July is Disability Pride Month. It is a time to celebrate Disability Pride; honoring the diversity within the disability community, reflecting on issues that people with disabilities are facing, and inspiring action to make the world more inclusive and accessible.

Disability Pride Month occurs in the United States every July to commemorate the passing of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in July 1990. Celebrations are held all over the United States, as well as the United Kingdom, and South Africa.

Disability Pride celebrates all 1 billion people with disabilities, their identities and culture, and their contributions to society. It also seeks to change the way people think about and define disability, to end the stigma of disability, and to promote the belief that disability is a natural part of human diversity in which people living with disabilities can celebrate and take pride.

Embracing being different is what this month is about. It is a chance for people who live with a disability to take pride in being different and to show that they are part of the community, too.

Many people who see the word PRIDE during Disability Pride Month assume it is to recognize people with disabilities in the LQBTQIA+ community, but that is not the case. While it is important to recognize the disability PRIDE community, this month is for people with any disability, from Down syndrome to a physical disability to an unseen disability.

The Disability Pride Flag was created by Ann Magill and updated in 2021 to ensure accessibility, each color of the Disability Pride Flag represents a different type of disability: physical (red), cognitive and intellectual (yellow), invisible and undiagnosed (white), psychosocial (blue), and sensory (green).

Join The Arc Allegany-Steuben in celebrating Disability Pride Month in July by building more inclusive communities through awareness and acceptance and encouraging allyship and positive action.