WASHINGTON, July 8, 2022 — July is Disability Pride Month, and the American Bar Association is helping to raise awareness of the disability community and help amplify their voices.
The ABA Commission on Disability Rights has launched a 21-Day Disability Equity Habit-Building Challenge syllabus in honor of Disability Pride Month. The challenge invites participants to engage in 21 consecutive daily assignments, usually 20 minutes, followed by discussion questions. The assignments — which cover topics ranging from disability identity and culture to disability justice and etiquette — include readings, listening to podcasts and watching videos.
The goal of the activities is to help participants become more aware and engaged in the quest for disability equity, and specifically to learn more about the members of the disability community as well as the barriers, biases, stereotypes and discrimination they encounter in everyday life.
The challenge follows the framework of the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge, which was conceived several years ago by diversity expert Eddie Moore Jr. to advance deeper understandings of the intersections of race, power, privilege, supremacy and oppression.
Disability Pride initially started as a day of celebration in 1990 when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. That same year, Boston held the first Disability Pride Day. The first official celebration of the observance occurred in July 2015, which marked the 25th anniversary of the ADA. Since then, cities across the country have celebrated Disability Pride Month with parades and other festivities.
To learn more, visit Celebrating Disability Pride Month.