Adero Knott’s Post

This month, we celebrate Disability Pride Month to promote inclusion and raise awareness.   Symbolism of the Disability Pride flag:   🔹 The Black Field: This represents disabled individuals who have lost their lives not only due to their illnesses but also because of negligence, suicide, and eugenics.    🔹 The Lightning Bolt: The shape symbolizes the non-linear lives many disabled people lead, often having to adapt themselves or their paths to navigate an inaccessible society.    🔹 The Colors: Each color on the flag represents a different aspect of disability or impairment:   ✨ Blue: Mental illness   ✨ Yellow: Cognitive and intellectual disabilities   ✨ Green: Sensory perception disabilities   For any support accommodation or core support requests, contact us on: I-Help Disability Services 📞 1300 004 337 📧 info@ihds.com.au 🌐 i-helpdisability.com.au   #disabilitypride #disabilityawareness #disabilityawareness #disabilityrights #disabilityadvocate #disabilityinclusion #inclusion #disabilitymelbourne

In honor of Disability Pride Month (July), I’ve compiled a list of books featuring disability representation. With approximately one in four people in the U.S. having a disability, it’s important to recognize that disabled individuals are just like anyone else—living, striving, and finding joy in life. Consider adding one of these books to your reading list to not only show support but also to gain insight into the experiences of people with disabilities • Beautiful People: My Thirteen Truths About Disability • Black Disability Politics • Dark and Silent Office: A Digital Accessibility Guidebook for Inclusive Communication in the Workplace • Demystifying Disability (Currently reading) • Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century • Haben: The Deafblind Women Who Conquered Harvard Law • I Am a Masterpiece! • No Finish Line • The Country of the Blind • The Cane Kids • The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me Image: An angled arrangement of the Disability Pride flag colors against a dark grey background, starting from the bottom left corner. On the right side, the text reads ‘July is Disability Pride Month’ #MBRBBlog #DisabilityPride #DisabilityPrideMonth #DisabilityRepresentation Learn more about Disability Pride Month and additional resources for people who are blind or low vision and their families at https://lnkd.in/eBsyCgmm

There’s no #DisabilityJustice (DJ) without queer and trans disabled people of global majority. Happy Pride 🌈🤟🏽 June (I'm reminded it's July, it's disability pride everyday though 😊 ) is Disability Pride Month in Turtle Island (present day United States of America) and global Pride Month celebrating sexual and gender diversity. Disability Justice as a framework was coined by queer and trans disabled people of African, Asian and otherwise indigenous descent. Disability rights as an approach is mainly rooted in a rights based approach in line with global human rights provisions. Global often translates to Caucasian. Colonial projects such as chattel slavery, organised religions and eugenics have been the basis on which those who stand to benefit from a Disability Justice approach have had our humanity questioned. Disability Justice is not just a disability issue. Learn more about Disability Justice here;

Disability Pride is just around the corner - it starts in July. Did you know that as a worldwide movement, Disability Pride boasts its own flag? The flag features 5 colours on a black background. Each of the elements has its meaning: ➡ Green symbolizes sensory disabilities like deafness or blindness. ➡ Blue is the symbol of mental disorders, including depression and anxiety. ➡ White represents people with invisible or undiagnosed conditions. ➡ Gold represents individuals with cognitive and intellectual disabilities, including neurodiversity. ➡ Red symbolizes physical disabilities. The black background has its significance, too. Each year, the disability community loses numerous individuals to violence, abuse and negligence. The black colour in the Disability Pride flag is a symbol of the mourning for the people we lost, as well as the rage and protest against the mistreatment of people with disabilities. ♿ Please share this post with your network to raise awareness of Disability Pride! ♿ #DisabilityPride #Inclusion #Belonging #Diversity #Equity

One of the ten principles of Disability Justice is intersectionality. Many is the disabled community live at the intersection of being disabled and another marginalized identity. Here’s an excerpt from a blog written by advocate Rasheera Dopson, MPH for The NAMED Advocates where she talks about being Black and disabled and what she wishes she had learned about living at that intersection: “If I would’ve had the foreknowledge of knowing black female leaders before me were able to achieve pioneering feats and overcome insurmountable odds all while having disabilities, I would have boldness and courage quicker– to be able to stand up to the bullies on the playground who made fun of disabilities. I would’ve been able to stand to the school system and tell them myself I was well capable of doing great things even if I was taking special education and remedial class because there were black disabled women like Fannie Lou Hammer who had already defeated the odds. The leadership of Harriet Tubman and Fannie Lou set the precedent that disability should never be a factor in determining anyone’s greatness or capacity.” You can read the full blog post here: https://lnkd.in/evv8ze-P #DisabilityJustice #Intersectionality #ThoughtLeader #ThoughtLeadership #WomenLeaders #DisabilityRights #DisabilityAdvocate

