Disability Pride Month
Updated: Aug 2, 2021
Today, July 31st, marks the last day of Disability Pride Month.
I unfortunately didn't get to share the level of information I had wanted to this month due to my health being especially poor, but I wanted to share this one post to commemorate the end of the month and share my thoughts.
As a person who has recently come to identify as disabled, this was something new for me, and it was a lot to take in. Since becoming disabled, I've struggled with figuring out how to incorporate my identities into one, and how to still feel joy in my disability, despite how the world views it, which I think is a common feeling, that many of us work to overcome. Today, I'm proud to say I'm disabled, and live with joy in my disability. Many people tend to think that disabled people are incapable of a happy life, or experiencing joy, but that is so false, and one of the reasons we need this month. This isn't to discredit the fact that we live and deal with pain, inaccessibility, systematic ableism, inferior medical care, etc., but to show that we also experience joy and want to celebrate that!
All in all, I've enjoyed seeing more attention on disabled creators & content, and seeing abled people listen and learn from the disabled community this month. It's been lovely and a long time coming. But what we need now is for that to continue. Just because Disability Pride Month is over, doesn't mean it's time to ignore and repress disabled creators and content, and go back to pretending your ableism doesn't exist. Continue to share and interact with disabled creators. Learn from our content, reflect on how you are ableist, and make changes in your everyday life to combat that.
Happy Disability Pride Month
If you want to learn more about systemic ableism, and glamorization & bias affecting the disabled/chronically ill community, I have a post about this on the blog. I will also be posting more about it in the future.
Another way to educate yourself is to follow other disabled creators! I've tagged some who make amazing content on disability and chronic illness in my Disability Pride Month Instagram post. You can check that out here.
