What is a disability?
A disability can be any trait or behavior that interferes with an individual’s ability to navigate society. Impaired vision--for example, nearsightedness or astigmatism--is a common disability that can make driving, reading, and other vision-related tasks difficult or impossible without corrective lenses.
Some disabilities are readily apparent, such as an amputated limb, whereas some might not be apparent unless the person discloses the disability, such as depression. Sometimes a disability is apparent because of how it is addressed, such as an insulin pump for diabetes.
United States federal laws protect individuals whose disabilities substantially limit their ability to engage in major life activities. Not all disabilities are considered limiting enough to require protection, and some behaviors that are considered harmful or criminal are specifically excluded from federal protection. This means that what "counts" as a disability (that is, what disabilities are protected from discrimination and widely accommodated for) changes over time as moral and political sensibilities change.
What is accessibility?
If disability is any trait or behavior that interferes with an individual’s ability to navigate society, then accessibility is anything that addresses that gap in ability. Accessibility can take many forms, such as automatic doors to enter a room without holding the door open, content descriptors on media that might be harmful or traumatizing, captions on video to read what is being said instead of hearing it, or consistent labeling on food packaging to show if it contains common allergens.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that public spaces be accessible in certain ways, for example that customers can enter a store without climbing a step. These laws also benefit people who can’t climb stairs for reasons other than disability, such as customers with strollers or shopping carts. The ADA also prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities, which makes it safer to report violations or request accommodations.
What is disability pride?
Disability Pride Month marks the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law in July of 1990. This law also marked a cultural shift away from seeing disability as a deficiency within an individual and instead as a failure of society to accommodate the diverse needs of its people. Disability pride takes that shift even further to celebrate the diversity and unique experiences of people with disabilities.
Disability pride is part of a broader movement of disability rights activism that has existed in the United States for many decades. It is because of this activism that the ADA was passed, and the continued efforts of activists today prevent these regulations from being rolled back. To learn about some notable people and events in disability activism in the last seventy years, check out zines published by DIYabled online or in the Shapiro Browsing Collection.