The Disability Community Has Been Campaigning For Their Rights For Decades, so Why is Progress Limited

This month is Disability Pride, and as you can see from the name, it’s about the Disability Community. Now for those of you who looking at the Pride part of the name and the flag you could easily have thought that it’s a cast off group from the other Pride group, the LGBT+ one, but no, that’s not what it’s about. The Disability Pride Community is about celebrating the Disability Community and what they bring to society, as well as the importance of highlighting Disability Discrimination. Or Ableism as it’s also referred to.

If you have ever read my past columns, this is something that I have mentioned before. It’s basically when you are singled out over a characteristic, or more, of which you have absolutely no control be it physical disability, learning disability, genetic condition/s or neurological disorders. 

Why Disability Pride Matters

Disability Pride is about celebrating the community, the culture surrounding it, and the very individuals who create it. It’s about what they have so far achieved in all the years that they have been tirelessly campaigning, it’s about what they have managed to achieve so far, what they are striving achieve and the joy, diversity and compassion that they also bring to the society and the workforce.

For me, this is something that I can definitely understand all too well. As both an Autistic person and Disability Rightd Supporter, I have always stood by the saying that the best way to remove the stigma, to de-taboo the taboo, as I also refer to it, is to have open and honest discussion about Disability and what it means. If we talk more openly about it then it makes the conversation less alien, less uncomfortable.

If you can cast your minds back a few years ago to when Mental Health problems were amongst the hot topics of national discussion then with any hope you can understand why this needs to be as well. 

This is something that I do at work with both from and colleagues as well as in social circles whenever the topic enters the conversation. At first I wouldn’t talk about it as I felt somewhat embarrassed about it, also I would find myself thinking about how to do so without putting people off both the subject and myself. As time went on and as I was being engaged myself by others in the conversation it had slowly become less alien to myself.

However, to put a bigger point to it, I was talking with people who obviously knew more about it than me and didn’t fear in chatting about it.

This, in a way helped me to defy the stigma around it.

Though I’ve not been able to get involved with Disability Pride for the past few years I have made it a goal to try and get involved in next year’s events.

Since 1990, the month long occasion began when reportedly over 1,000 American citizens led a demonstration to the White House so as to get the Office to pass the Disability Act which would help those in the Disability Community. Around 60 Activists, including an 8 year old Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins. Part of the reasons was to help improve the daily lives of those with disabilities eg; wheelchair access for who are wheelchair bound.

It’s through the actions of people like Jennifer and the many others who took part in the campaign that we have Disability Pride. From then to the present day, the event has garnered much attention as well as many infamous spokesmen and women such as Samantha Renke, Dan Cnossen, Sam Bloom and Rebecca Alexander to name but a few.

Times may have changed since Disability started becoming more widely known and accepted. The world has slowly changed since 1990, though you could also argue that it’s not changed enough so as to bring further changes. In the documentary Out There, by British Actor and writer, Stephen Fry, he spoke about how process has always been something of a three steps forward two steps back but always progress.

In many ways that is how I also view the progress in changes and accessibility for Disability… yes, things are getting better slowly but surely but it’s the fact that it seems to go at snail speed which makes the struggles seem eternal. Either way you look at it though progress is progress not matter what speed it goes, and as much as we want it unfortunately Harry Potter’s magical wand won’t make it happen any quicker (even though it’d no doubt solve all our problems)

Issues and any thoughts over the seemingly snail speed rate of progress, let’s just sit back for a moment and remember that Disability Pride is here and will continue to be here for a long time to come yet. For as long as we keep talking and battling progress will continue to happen, just got to remember to contend with some utterly useless idiots along the way 

Source