Every year, July is designated as Disability Pride Month. It began in 2015. The inception of Disability Pride Month also corresponded with the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disability Act. (ADA) Since then, cities have tried to celebrate disabilities across the United States.
In 1990, a consortium of people—successfully lobbied for national recognition, which was marked by the 1990 enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This landmark U.S. rights law extended civil rights protections to people with disabilities.
ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of public life and enables their full participation in society. However, facial differences do not automatically denote a disability, and people with facial differences aren’t always granted the same protections by law.
Due to the lack of acknowledgment and representation within larger disability communities, people with facial differences are often left out of disability conversations.
Let’s use July to celebrate all of our friends with disabilities—including our facially different community.
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