From elementary school classrooms to adult care homes, so many of our care structures for disabled people are designed without their participation, often in direct opposition to their stated desires. But why? Lauren Schrero Levy, a disability rights advocate and lawyer, shares with Alida what she has learned since founding the disability advocacy nonprofit The Nora Project and serving as a civil rights lawyer at Equip for Equality. Listen: https://hubs.ly/Q02l4vxM0 Together, they explore the challenges in our current institutions for people with disabilities and the promise of inclusive spaces. Discover Lauren’s insights on honoring the dignity of every person: 💡The reasons behind society’s segregation of people with disabilities 💡The negative impact of remaining uninformed on conversations around inclusivity 💡Opposing viewpoints among parents of children with disabilities 💡The innate hope and usefulness of interdependence Listen: https://hubs.ly/Q02l4vxM0

Do you know the story behind the Disability Pride Flag? The disability pride flag is based on feedback from people within the disabled community on how to create a more inclusive and accessible banner for the disabled community. The diagonal straight band of stripes showcases cutting across barriers that disabled people face and is meant to allude to the idea of light cutting through the darkness. Here's what the colors symbolize, in order of appearance from top to bottom: Green is for sensory disabilities. Blue represents emotional and psychiatric disabilities. White stands for non-visible and undiagnosed disabilities. Gold is for neurodiversity. Red represents physical disabilities. The stripes are displayed on a faded charcoal black background which commemorates and mourns disabled people who’ve died due to ableism, violence, negligence, suicide, rebellion, illness, and eugenics. The dark background also represents rage and protest against the mistreatment of the disabled community. According to the creator’s statement, black is also a connection to the pirates’ Jolly Roger flag, a general symbol of rebellion. #InclusiveCommunity #Accessibility #InclusiveEvent #Neurodiversity #DisablityPrideMonth

#DidYouKnow that today is National Disability Independence Day, commemorating the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? This legislation has played a crucial role in promoting accessibility for people with disabilities, but there is still more work to do. The poverty rate for Black adults with disabilities is nearly 40%—an economic disparity that severely limits access to secure housing and quality healthcare, including necessary disability-related services. By embracing disability justice, we commit to dismantling the systems that devalue disabled lives. Disability Justice calls us to recognize that ableism is intertwined with other forms of oppression, shaping our ideas of worth and belonging. Understanding this is crucial for addressing the often-overlooked erasure of Black disabled people in broader disability and social justice movements. When we embrace differences in disability, identity, and culture and challenge ourselves to rethink the value we place on different bodies and abilities, we will create the inclusive and equitable future we envision. #DisabilityIndependenceDay Sources: https://lnkd.in/eUPMHMcw https://lnkd.in/eidNUCj6

When you need a break, take it. “No” is a complete sentence. It is not your responsibility to hold the weight of the world but your voice holds the power to change it! As we wrap up Disability Pride Month, we’re leaning into Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Citing Patty Berne’s “10 Principles of Disability Justice” as a grounding text within in the disability justice movement, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha encourages femme, disabled, queer, and trans community leaders to reframe their relationship to labor. At The LP, we’re community-centered, POC-centered, and propelled by love. With disability justice frameworks in mind, giving grace, honoring our capacity, and supporting our fam is built into the fabric of our work. Reflect & Share: How do you affirm your boundaries? Share in the comments below! #TheLP #RRR #SummerReading #DisabilityPrideMonth

Today marks the start of National Disability Voting Rights Week! It’s a time to shine a spotlight on the importance of ensuring that every person, regardless of ability, has the right and opportunity to vote. Did you know that out of the 70 million adults with disabilities in the U.S., only 40.2 million are eligible to vote? This stark statistic highlights the barriers and inequities that exist within the voting process for people with disabilities. But we’re here to change that. We must do better and WE WILL do better!** Ensuring accessibility in voting is not just a right, it’s a critical step toward true inclusion. Whether it’s pushing for better accommodations at polling stations, advocating for more accessible mail-in voting, or simply spreading awareness, together we can make a difference. This week, let’s commit to amplifying the voices of people with disabilities in the voting process. The power of the disability community can and will shape our future. Let’s make sure every vote counts and every voice is heard. #DisabilityVotingRightsWeek #CripTheVote #VoteAccessibility #InclusionMatters #EveryVoteCounts