Time to wave your Disability Pride flag!

July is Disability Pride Month

The current design of the Disability Pride flag (shown as this post's image) dates from 2021, and each element has a meaning:

• All six flag colors: Disability spans borders between nations

• Black background: Mourning for victims of ableist violence and abuse

• Diagonal Band: Cutting across the walls and barriers that separate disabled people from society

• Red Stripe: Physical disabilities

• Gold Stripe: Neurodivergence

• White Stripe: Invisible and undiagnosed disabilities

• Blue Stripe: Psychiatric disabilities

• Green Stripe: Sensory disabilities

This year, let’s highlight the diagonal band and talk about the societally imposed walls and barriers that cause disability. The social model of disability distinguishes between impairment and disability:

• Impairment is when a person’s body is limited in some way or cannot do something

• Disability is when society fails to make it possible for that person to do something.

This is illustrated neatly in a cartoon:

The fish may not be impaired in any way, but in a world built by and for monkeys, a fish is disabled.

But it can still be very proud of being a fish and doing all the things a fish can do. And, from its fishbowl, it can work for universal design, which considers the needs of as many users as possible. Curb cuts, for instance, help everyone from wheelchair users to people pushing strollers to delivery people using handcarts for large packages.

What design changes could make your life with pulmonary hypertension easier? Who else might also benefit?

Disability Pride reminds us that the goal isn't to change disabled people. It is to change the barriers that exclude them. This Disability Pride Month, let's celebrate our community while imagining a world designed for everyone. By sharing our experiences and advocating for accessible, inclusive spaces, we can help make that vision a reality.