false promises and never-ending wait, people with disabilities deserve accessibility, accommodation, social security, and justice. Accessibility is often ignored, overlooked, and deprioritized, which is disappointing. It is not only a ‘nice to have feature. It is absolutely essential. Accessibility must not be random or dependent on the whims of the authorities. There is no hit or miss. It has to be permanent, consistent, and predictable. Accessibility is often ignored, overlooked, and deprioritized, which is disappointing. Denial to provide accessibility has its own cost on so many levels such as Human Rights, Civil Rights, and denial of opportunity. This creates frictions in the process of thorough Inclusion. Inclusion and Accessibility improve the lives of all, irrespective of their race, gender, disability, class, or any other identity-based classification. Diversity and Inclusion must not be ‘cool’ words in workspaces. It should not only be a legal criterion to fulfill. Let’s practice the spirit of it. A note to all People with disability – Never be shy, apologetic, or hesitant while asking for accessibility or accommodation.
People have this habit to dictate the definition of disability. We must start questioning the gaslighting, minimizing, infantizing, and clarifying exclusion and alienation of people with disabilities. This is Ableism in its most discreet nature. We can’t expect to reach SDGs or achieve the goal of DEI without including 1 billion people with visible and invisible disabilities. Just because some disabilities are not visible does not mean it isn’t real. Be kind. Be caring. Be supportive.
And I have a complaint as well 🙂
The way we supported LGBTQIA+ Pride Month, I don’t see that kind of support from the community yet. I will be glad if I am proved wrong at the end of the month. Maybe one of the reasons can be a lot of people just don’t know that July is Disability Pride Month. However, if you come to know, don’t overlook us. Both the communities are mutual allies and at times, we intersect as well. And if we talk about the lived experiences of Queer people with a disability; they make a double minority. It’s time to reflect, observe and be loud enough (with the love of course).
I firmly believe it is not a coincidence that Disability Pride Month comes just after LGBTQIA+ Pride Month.
Happy Disability Pride Month to one and all.
