July is Disability Pride Month, a time to celebrate and amplify the voices of people living with disabilities. Disability exists across a broad spectrum of physical, behavioral, and cognitive conditions. Disability Pride is about honoring every individual’s uniqueness and giving visibility to a natural element of human diversity. Most efforts toward disability inclusion are accommodations focused with the intention of retrofitting or altering established spaces or practices for use by people with disabilities. Disability justice, however, prioritizes historically excluded individuals at the conception of new designs and processes before they are established to ensure true, integral inclusion. Even before the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, the work of dispelling negative perceptions of people with disabilities has long been underway but there is still much progress to be made.
This month and every day, Denver Public Library challenges all to add initiative to one’s curiosity by researching and learning more about perspectives they may not share. Many locations offer adaptive technologies and services including headphones upon request. We also welcome service animals tasked with supporting customers in need of visible and invisible accommodations. Learn more at: denlib.org/accommodations