Disability Pride

Many people have heard of LGBTQA+ Pride Month in June but not Disability Pride Month or know that the two prides are so close together. But if people do not know about Disability Pride, then why do we need it? There are many reasons why we need Disability Pride now more than ever.

Now don't get confused when you hear the word pride. We do not take pride in the conditions that affect our daily lives. For example, I am not saying I am so proud that my Cystic Fibrosis (CF) does so well affecting me, for example, on a day I have no energy due to my lungs that I am saying wow, what an achievement for CF! Nope, the pride is that even with the many extra hurdles and issues I must face each day, I, like many in this community, still get up and live my life my way. We recognised all the daily battles and celebrated our achievements that the average person would not register.

This month is not only about celebration. It is also a time to highlight issues facing the disability community and look for change from harmful stereotypes to the fact that we have accessibility issues with buildings, places and society.

Let's start with the workplace,: disabled people face many barriers, from lower income.

Disabled workers earn, on average, £2.24 less an hour than non-disabled workers (Scope UK).This extends to job applications too. To start, we have fewer jobs available to us, as our conditions can rule out certain jobs. Then there is systemic discrimination for disabled people in the workplace, as found by the UK Government report in 2025.

Negative perceptions from employers about impairment heavily influence the organisations' hiring of disabled people, their willingness to provide reasonable adjustments, and their views about the disabled person's expertise.

Fears about work don't end when a disabled person secures a job, as stereotyping and ignorance of someone's conditions can affect someone's workplace placement, as the UK Government also found.

“Treatment of disabled people by the employer and their colleagues, and other issues that can create barriers to a disabled person's employment.

“Telling employers about their impairment or health condition has sometimes led to a negative experience for disabled people. This often stems from negative reactions and stigma from their manager and colleagues”

This is not exclusive to physical or mental health conditions but also applies to those with learning disabilities, which is also highlighted in the report.

“People with learning disabilities remain significantly underrepresented in employment. While people with different impairments face different obstacles, they also have many overlapping barriers and shared experiences of exclusion”

In education, there is a widening gap between those who need support and funding for support.

A charity, Disability UK, has found, “There are 1.7 million Disabled school children, many of whom need additional support and inclusive environments to flourish, yet many go without the learning assistance and equality of opportunity that should be their right. From low funding and resources and a long, difficult process of parents trying to get an EHCP (educational health care plan), a lot of time can be lost for a young person with a disability before they can get the full support they need to achieve their education.”

This shows that disabled students in primary and secondary school face problems with a lack of support and one-size-fits-all education. Plus, their families are strained by the long, heavy process for an EHCP, and even when they achieve one, for some, a lack of funding can lead to delays in support, leaving their child playing catch-up in education due to their condition and the delays in support. But the problems in education do not end with mainstream schooling, as the Disability UK report found; higher education also has many barriers.

Then there are access problems to higher education, from funding to actual access to university, plus the same ideas about what disabled people can achieve are present in university. “Disabled individuals are three times less likely to hold any qualifications than their non-disabled peers and face disproportionate barriers to accessing Higher Education and further training.” - Disability Rights UK.

Let's say we get through our education with good qualifications and manage to find a job that we are happy with, in the job and the company. Then everything is fine, right? Sorry to say, but no, we have a higher financial burden than the average person with some of the extra cost coming from transport, machinery, medication and much more, as the charity Scope has found in 2025:

“Our latest findings show that disabled households need an extra £1,095 each month on average. This is just to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households”.

Then there is the political football that is seen in news and media about how disabled people are seen as lazy and benefit cheats who do not want to work (even when what I mention above is pointed out, we are told to try harder), or when explaining certain situations, like not being able to move out of bed in some circumstances, and being told how lucky we are that we don't need to do that.

There is also the cost of personal energy and being unable to complete everything that needs to be done day to day, plus the extra stress and time we use when we ask for help, and then the need to go through the multi-stage phases (paperwork, vetting, waiting, and interviews) to prove our conditions.

Please don't think a person with a disability has a sad life that has no hope, or that we all face the same issues or experiences. But like this month, this blog highlights some of the issues we face as a community, and despite what we face both in our conditions and social disadvantage; we live fulfilled lives to the full and have a unique insight into life that many can spend a lifetime trying to figure out and might never find. We live for all types of goals and appreciate the moment. We also have a supportive community, not just with us, but with many who want to support us and help. Disability Pride Month is about showing people that we are not on the sidelines but part of society, and that we make our community better for being here.