What’s disability pride – and why do workplaces need to embrace it?

If you haven’t heard of “disability pride” before, you’re not alone. While things like LGBTQIA+ pride are well-known and celebrated, disability pride has nowhere near the same level of awareness.

The entire month of July is dedicated to disability pride – right after LGBTQIA+ pride month. Both are important movements that deserve attention, but the differences in how society and workplaces celebrate or acknowledge the two are stark.

Despite 20% of the Australian population being disabled, there is little focus on disability pride month – and that needs to change.

So, what is disability pride?

Disability pride can be really challenging – because we live in a world where we experience a lot of barriers and discrimination. It can be hard to be proud in a world that wasn’t built for you – a world where you have to continually fight for your needs or representation. Especially when there is so much stigma and ableism around disability, especially invisible disabilities.

And that’s why disability pride is so important: because it’s a clear rejection of those negative stigmas and assumptions.

It’s being confident in your identity as a disabled person, and your right to exist in the world. It’s being proud of navigating all the barriers (although we shouldn’t have to). It’s a celebration of identity, and advocating for a world where we are inherently valued and respected. It’s a reclamation of self. A battle cry for acceptance and inclusion. For the right to exist, just as we are – and that is so exceptionally powerful.

Why I’m proud of being disabled

I’ve been disabled my whole life thanks to being autistic (although I didn’t know that until I was 27). But I also live with other mental and physical disabilities that appeared in my adolescence and early 20s. I’ll be honest, it’s exceptionally difficult. There are always so many challenges – in the community, in healthcare, in the workplace, and in society.
It took me a while to even feel comfortable with calling myself disabled, especially when I was told by so many people that was a bad thing.

“Aww, don’t call yourself that,” one person told me.

But realising I was disabled and embracing my identity had a huge impact on me. Because accepting my disabled identity wasn’t a tragedy: it was empowering. I realised I didn’t have to harm myself by trying to fit into non-disabled boxes and standards. I realised there were reasons why things were more challenging for me. And most importantly, I realised I was proud to be different – and proud to be challenging society’s standards by smashing stigma and creating change.

So, what does disability pride have to do with the workplace?

Disability pride has everything to do with the workplace. Because disabled people deserve to be accommodated, celebrated, respected and included. Unfortunately, this often isn’t the case, and it might not even be intentional. Because a lot of stigma and ableism towards disabled people is internalised, we might not even realise something is exclusionary. And how could we, if no one has told us?

That’s why It’s so important to share disabled voices. Because working together is the only way we can make workplaces more inclusive.

However, workplaces need to be proactive about fostering disability pride. And there are some pretty easy ways to do this!

Like:

• Celebrate Disability Pride Month or International Day of People with Disability, either through an event, a blog, internal communications, or a marketing campaign (be creative!)
• Understand what disability is – and how people can be supported in the workplace
• Prioritise accessibility and flexibility, and make an effort to understand what accessibility can mean for different disabilities
• Take a look at your workplace policies and procedures and see if there are any processes that can be made more inclusive – like recruitment and on-boarding
• Offer part-time, remote and flexible roles
• Encourage your staff to work however works best for them, because access benefits everybody
• Make sure disability is visible in your workplace, both in-person and online
• Have senior leadership model and champion accessibility and flexibility
• Create disability-specific roles in your workplace at all levels across the organisation, including senior leadership as a standard practice
• Ensure your marketing is disability-inclusive and accessible

Understanding why disability pride is so important is one part of creating a positive, inclusive workplace culture. And if you’re not sure how to make things better in your organisation, that’s okay too! No one expects you to be the expert – so that’s why you hire the experts: disabled people. There are plenty of consultants and initiatives that can help make your workplace more inclusive, encourage disabled people to join your workplace and make them feel celebrated and valued with their disabled identities.

The most important thing is that we keep taking action. Even small steps can make a huge difference. And the more visible we are, the more disability is normalized – and the more we begin to break down those barriers that prevent both inclusion and pride.

You don’t have to be perfect – no one is. You just have to start.

Zoe Simmons is an award-winning disabled journalist, copywriter, speaker, consultant, author and advocate, living with multiple mental and physical disabilities. She writes to make the world a better place. You can find out more about Zoe on her website, or follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or Tik Tok.