June is Pride Month and July is Disability Pride Month. While ostensibly separate, LGBTQ+ Pride and Disability Pride actually have a lot in common.
Obviously, not all LGBTQ+ people have a disability, and not all people with disabilities identify as LGBTQ+, but the overlap between the two groups is significant.
According to the Center for American Progress, “LGBTQI+ people as a whole are more likely to identify as disabled than are non-LGBTQI+ people: In 2024, 48 percent of LGBTQI+ U.S. adults reported having a disability, compared with 36 percent of the general population in 2024. Disability rights and LGBTQI+ rights are intertwined.”
Of course, one must examine why this is. Someone who does not support LGBTQ+ rights might claim that this data shows that LGBTQ+ people are inherently flawed. But that, of course, depends on the harmful and incorrect assumption that having a disability is a flaw.
But when this data is looked at in good faith and put into a larger context, a different conclusion is reached.
“LGBTQIA+ people are more likely than their non-LGBTQ+ peers to experience trauma, poverty, and barriers to healthcare, all of which increase the risk of acquiring a disability over time,” writes Ashley Sims for Disability Solutions.
And yet, Sims writes, the larger public rarely sees the lived experiences of people with disabilities or LGBTQ+ people, not to mention LGBTQ+ people with disabilities, depicted in the media or popular culture.
This lack of representation and refusal to be invisible leads us to Pride. In June, LGBTQ+ people and allies make it a point to be visible and to vocally proclaim their rights. Pride events are celebrations of identity and community and shared history. They are a reminder that no LGBTQ+ person is alone and that oppression will be met with a united resistance.
The same is true for Disability Pride. In July, people with disabilities and disability advocates celebrate the progress made thus far, especially the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990. Disability Pride events counter the absence of people with disabilities in the media with a demonstration of something often missing in the larger conversation around disability: joy. Disability Pride refutes the misguided idea that a disability ruins one’s life and that people with disabilities are to be pitied for their misfortune or admired for the strength and courage they exhibit by simply living. Disability Pride is a way to show that having a disability doesn’t decrease the value of one’s life, it just necessitates a different way of experiencing the world.
The LGBTQ+ rights movement and the disability rights movement are largely viewed as outsider movements, irrelevant to people who aren’t part of either group. But advancements in civil rights have wide-ranging effects that touch many people’s lives.
Take curb cuts, for example. Curb cuts are so common now that they are taken for granted, but they haven’t always been there. Curb cuts exist because the ADA requires state and local governments to make crosswalks accessible. Accessible sidewalks not only help people in wheelchairs, they help cyclists, people pushing strollers, and anyone else for whom a curb presents a navigational challenge.
The fact is, a more accessible environment benefits everyone. Many people don’t consider that they could one day find themselves with a disability through accident, illness, or aging and so they don’t think of accessible buildings and sidewalks or audio museum tours or sign language interpreters as “for them.” But it is. Granted, most people won’t spend a lifetime using a wheelchair or crutches, but a sizable number of people will experience an injury that temporarily limits their mobility, necessitating a mobility aid of some kind. And, of course, everyone ages. As a person grows older, their need for accessibility and assistance also grows.
The whole concept of being proud to have a disability can be difficult for people who don’t have a disability to understand, largely because they have spent their lives in a world largely built exclusively for them and their needs. Disability Pride is a way to say, “We’re here, we’re not going away, and we can build a more just and accessible world together.”