Disability Pride Month: Will your church celebrate?

July is Disability Pride month - it has absolutely nothing to do with LGBTQ+, although some do try to hijack it a little!

This month is a celebration of what disabled people bring to the world and who we are. It started in America, way before LGBTQ+ had one. It also had a different name, but "pride" was in its descriptors.

Can I ask: has your church ever celebrated this month? Or maybe disability history month that takes place in November or December each year? Have you ever done the "Disability Sunday" service available from organisation Through the Roof? Do you celebrate those with disability at all?

Those with disabilities of any sort, whether hidden or visible, whether mental health related or neurodivergence, have gone through an awful year. With threats to benefit changes through both governments, we’ve witnessed the lies around disability that have circulated from that. Because of that, we’ve also had to deal with hate from non-disabled people who know barely anything about disability. So, feeling proud about our disability is far, far away from our minds.

For example, I’ve been reading some of the comments on social media about Disability Pride. From those who don’t know the first thing about living with disability, there are comments such as “Why would anyone be proud of being disabled?” And “Proud of being a scrounger more like!” From disabled people themselves: “I don’t feel I can be proud anymore - the hate we’ve endured in the last year has put paid to that”.

Sometimes, as Christians, we recoil from the word "pride" - for obvious reasons. We forget that, as a turn of phrase, being proud of something is not what the Bible is referring to. For "disability pride", we are celebrating those with disabilities - being proud of who we are and are becoming. (I’m not talking about telling people they are "inspirational" for going to the toilet, or just living our lives like anyone else!)

Why disabled people can be proud

I’m proud of those who have relentlessly fought against the benefit reforms, to the detriment of their own health and persuaded MPs to rebel. I’m also proud of those who are so disabled they exist in a closed and lonely world - but each day they choose to keep going.

Pride in the Biblical context of sin is more about relying on ourself rather than relying fully on God and seeing Him as the ruler of our lives. Disabled people often have to rely on others, many of us are used to it. We prefer independence, but the way the world is set up, relying on someone else is often a given. We often talk about being too proud to use a mobility device we need (I’m guilty as charged on that one!), or being too proud to accept help (yep, guilty of that too). Now that’s a little closer to the Biblical context, but not quite.

What I’ve found is, many disabled Christians rely on God and have to press into His grace more. When you have to face what so many disabled people face every day, God and our faith in Him are are the only things that get us through. It doesn’t mean we’re desperate, tragic or pitiful. Most of us are still joyful!

I regularly say that a Christian who is disabled often shows more grace and more faith than people realise.

This month, we need to be celebrating those in our church families who have disabilities and additional needs - but without forgetting them for the rest of the year!