The Disability Pride Flag: A Story of Resilience, Inclusion

Every July, we celebrate Disability Pride Month globally with festivals, workshops, and general advocacy for the disability community. A well-known symbol for the month is the Disability Pride Flag, a colorful visual metaphor of representation and strength.

What might seem like a straightforward way to represent the event actually has a deeper story of accessibility, innovation, and inclusion. The Disability Pride Flag was created in 2019 by disabled writer and activist Ann Magill. She was inspired to provide a visual representation of the disability community’s diversity and resilience. The original design featured a black background with five different colored diagonal stripes: red (representing physical disabilities), gold (cognitive and intellectual disabilities), white (invisible and undiagnosed disabilities), blue (mental illness), and green (sensory perception disabilities).

Magill redesigned the flag in 2021 due to concerns that the original design’s coloring might cause issues for people with sensory sensitivities. The flag now has toned-down colors to reduce visual stress and discomfort for some people. Additionally, it features a black field with diagonal stripes of different colors radiating from the bottom left corner to the top right.

On the revised flag, the black background represents mourning and rage for victims of ableist violence and discrimination; the diagonal stripes represent cutting across barriers, as well as the creativity and innovation of disabled people in society. The striped colors remain the same, still representing various kinds of disabilities.

Through this flag, we can learn that the fight for an accessible world for all is never over, and there’s always an opportunity to reflect and revise on how we can get there. By embracing and displaying the flag, we honor the history, achievements, and contributions of the disability community. It encourages a collective commitment to creating a more accessible, equitable, and inclusive world for everyone, ensuring that the spirit of Disability Pride Month continues to resonate throughout the year.