Jessica Smith OAM PLY’s Post

Living with invisible attributes such as being neurodivergent and navigating with endometriosis has shaped my life in significant ways. Additionally, growing up in the deaf community with my family has also given me a unique perspective on the importance of inclusivity and support. These experiences have shown me how crucial it is to be open and honest about our challenges. We should strive to ensure that everyone feels understood and valued, no matter their background or abilities. Let's continue to celebrate the incredible diversity of our experiences and build workplaces where everyone can thrive! Our differences are our strengths, and together, we can create a more inclusive and supportive world. #DisabilityPrideMonth #InclusiveWorkplace #Neurodiversity #MentalHealthMatters #Endometriosis #invisibledisabilities #DeafCommunity #DiversityandInclusion #TalentAcquisition #TransparencyMatters

It’s July, which means it’s Disability Pride Month! To celebrate this event, we coated our profile picture in the colours of the official pride flag - but what do they mean exactly? Designed by writer Ann Magill, the colourful stripes represent the following: - Red for physical disabilities - Yellow for cognitive and intellectual disabilities - White for invisible and undiagnosed disabilities - Blue for mental illness - Green for sensory perception disabilities - The black background represents and mourns the loss of all disabled people who have sadly passed away due to illness, negligence, suicide, and eugenics. Make sure to keep an eye on our page, because we are preparing weekly posts to contribute to the celebration! We encourage everyone — our partners, clients, and friends — to participate in Disability Pride Month by sharing stories and experiences that promote disability inclusion and accessibility! #DisabilityPrideMonth #Awareness #Celebration #Accessibility #DisabilitiyInclusion #Access4you [ID: The image features the Disability Pride Flag, which consists of five parallel diagonal stripes on a gray background. From top to bottom, the stripes are colored as follows: green, light blue, white, yellow, and red. Each stripe represents a different aspect of disability. The flag has a gray background to symbolize the barriers that disabled people face. In the bottom left corner, there is a blue circle outlined with white with the text access4you.]

July is Disability Pride Month, a time to honour the history, achievements, and contributions of people with disabilities. At a time when people with disability are being consistently and continually targeted by arguments claiming we are burdening the public purse or rorting the NDIS; it feels pretty tokenistic to be making social media posts about celebrating disabled people; but on the other hand, it is also exactly this reason that I think it is important to do anyway. As an Autistic and disabled woman, I am constantly in awe of the many committed disabled and neurodivergent people who continue to advocate for the fundamental rights our community, even in the face of such persistent hostility. Everyday and every month I take pride in being part of this community, so for Disability Pride month, I am publicly celebrating all of the individuals and groups who have and who continue to enable our voice and our participation - particularly those who do so whilst simultaneously combatting intersectional discrimination. Without this community, we would not have the NDIS, we would not have had the Disability Royal Commission, we would not have a collective voice to combat systemic threats to our rights under the UNCRPD. There is so many people I could tag and name here, but I don’t want to miss out anyone. There are many of us. You know who you are. #DisabilityPrideMonth #Intersectionality #DisabilityPride #AutisticPride #IDisabilityRights #UNCRPD 🌈♿️ [Image: Teal background with yellow heading text reading 'Disability Pride Month' highlighted in purple. In the top left hand corner is the disability pride flag and rainbow infinity symbol representing neurodivergence. At the bottom is three illustrations of people with different types of disabilities. The person on the left is a wheelchair user holding up a protest sign, the person in the middle is using a walking frame and the person on the right has invisible disabilities. In the bottom left hand corner is the Heidi La Paglia. Reid Consulting logo in teal, black and white].

Celebrating Disability Pride! ✨🌈 Have you seen the Disability Pride Flag? Each element of this powerful symbol carries deep meaning, representing the diversity, strength, and unity of the disability community. Let's break it down: 1. Black Background: Represents the mourning the loss of disabled people to negligence, suicide, and illness 2. The colours run in parallel to demonstrate unity and strength within the community. 3. The Five Colours (Red, Yellow, White, Blue, and Green) each highlight the different impairments that people can live with: - Red: Physical disabilities - Gold / Yellow: Cognitive and intellectual disabilities - White: Invisible and undiagnosed disabilities - Blue: Mental Health - Green: Sensory perception disabilities Together, these elements show the vast spectrum of disabilities and the solidarity within the community. This July, during Disability Pride Month, let's celebrate our differences, advocate for accessibility and inclusion, and honour the resilience and achievements of people with disabilities. ✨ Image Description: In the top right corner is the Speakers Collective logo. To the left of this is 'Disability Pride Month'. Along the left side of the image are descriptions of what each colour means. An arrow then points to the right of the graphic where an image of the disability pride flag is shown. #DisabilityPride #Inclusion #AccessibilityForAll #DisabilityPrideMonth #CelebrateDifferences

