- Kylie Pollock
- 8 July 2022
Disability pride month is meant to celebrate and share experiences about disability. It is a time where people can be proud to identify and celebrate the achievements of the disability community. July was chosen for disability pride month as, back in July 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was introduced in the USA. This Act is seen as a key turning point and acknowledgement of the rights of people with disabilities.
Disability pride is not just about celebrating our disabilities and highlighting how far both ourselves and society have come; it is also about looking to the future and what more can be achieved. As articulated by Caroline Casey:
“It is an important opportunity to highlight how more needs to be done to make the world accessible and inclusive for us as disabled people. Although we have moved forward, we have not moved fast enough. Disability should have a month of being in the spotlight, and if this helps to educate or at least make people think, then it is nothing but a positive move.”
One of the greatest first steps to inclusion of people with disabilities is to consider your digital environments. Your websites, mobile apps, documents, and even online conferences. How accessible are your current assets and what can you do to make sure these are accessible to all users? TTC’s Accessibility Practice assists our customers with this every day!
If an organisation is early on their accessibility journey sometimes it can feel overwhelming and it can be hard to know where to start. TTC recommends starting by learning about people with disability, from people with disability. Understand the barriers people with disability face when working with your organisation and build empathy with your teams.
TTC hosts “Lived Experience” training sessions, which include discussing technological barriers, impacts on people with disabilities, demonstrations of assistive technology and most importantly an open discussion about disability from people with lived experience of disability. People like me, who are proud of what they have achieved and the barriers they have needed to overcome, but I look forward to a time when we are all included, every day. A time where my differences are understood, and I don’t need to ask for adjustments for my needs to be met. Luckily for me this is my experience while working at TTC with my brilliant workmates, but sadly outside of my organisation there are still regular barriers to my full participation.
If you would like to know more about how TTC can support your organisation on its digital accessibility journey please contact TTC’s Global Accessibility Practice Lead: Samantha Dancey at samantha.dancey@ttcglobal.com or +61 415 050 221