Disability Pride Month

We celebrate Disability Pride Month every July. It’s an important moment for disabled people to come together as a community. An opportunity to share experiences and start conversations.

It’s a celebration of the creativity, resilience, and achievements of disabled people.

Disability Pride Month is for anyone who is disabled – or anyone who wishes to show their allyship by celebrating their disabled communities, like businesses.

Having a dedicated month provides a focal point. It's a time for embracing disability identity positively. And challenging the negative attitudes that hold disabled people back.

Facts about Disability Pride Month

• Disability Pride Month is a celebration of the UK’s 16 million disabled people.
• Disability Pride Month wasn’t created by a single organisation. It began in Boston, USA in 1990 and has grown worldwide.
• Since 2009 Scope has proudly supported the growth of Disability Pride Month in the UK.
• Disability Pride is about celebrating disabled identity. It’s not the same as LGBTQ+ Pride, though some people identify with both communities.  
• It’s an opportunity to raise awareness and start positive conversations. And to celebrate the diversity and strength of the disabled community. 
• 3 in 4 disabled people have experienced negative attitudes. This Disability Pride Month we’re rejecting stereotypes and changing the conversation.    

This Disability Pride Month, join with Scope and be part of an unstoppable movement for change. 

The Disability Pride flag

You might wonder why the flag has a rainbow of colours, not the purple which is often associated with disability.

It’s to represent the various experiences and needs within the disabled community, such as non-visible, sensory, physical, developmental and mental impairments and conditions.

The banded arrangement of the colours represents the barriers many disabled people face and have to navigate through.

This is what each colour represents:

Red

Physical impairments and conditions

Gold

Neurodiversity

White

Non-visible and undiagnosed impairments and conditions

Blue

Emotional and psychiatric conditions, including mental health, anxiety and depression

Green

Hearing impaired, vision impaired, audio processing and all other sensory impairments and conditions

Charcoal

The charcoal background is to represent people in the community who have experienced ableism, and to protest against this