You may or may not know this, but July is Disability Pride Month. This label – disability “pride” – means a lot of different things to different people. To me, it means being proud of continuing to persevere and show up every day in a world that was very much not built with me in mind.

I’ve written one post a week on something specifically disability related for Disability Pride Month for the last few years now. This year, I considered just sharing these posts on Substack rather than here, because that’s where I’ve been sharing some more personal reflections lately, and that’s often what my disability posts end up being. But there’s something important to me about showing up here and writing disability-only content, too.

Of course, most, if not all, of my posts are related to my disability in some way, because my disability affects almost everything in my life in some way or the other. The clothes I wear, the makeup I use, the books I choose to read and how I read them – every single one of these things are affected by my disability. But those details and mentions are woven in to the post; those posts aren’t solely about being disabled.

Usually, that’s the way I want my posts to be! It’s how I show up in real life, too – my disability is a huge part of me, but not the only part of me. If you’ve been a reader for a while, I’m sure you’ve heard me say that before. But right now, it feels increasingly important to remind people about my disability, to remind them of the huge impact it does have on my life day in and day out. Because right now, it feels like my identity as a disabled person is under attack on almost every front. Major Medicaid cuts are looming, disability is one of the words flagged in grant applications, DEIA is being demonized, and there are even efforts at the federal level to roll back accessibility requirements to buildings. It’s a lot!

With all of this going on around me, it felt important now more than ever for me to be loud and proud about my disability. Being disabled isn’t something I’m ashamed of or trying to hide, and I’m not going to stop talking about my disability and my needs. In fact, the more the powers at be try to take things away from me, the louder I’m going to be about being disabled. This pride and acceptance has been hard fought and hard won, both on a personal level as well as a societal one. It has taken me many years (and many tears) to talk about being disabled and my needs so openly and honestly. I won’t let anyone take that from me easily.

So I will continue to write weekly about disability in July. Some of my future posts might be more actionable, but I wanted to start with this one, which I’m considering my own rallying cry for the month. I am disabled. I am proud of my life and who I am. And I’m not going anywhere.