Disability Pride Survey — July 2023

Michele Mashburn
6 min readJul 13, 2023

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It is Disability Pride Month!!

Survey link: Disability Pride Survey — July 2023
Please respond by July 31, 2023

Disability Pride Flag with a black background with 6 strips running diagonally. The stripes are red, yello, white, blue and green.
Disability Pride Flag By Ann Magill — File:Visually_Safe_Disability_Pride_Flag.png, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=120862663

The colors on the Disability Pride flag symbolize various disability experiences. The black background mourns disabled people who have died due to negligence, suicide, rebellion, illness, and eugenics. The stripe’s color represents disability types:
Red: physical disabilities
Gold: cognitive and intellectual disabilities
White: non-visible and undiagnosed disabilities
Blue: psychiatric disabilities
Green: sensory disabilities

[https://www.respectability.org/2022/07/disability-pride-flag/]

You are invited to participate in a survey to share your thoughts and experiences. This survey is open to everyone and will be open until July 31, 2023. Please share in your networks and let me know if there are any issues.

At this time, we do not have the resource to translate the survey into other languages. If a translation is needed, please feel free to let Michele know via email and we will see if it is possible. Another option is to use Google Translate with the questions but there will be gaps in the translation.

Survey link: Disability Pride Survey — July 2023
Please respond by July 31, 2023

More information on Disability Pride Month is below with a preview of the survey questions.

Disability Pride Month occurs every July in the United States to commemorate the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in July 1990. It is also celebrated around the globe.

This month is celebrated people with disabilities, their identities and culture, and their contributions to society. In 2012, the Disability Pride Parade set the goals of this celebration, with their mission:

  • to change the way people think about and define disability,
  • to end the stigma of disability, and
  • to promote the belief that disability is a natural part of human diversity in which people living with disabilities can celebrate and take pride.

People with disabilities are the largest and most diverse minority in the United States as characterized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their infographic “Disability Impacts All of Us.” It is important to remember that this 26% of the population represents all ages, races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds.

People with disabilities make up 15% of the world’s population[14] and are the largest and most diverse minority in the United States making up approximately 26% of the population, representing all ages, races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds. Disability Pride is based on a tenet of reworking negative narratives and biases that surround the concept of disability. Ableism and social stigma are the true disabled forces in society so this celebration is to advance equity for disabled people, breaking from the traditional concepts of disabilities as shameful conditions to be hidden from public spaces and mainstream awareness.

Disability Pride is based in the social model of disability that focuses on how to improve the environments to ensure equal and equitable opportunities for disabled people. It is essential that we move away from the medical model of disability that places the burden on the individual to be cured or fixed without addressing the true barriers present.

This is the first year that All Things Disability will be conducting a participatory action research project that prioritizes the value of lived experiences with disabilities along with people with exposure to disabilities when caring for or working with people with disabilities. So we invite you to participate and share your experiences by responding to the following questions through a Google Form.

The survey has 2 pages offering a lot of flexibility in answering the questions. Also, feel free to submit materials to Michele by email if it is easier to submit answers in a different format (voice recording, video recording, piece of artwork, etc.). The answers will be compiled and a report drafted to be shared with those who participate and with the larger public. Below are the questions on the form:

Disability Pride Questions — July 2023

Survey link: Disability Pride Survey — July 2023
Please respond by July 31, 2023

This is the start of a series of participatory research to collect and share the thoughts and experiences of the disability community. Some questions will remain the same during this series. They measure identities to help categorize the data.

If you prefer to submit answers in a different format (voice recording, video recording, piece of artwork, etc.), email Michele at Michele@AllThingsDisability.org.

Email addresses will not be shared but may be used to follow up with clarifying questions and/or to reply to concerns.

  1. Email
  2. Do you consider yourself to be a part of the disability community? (Being a part of the disability community will mean different things to different people. This is not asking if you are personally disabled. You might be a parent, caregiver, teacher, therapist, worker, and so on. For those who feel comfortable enough in sharing your disability status, the next question will more clearly count your role in the disability community.
  3. Please let us know how you are a part of the disability community? (Identities are important. Please use “Other” for any details you wish to share. Multiple answers are allowed.)
  4. What city and state do you live in? List your country if you are outside of the US. (Please include the location that feels right to you. If you are answering from outside of the United States, please also specify your country.)
  5. How old are you?

Open-ended questions

There are 3 open ended questions. Please answer at least 1 question. If you have time, please answer them all.

Your reply will be reviewed for themes and insights collected from all stories. A summary will be posted on this website and shared on social media. Please be aware that direct quotes may be used with any identifying information removed.

  1. What do you think is the greatest accomplishment of the Americans with Disabilities Act?
  2. How do you and your family express and celebrate Disability Pride?
  3. What work is still needed to build a world that includes disabled people?
  4. Please share any question(s) you want others to answer for a future survey.
  5. Do you wish to share other identity traits to help us categorize the data?

Question 10 will take you to page 2. If you do not wish to answer the self-identification questions, the survey will end with you answering no to this question.

Self-Identification Questions (optional)

Our identities can be tricky given the oppression and discrimination in society. So, these questions ask you to self-identify the social categories you belong to. All Things Disability understands that it may be uncomfortable to disclose these categories because of the existing marginalization and oppression. So, this section is optional after receiving consent on the previous page.

Marginalized groups and individuals have historically been excluded or oppressed based on identity characteristics such as gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and ability. Feel free to add identities like income, immigration, language, education, property ownership, religion, employment, size, and so on to the last question.

We have followed best practices including the option to decline to answer each of the following questions. Your answers will be used to describe the sample overall and not connected with the prior answers.

If you have questions, feel free to email Michele.

  1. My gender identity is… * (Multiple answers are allowed. This information is to report on the identities of participants separate from their responses.)
  2. Do you identify as transgender? *
  3. Optional: Please add how you self-identify your gender.
  4. Ethnicity and race self-identification: I identify as (multiple selections allowed) * (Racial and ethnic identities are complex. Please select the best identity elements and if you prefer to self-identify add it in the next question. There is room to add more details to this survey’s last question.)
  5. Optional: Please add how you self-identify race or ethnic identity (e.g., Black, African American, Korean, Mexican American, Navajo Nation, Samoan, Puerto Rican, Haitian, Italian, Iranian, etc.)
  6. How do you like to describe your sexual orientation/identity? * (Select all that apply. This information is being collected to report on participants’ identities separate from their responses.)
  7. Optional: Please add how you self-identify your sexual orientation.
  8. Feel free to add more details here about how you identify. (These demographic questions are not all the ways a person experiences oppression. Other areas include: income, language, education, immigration status, religion, and more. Please add those details and anything else you wish to share here.)

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Michele Mashburn

Disability Advocate, Educator, & Activist * Cat Lover * Opinions are mine