What To Know About Disability Pride Month

Disability Pride month is an annual period of education about, advocacy for, and celebration of the disabled community.

Founded after the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, on July 26th 1990, Disability Pride month began as a single, day-long Disability Pride celebration in Boston. Since then, it’s expanded to a month-long program of campaigning, outreach, and education that’s recognized in numerous countries around the world.

When is Disability Pride Month?

Disability pride month takes place in July every year to coincide with the anniversary of the passing of the ADA. The first Disability Pride March took place in Chicago during Disability Pride Month in 2004, and now there are annual Disability Pride marches in July in numerous locations both in and outside of North America.

Though the passage of the ADA put an end to open, legal discrimination against people on the basis of disability in some aspects of public life in America—including employment (in organizations with 15 or more employees), services provided by the government, and accommodations in commercial facilities—there’s still a long way to go. In addition to the areas of public life where such discrimination is still completely legal, ableist employers will often find excuses to fire or simply avoid hiring disabled employees in the first place, while in schools, IEPs often go unenforced, and disabled people frequently find themselves receiving unequal and inadequate treatment in healthcare settings.

Ableist attitudes unfortunately run rampant through society, with disabled people facing harassment and abuse simply for existing in public on an all too regular basis. Disabled people in other countries face similar issues, some with more or even less legal protection than in the United States, and it is for this reason that Disability Pride month remains an important part of the calendar.