Disability Pride Month 2023

About the author

Hi! My name is Miranda and I'm the current Young Adult Leader Fellow at MAC. I’m an Asian American woman with a learning disability. I'm learning how to self-advocate and ask for accommodations. I enjoy art, swimming, skiing, and music.

To celebrate the Americans with Disabilities Act you can learn more about the disability movement and learn about disability rights. For example, you can watch a film, read about the movement, research disability history, or attend a celebration.

Videos to watch:

Crip Camp

On the heels of Woodstock, a group of teen campers are inspired to join the fight for disability civil rights. This spirited look at grassroots activism is executive produced by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama.

Autism as a disABILITY | Adam Harris | TEDxDCU

The speaker in this video is named Adam Harris. He's from Ireland and he has autism. This video explores autism as a type of disability. Some people with autism get overstimulated. For example, bright lights, loud noises, and strong smells bother them sometimes. The speaker said that sometimes he feels like he’s an alien in his own country. He doesn't think the same way that people who don't have autism think because his brain works differently. He also explains that people with autism don’t always feel understood and that they sometimes have a difficult time understanding jokes. Adam shared some surprising statistics, including the fact that up to 80% of adults with autism don’t have jobs. Adam Harris thinks that if there were more support available for adults on the autism spectrum, then people would have a better chance of finding fulfilling jobs that they are good at and that they enjoy. Adam Harris supports the empowerment movement with autistic people.

Celebrating Disability Pride Month

This video features Dr. Thema Bryant, the 2023 president of the American Psychological Association. She interviews two doctors who has either lived with a disability or has a family member with a disability. Dr. Sandra Leon-Villa has autism. She likes to work with people who have autism. The other person being interviewed is named Dr. Martha Banks. She is a retired neuropsychologist whose uncle wasn’t born with a disability, but became disabled later in life when he became blind after having glaucoma. He got accommodations and was still able to work. Dr. Banks explained how her uncle inspired her and that he could even do things that Dr. Banks herself had not done. Dr. Banks further explained that a protective factor for people with disabilities is having a strong community.

Hidden Disability - Autism

This video is about autism as a hidden disability. The speaker in this video, Lydia Townsend, has autism. She explains some of the common struggles that people with autism face on a daily basis, such as having difficulty concentrating when there are many people in the room. It can feel like there is too much noise at once. When there are a lot of people in a room it can cause people with autism to experience too much sensory input. Sometimes autistic people struggle with sensory issues; for example, regular sounds can be very loud to them. Sometimes lights seem too bright for them, especially overhead ceiling lights. In this video, Lydia discusses how she lives with autism and how she asked for accommodations in order to cope with her disability while working. She has an office by herself because she can concentrate. She also requests that meetings take place in a room that she is familiar with so that she feels more comfortable. This helps her be able to concentrate better. Lydia was able to graduate from college with multiple degrees and says that she is successful today. She demonstrates that it is able to live independently with autism.