Disability History Month (UKDHM) is here, but sadly awareness isn’t. November 18th marked the beginning of the month, which annually focuses on the history of our struggle for equality and human rights. However, despite it being its 10th year, like many I only just heard about it.
The theme this year is ‘Access, how far we have come, and how far we need to go.’ When thinking of how far we’ve come, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) comes to mind. The DDA is in place to promote civil rights for people with disabilities and to protect people like us from discrimination by employers and service providers.
It’s been 25 years since the DDA became law in Britain, but don’t take its existence as a given. Without the tireless effort of disabled civil rights campaigners, often in the face of hostility, that remarkable moment in history would not have been possible.
What gets me, though, is why don’t we know their names? Why is this calendar event not included in the National Curriculum? And despite the disabled community being the largest minority group that anyone can join at any given time, why am I not seeing a flurry of posts on my timeline celebrating DHM?
Sadly this reflects a common feeling amongst disabled people. I guess invisibility is our ‘super power,’ but there’s nothing super about not being acknowledged. The Road Map for Inclusion report released last year evidenced how few disabled people are seen in movies and on TV. It seems that even now in 2020 disabled people continue to be kept in the dark, invisible – and as for the Government’s response to disabled people during this pandemic – it feels like an afterthought.
It’s easy to ignore the financial strain put on disabled people by COVID-19 because it’s hardly ever flagged up in any meaningful way. Why isn’t the fact that many disabled people have been shielding non stop since March a hot topic in the House of Commons? A recent survey of 244 disabled people in the UK, carried out by the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC), found that 95 per cent of respondents said their costs had increased as a result of the pandemic. This comes at a time when thousands of the most vulnerable disabled people face having their benefits cut under changes to universal credit and the imposition of the gruelling assessments required to switch from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Allowance (PIP).
It appears that the fight for equality is far from over. Through the sheer resilience of disabled individuals throughout history, great strides have been made towards equality, but without allyship the rest of the journey will be slow.
But despite the bleak statistics, some badass disabled people are making waves. Let’s hear their names! Let’s print their faces on billboards and include them in mainstream brands and ads. I’m proud to say I am part of the disabled community – even though DHM isn’t trending. And although it isn’t all about the likes and shares – it sure would help.
