Disability Pride 2023

A Celebration of Pride in the Disability Identity

The Lowcountry has been celebrating an organized Disability Pride since 2021 when HEART Inclusive Arts Community helped host the first parade and event in Downtown Charleston. This year, the Disability Pride party spreads all over the place with many wonderful and inclusive events from karaoke nights, parades, book fairs, and even wrestling shows!

Launched in Boston in 1990, the same year the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed, Disability Pride has been a part of the disabilities community each July. DP celebrates the over 1 billion people around the world with disabilities, honors the Disabled Identity, and reinforces the fact that disability is not abnormality. Rather, Disability is a part of the beautiful diversity that is being human. DP fights against a history of stigmatization, shame, and isolation with unabashed self-determination and PRIDE!

Parades and festivities happen every year in major cities like Chicago (the first parade, starting in 2004) and New York (since 2015). Disability Pride is officially recognized by at least two cities nationwide, including New York (in 2015) and San Francisco (in 2020), though very few cities and no states have official proclamations commemorating the month. It also has yet to receive any official National designation in the U.S. Code. More than just a means of self advocacy and a push for acceptance, Disability Pride is above all a celebration of inclusion and the individuals with disabilities who are proud to be themselves!

Disability Pride is organized, and donations managed, by HEART Inclusive Arts Community, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit studio bringing access to the arts to adults with Disabilities.