Disability pride month?

A July Roundup

Jul 27, 2026

∙ Paid

A comic I made about living with dynamic disability in 2023.

July is disability pride month. It’s the month we celebrate passing the landmark The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) in 1990. The ADA has transformed how disabled Americans interact with their world. It’s because of the ADA that all spaces that receive any government money have accommodations, that handicap parking spots are available nearly everywhere, and that we have school accommodations for those whose bodies and brains operate differently. The ADA revolutionized what it means to be able to live as a person with a disability in America, but we still have so far to go.

I live with dynamic disability every day. Some days it’s dynamic and I can do things. Other days, I’m disabled. On most days, I purposefully strive to live in a golden zone that allows me the ability to be able to do the things I need with regularity. When I venture outside of that zone (events, long days, travel), I need to use my tools and devices to make sure I don’t have a flare ups that leaves me disabled. I can do everything to prevent a flare up too, but still have one. It’s the nature of my disability — it’s unpredictable. I’ve worked really hard to accept I have little to no control over my body or how it feels.

My disability is not something I can cure (no — pilates, prayer, and positive thinking won’t cure it, please stop suggesting this to me), it’s genetic and it’s an issue that affects every single part of my body. The very cells that make me who I am also guarantee I will always live with this complex network of illnesses.

Less than 15% of Americans live with disability. It’s the only minority we will all become a part of, if we live long enough. Like most people who weren’t aware of their disability at birth, or experienced it later in life, I certainly never expected to be here. I never envisioned the big D word would apply to me. It’s amazing how things can change in an instant, or in my case: decline rapidly over the course of several years.

Disability radically transforms your life and perspective. I can only speak for myself and my own lived experience. For me, disability opened up my world to places you didn’t know existed. It made me realize how truly inaccessible most things (jobs, spaces, activities) are. It’s become clear how the world was not built for me and no one but me will accommodate me the way I need to be accommodated. It continues to put me on display in a ways that can be uncomfortable and ask a lot of me.

Disability pride is not going to mean the same thing to all disabled people, because our experiences are not a monolith — they are as vast and varied as the human experience. Disability comes in such a massive range that affects every person living with disability so differently. Even someone who has the same disability as me will experience a radically different life. So it makes sense to me that disability pride would mean different things to different disabled people. I am not sure if pride is the word I would use to describe myself when thinking about my disability, but feeling comfortable and neutral in my body are things I am constantly striving for.

However, I do feel pride for every disability advocate who has made the world more accessible for disabled people. People like Julie Huemann and Abia Akram, amongst thousands of others, who have changed the world for the better. I feel pride for the lawyers and advocates who continue to push for a more accessible society. I feel pride for the people around me who know how to accommodate me without making me feel on the spot, or less than. I feel pride for every person who makes the world adapt to them, instead of adapting to a situation that could harm them. I feel pride to be included amongst so many people who make the world a better, kinder, more accepting place through simply being themselves (and knowing they experience daily hardship while doing this). I also feel pride for how far I have come on this journey that I never expected to be on.

My request for everyone this disability pride month is to consider how your vote impacts those with less abilities than you.

I think of all the disabled Americans who cannot (incapable or otherwise) vote, but whose rights are decided by others. Many of these Americans have had their rights and current and future care stripped from them in the last few years. Think about how your vote can create a better world for people with disabilities. Think about how you can vote for representatives that believe in positive disability policies and how accessible, affordable, and universal healthcare can dramatically change a persons life for the better. For me personally, universal healthcare would allow me to save $20,000 a year.