When we think of Disability as a culture, not just disability as a condition (see Disability Truth #3), we can embrace and be proud of this part of our complex identities.
Reasons to be proud of being Disabled:
- We're natural problem-solvers. We live in a world that wasn't built for us, and we use our experience and crip wisdom to find ingenious solutions.
- Our bodies and minds have something others' don't. Our bodies and devices have their own aesthetic, and our neurodiversity has its own creativity and perspective.
- We have moved to something more powerful than empathy: validation. Even if we don't understand the forms of oppression each of us endures, we believe each other.
As Corbett O'Toole put it in Crip Camp: "Deaf people and people with intellectual disabilities and learning disabilities and blind people—I mean, there was this really wide range of people—and we were all going, 'Well, I never heard that story before, but I believe you that that's your experience of being locked up in a mental ward. I believe you that that's your experience in special ed. I believe you.' We were witnessing each other's truths. We were giving each other, like, 'I see you, and I believe you.'" - The biggest reason of all: We don't need a reason to be proud of who we are.
Chants for marches:
- We're here, we're loud, we're Disabled and proud!
- Nothing about us without us, nothing without us at all!
- What do we want? Access! When do we want it? Now!
Holidays:
- July is #DisabilityPrideMonth
- December 3rd is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (#IDPD), also called the International Day of Disabled Persons (#IDDP) and International Disability Day (#InternationalDisabilityDay), because one hashtag wasn't enough