Disability Pride Month is celebrated every July and is an opportunity to honor the history, achievements, experiences, and struggles of the disability community. Why July? It marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), landmark legislation that broke down barriers to inclusion in society. One way you can honor Disability Pride Month is to hire people with disabilities. Right now, 85% of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are unemployed. Many of them want to work and have skills to contribute. Among those who are employed, people with IDD are working fewer than 13 hours a week on average and less than one-fifth of them are getting workplace benefits. But research shows that disability inclusion is a proven good business decision. And here's what the Disability Month flag's 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. #disabilitypride #disabilitypridemonth

July is Disability Pride Month! This month marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a law passed in July 1990 that protects people with disabilities in many areas of public life. From parking spots to website accessibility, these protections ensure fair and equitable accommodations. The inclusive disability pride flag, marked by five distinct colors, illustrates the many ways in which persons may experience a disability: - 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, illnesses and other factors. According to Getty Images, less than 1% of ads represent people with disabilities. For those who are present, the visual emphasis is on their disability rather than authentic everyday living. How is your brand engaging the disabled community? To learn more about Disability Pride Month, click here: https://bit.ly/3VLmLtC #DisabilityPrideMonth #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs #InclusiveMarketing

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

Today is the last day of Disability Pride Month (July) But what is Disability Pride Month, and what does the flag mean? Disability Pride Month happens every year in July to promote awareness, celebrate people with disability and encourages self-acceptance and embracing all disabilities. The Disability Pride Month has its own flag, with its own meaning behind it, but not everyone is aware of its meaning The five colours represent: • Green – Invisible and undiagnosed disabilities • Blue – Mental illness • White – Sensory disabilities • Yellow – Neurodiversity and development disabilities • Red – Physical disabilities The diagonal line represents the cutting though the barriers people with disabilities face. The black background which represents the people with disabilities who have died due to ableism, violence, negligence, suicide, illness, and any other reason. As a diverse team, representing all of the colours on the flag, we stand (and sit/roll) together, to represent not just awareness, not just acceptance, but true pride in our disabilities, and those of the people we support. #pride #disabilitypride #disability #inclusion #acceptance #awareness #AwarenessMatters #acceptancematters #liveonyourownterms #donttellushowtolive Samantha Prior Tanya Sexton Kelli Wright Laiho Bronwen Gourley Jack Gibb Jenelle Basiaco Nicole Makin-Doherty Goro Gupta Joseph Sulfaro

🌟 We are Celebrating Disability Pride Month at CivicActions! 🌟 This July, we come together at CivicActions to celebrate Disability Pride Month—a time to honor and recognize the diversity, achievements, and contributions of individuals with disabilities. July marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed July 26, 1990, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. Accessibility is at the heart of our work. By creating open source solutions with accessibility front of mind, we ensure that our digital solutions reach and engage all users, regardless of permanent, situational, or temporary disabilities. This Disability Pride Month, let’s fight ableism and work together to continue to build a more inclusive digital landscape, one that is accessible to all. Below is the Disability Pride Flag, designed to show that disability spans across borders. It is set against a black background, mourning the victims of ableist violence. The bands of color in the foreground represent cutting across barriers that have separated disabled people from society. Each stripe of color represents different forms of diability: red (physical), gold (neurodivergence), white (invisible & undiagnosed), blue (psychiatric) and green (sensory). #DisabilityPrideMonth #a11y #Accessibility

July is Disability Pride Month, originating in the United States to commemorate the passing of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Ace in July 1990. Disability Pride Month celebrates people with disabilities, their identities, their culture, and their contributions to society. It also seeks to change the way people think about and define disability, to end the stigma of disability, and to promote the belief that disability is a natural part of human diversity in which people living with disabilities can celebrate and take pride. It is a chance for people with disabilities to come together and celebrate being themselves, no matter their differences. It is also a chance to raise awareness of the challenges they still face every day to be treated equally. People with disabilities make up 15% of the world's population representing all ages, races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds. On March 12, 1990, over 1,000 people marched from the White House to the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress pass the Americans with Disabilities Act. Upon arrival, about 60 activists, including eight-year-old Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, physically demonstrated the inaccessibility of public spaces by getting out of their wheelchairs or setting aside their mobility aids and crawling up the Capitol steps in an act of civil disobedience that later became known as the Capitol Crawl. Police then arrested 104 activists for unlawful demonstration, many of whom were in their wheelchairs. On July 26, 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. Each July is celebrated as Disability Pride Month in commemoration of the historic moment. https://lnkd.in/gyni_pif https://lnkd.in/eeHQrNSd #DisabilityPrideMonth #July #ParkinsonsDisease #IntimacyWithParkinsonsDisease #DisablesPoets #PBS #JoeVanKoeverden #IPM #PoetryTherapy #PoeticMedicine #Poetry #Poet