Disability Pride Month
Let’s talk about Disability Pride Month
What is it?
It stemmed from the first disability pride parade in Boston, 1990; the ADA was founded earlier that year on July 23rd. It wasn’t until 2015 when the mayor of New York declared July Disability Pride Month that it really grew and was adopted by the disability community, even though it’s still not officially nationally/worldly recognized.
It allows folks like myself to celebrate and be proud of myself and my disability rather than carry shame and hate of who I am because of the way society views me.
Over 1 billion people live with some form of disability. About 15% of the world's population live with a disability. This includes about 93 million children and 720 million adults with significant difficulties in functioning.
Why is it important?
Bringing awareness about folks who are proud about their disability and who would like to be recognized as a person is the first small step to much needed change. More often than not the disabled community gets overlooked for the social justice conversations. Our voices tend to be overshadowed by others speaking for us rather than reaching out to understand our experiences.
Want to know something appalling?
Disabled folks are 2x more likely to be the victim of a violent crime than a non-disabled folks.
I’ve seen what neglect does to a loved one from my experience in the senior living industry. I knew a resident whose brother knew he had dementia and locked him in his home with only Coke and assorted junk food. This gentleman finally got the help he needed when his own son was granted conservatorship to get him into the senior community I was working at the time.
Did you know?
If a person receiving disability benefits gets married, they more often than not lose their benefits due to their partner making just enough to disqualify them for continued benefits. This set-up doesn’t allow a disabled folk to be able to support oneself, but to solely rely on their partner. This can create lack of independence for the disabled person.
This year the SSI Restoration Act is up for review. The SSI is the Supplemental Security Income that many persons with disabilities rely on to live, but are stuck in the never ending cycle of poverty due to the many restrictions and limitations to qualify and maintain benefits. The changes this entails:
Raise SSI's sub-poverty-level monthly benefits, currently $794 per month, to 100% of the federal poverty level – a 31% increase – and index them to inflation.*
*They are trying to explain the increase of 31% is based on the est inflation to match current living wages
Update and index the assets individuals or couples may have up to $10,000 and $20,000, respectively. The current limit of $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple has not been updated since 1989.
Update and index SSI's income rules – which have never been updated since the program was signed into law in 1972.
Eliminate the marriage penalty and increase the benefit for married couples to double the individual rate, to put marriage equality within reach for SSI beneficiaries.
Eliminate benefit reductions that penalize beneficiaries who receive in-kind help from friends or family, such as groceries or a place to stay.
Check out my blog post regarding my experience along with some book suggestions from other disabled experiences. If you have a story you’d like to share with me and potentially get featured in this space, check out my contact page!
Sources:
World, D. (2020, September 16). Disability Pride: Definition and Awareness Information. Disabled World. https://www.disabled-world.com/definitions/disability-pride.php.
Q&A: Disability Pride Parade: Disability Network Southwest Michigan. Disability Network Southwest Michigan | The first stop for people with disabilities and their families. (2016, February 18). http://www.dnswm.org/qa-disability-pride-parade.
Pride, W. by D. (2021, May 6). Disability Pride New York City. http://disabilitypridenyc.org/.
Biz, V. (2021, June 17). Sanders co-leads senators introducing Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act. Sanders co-leads senators introducing Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act | Vermont Business Magazine. https://vermontbiz.com/news/2021/june/17.