It wasn’t until 1990 that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law to give people with disabilities a chance at equal opportunity. People were living with disabilities that no one had ever heard of before but didn’t have equal access to justice. People were facing segregation, discrimination, and attacks on their basic human rights.
Fast forward 25 years later.
In 2015, Disability Pride Month was finally in full effect and acknowledged people with all disabilities and the work it had taken to increase accessibility in everyday life. The ADA transformed lives for millions of people across the U.S., but even more so, it was a guide to the adoption of Disability Pride Month. It’s now recognized every July on a federal level. Until the ADA was enacted, many people with disabilities had been marginalized and misunderstood for generations. All disabilities, whether physically noticeable or not, should be acknowledged, valued, and respected.
Disability Pride Month is recognized and celebrated every July to honor the anniversary of the ADA and is an opportunity to honor the history, achievements, and struggles associated with disabilities. The advocacy effort will raise awareness about the additional work that needs to be implemented to advance people living with disabilities, increase education and inclusion efforts, and establish protections and equal opportunity. It will break down barriers.
It is now 2023, and 61 million adults and 3 million children in the U.S. have disabilities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Census Bureau.
Teach your friends, family, and children about inclusion
Talk to your loved ones and friends about how disability is an important and ongoing conversation and what it means to people who do have a disability. Tell them about the history of fighting for equal opportunity and how they can be inclusive in their own everyday life.
Share your story
Disability Pride Month shines a spotlight on how far the U.S. has come to protect people with disabilities and what it means to people who have a personal tie to this effort. Pride means what people are proud of. If you have a story and feel comfortable sharing it, feel free to do so on social media and include the hashtags #DisabilityPride and #LoneStarLegalAid. You can also reach out to your local news station.
Hire people with disabilities
Society has a long history of discrimination against people with disabilities, even in the workplace. People with disabilities continue to see unemployment. Right now, 85 percent of people with disabilities are unemployed, even though many of them have the work and skills to contribute. Places of employment show that even if they do hire disabled people, they only work 13 hours a week, and less than one fifth of them are getting workplace benefits.
“Disability Pride Month celebrates disabled persons embracing their disabilities as integral parts of who they are, reclaiming visibility in public, interacting fully with their disabilities out in the open, and rejecting shame and internalized ableism. It is a time for the disability community to come together, uplift and amplify one another’s voices, and be heard. Disability pride has been described as accepting and honoring each person’s uniqueness and seeing it as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity.” – American Bar Association
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Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy for low-income and underserved populations by providing free legal education, advice, and representation. LSLA serves millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines, who live in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties in Southwest Arkansas. LSLA focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety, stability, health, and wellbeing; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, like those with disabilities, the aging, survivors of crime and disasters, the unemployed and underemployed, the unhoused, those with limited English language skills, and the LGBTQIA+ community. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.LoneStarLegal.org.
Media contact: media@lonestarlegal.org
