It’s Disability Pride Month. So why is nobody talking about it?

If you do this Disability Pride month, please listen to disabled people. You might have seen awareness-raising posts from disabled content creators on social media, many of which serve as a call to arms, asking them to publicly support and show appreciation for the disabled community in July and beyond.

Even though we try to tell the world about it, Disability Pride Month tends to go unrecognized by those outside of our community. In the U.S., there are a few parades that take place each year, but the last one in the UK was due to the Pandemic.

Lawmakers in the U.S. and UK fail to acknowledge the celebration because of the treatment of disabled people under their rule.

In a month that is supposed to be about us, I haven't seen any big brands include disabled people in their ads. The amount of work I get in July is usually less than any other month.

There is a good chance that a lot of you are unaware of Disability Pride Month. Why wouldn't people take it seriously when there are more than one billion people with disabilities? More people are talking about it.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a law that prohibits the discrimination of disabled people in the US, was passed in Boston in 1990. The first parade was held in Chicago in 2004, after a parade in Boston. Annual parades have been held in New York City for the last three years.

Parades, like the one held in NYC, protests and other in-person events are often not accessible to many disabled people, which is one of the reasons why so many of us have turned to the internet.

"I don't think Disability Pride month is celebrated in the USA," says Wilson, a photographer living in California. During this year's Disability Pride Month, I haven't seen the prioritization of centering us in policy change, in the media, or city plans to create more access and ease for us.

There is a lack of support for the community around the world. Not only are national and local governments quiet, I noted just two major brands that have posted messages of solidarity for disabled people on their social media, one of which was Starbucks, who vaguely stated that they are working with a non-profit supporting the deafness community.

"I would love to see more brands talking about disability pride and more non-disabled people mentioning it too." A lot of people think it only includes people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer. It isn't talked about enough. Are people confused about what Disability Pride is, or are they just not interested?

It's celebrated by the disabled community but nobody else cares about it. Most brands don't post about it or won't pay disabled people to make content.

With the popularity of social media used as a platform for social justice discourse, a number of disabled activists used their digital spaces to share what Disability Pride Month means to them in the hopes that it will rally more support for our community.

Disability pride means that anyone who is not able-bodied embraces their unique circumstances and embodies innovation to live their best life.

It is sometimes seen as oxymoronic by able-bodied people to call yourself disabled and proud. I would not be the advocate I am today if it weren't for my Diabetes. I don't think I would be me.

To me it means love, acceptance, protest, access, support, rebellion, fight, rights It's a good time for the community to talk about being disabled.

This month is about disabled pride and a lot more. Our disabled joy is celebrated. It is a good time to learn about disability rights. It should be an opportunity for disabled people who are looking for work to get it.

The lack of support for the disabled community has shown how much needs to be done to get the world to notice, celebrate and fight for our rights.

Are you ready to fight for the rights of the disabled? There are some things you can do.

• You can follow disabled content creators on social media.

• If possible, look for petitions, marches and events that support disabled people and our rights, or share with others that might be interested.

• Tell your friends and family what you've learned.

• You can find out about local community organizations that support disabled people.

• It's a good idea to write to your MP to let them know what's going on in your community.

At some point in a person's life, they become disabled, either through old age, accident or the late onset of disability. It would be great if we embraced the disabled community more. We have to keep telling people to care about us in order to get them to listen.

I hope next year we see a marked increase in public interest in Disability Pride Month, but more than that, I hope we see more of an invested interest in improving the lives of people with disabilities around the world.