Happy? Disability Pride?
July is Disability Pride Month in the US, marking the anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, turning 35 years old on July 26 this year.
The US Senate welcomed the month by staying up all night to pass a budget bill that would have profoundly harmful effects on disabled people’s lives, including over $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid by 2034. The bill now goes back to the US House for its final deliberation and vote.
Again, Disability Wrath Month feels like a more accurate response to the way ‘Pride’ can provide cover for true enemies of disability joy. Still, disability communities, famously ingenious, will find ways to braid outrage with celebration for what lies ahead.
NEWS
New Works
Artist Jesse Darling recently installed a public sculpture called The Long Way Around for the Roskilde Festival (Denmark). The long winding wheelchair ramp is “also an environment, a journey, and a lesson from crip and sideways experience to everyone and anyone under capitalism: those of us who have [had] to take the long way usually come out with some kinda knowing from it.”
caregiving, a documentary from Executive Producer Bradley Cooper about “paid and unpaid caregivers navigating the challenges and joys of this deeply meaningful work,” is out on PBS.
Performance artist Kinlaw recently presented FALL RISK, a newly commissioned performance at Art Omi (Ghent, NY) that explores “disability, precarity, and aging parents in poverty.”
People with Disability Australia recently recapped the 18th meeting of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP18).
Disabled access worker Madison Zalopany recently published some tips on creating access on a small budget for cultural institutions and grassroots/DIY/community spaces.
WBUR Boston recently interviewed Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, a disabled Google Maps engineer and organizer with NYC’s Elevator Action Group.
Artist Nic Gareiss is currently touring music and choreography in the Northeast US that demonstrates how “percussive dance queers the ableist separation between senses.”
Mashable recently recapped a VidCon panel called “Accessibility for All: Creating Inclusive Spaces Online and IRL” featuring Peet Montzingo, Imani Barbarin, Briel Adams-Wheatley, and Pat Valentine.
In Other News…
Orange County Coastkeeper and the California State Coastal Conservancy are renewing the Beach and Coast Accessibility Program with $290,000 for accessibility equipment like beach wheelchairs, walkers, mats, and kayaks along the California coastline.
Jamie Torres-Springer, president of NYC’s MTA Construction & Development, recently gave a tour of an active elevator installation site to West Side Rag’s Carol Tannenhauser.
CALLS
Divine Design Collective has gathered several community mutual aid calls to support Black queer disabled folks.
Riz of Yarn Against the Machine is hiring for 3 Medicaid-paid support roles in East Falls/Philadelphia, PA.
Detroit Disability Power is hiring a 1-year Coalition Manager. Apply by July 11.
Applications are open for the 2026 Disability Lead Institute for disabled folks in Chicago and Southwestern Pennsylvania. Apply by September 5 (early bird deadline July 18).
The Disability Collective is inviting d/Deaf and disabled photographers living in Ontario to submit work to be exhibited as part of 20 Years Later: The (In)Accessibility of Ontario taking place at Daniels Spectrum (Toronto) from October 9 - 26.
Registration is open for the Digital Equity Ambassador paid work-study program at the Center for Independent Living of Berkeley and Oakland for disabled folks aged 17 - 26 based in Alameda County, CA.
Disabled artist Jessica Elaine Blinkhorn is raising funds to take DOGEWALKER, her “live, performative protest rooted in disabled, queer, and marginalized identities,” to Washington DC this month.
Chronically ill Disabled and neurodivergent artist Molly Bonnell is seeking submissions for a zine that will explore disabled, sick, mad, and crip narratives of care, community, rage and joy as a response and resistance to the proposed UK welfare cuts. Submit by Friday, July 17.
Level the Curve is issuing an open call for works by disabled artists for their 6th annual ThisAbility Art Show taking place July 19 at El Barrio Artspace PS 109 (NYC).
EVENTS
Accessible Virtual Pride 2025
July 4 - 6, on Zoom, YouTube, and GatherTown
Produced by Calling Up Justice, One Free Community, and MouthWater Disability Dance Festival, this event is dedicated to promoting justice and accessibility, ensuring everyone can participate regardless of their ability to attend in person. Inspired by the story of "Stone Soup," every aspect of this event is a labor of love, with volunteers dedicating their time and talents to create something truly special.
Radiate by Maggie Bridger
Sunday July 13 - Saturday July 19, in-person at Red Eye Theater (Minneapolis)
An ongoing, iterative process and project, Radiate explores the mundanity, humor and time-bending experience of pain and care. Working across video, craft and movement, this piece invites audiences to make themselves comfortable in the artist's home as she continually traces deeply worn pathways, seeking warmth and relief. Radiate centers access through the open use of tools like captions, Artistic Sign Language and audio description, as well as various types of seating, blanket, pillows and other tools that allow audiences to attend to and curate their embodied experience of the work.Cyber Realms: Movement Practice Summer Series
Starting Sunday July 6, 2 - 3:30pm ET, on Zoom
Cyber Realms, led by Vanessa Hernández Cruz, is a deep movement improvisation exploration of how we can channel our authentic selves when we are dancing, moving, and/or being creative. No movement experience required, you only need to bring yourself, a journal, and your imagination!Navigating COVID Denialism as Survivors
Sunday, July 6, 4 - 6pm ET, on Google Meet
Candice Alaska and Sky Cubacub are holding a peer support space for folks who are tired of and traumatised by COVID denialism. Join the Radical Survivor Space on Patreon to register.