Disability Pride vs. Disability Rage: Holding Both at the 35-Year Mark

When the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)¹ was signed into law in July of 1990, I had just turned 13. I didn’t fully understand what it meant, but I knew the world didn’t see me as “enough.” I was surrounded by messages that said disability was something to hide or overcome—and for a long time, I believed them.

That belief stayed with me. I carried internalized ableism deep into adulthood, navigating systems that made me feel like access was a favor instead of a right. It wasn’t until I was in my 40s that I began to understand and feel what Disability Pride² really meant. And even now, I still have moments—moments of rage when I feel stuck, not because of who I am, but because of the systemic and societal barriers that keep showing up.

I often wonder if I’ll see equity and equality in my lifetime. But I know that naming these truths, honoring our complexity, and telling our stories are part of the work.

This July marks 35 years since the ADA was signed into law. It was a landmark victory—pushed forward by disabled people who risked everything to demand access, autonomy, and civil rights. We honor that legacy every July through Disability Pride Month. But this year, the celebration hits differently.

How do we celebrate a law meant to protect our rights when those rights are being chipped away—again?

Cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. Attacks on trans healthcare. Inaccessible voting systems. Rising costs for home and community-based services. These policies don’t just hurt—they kill. And it’s Black, Brown, and low-income disabled folks who feel it first and hardest.

There’s room for pride. And there’s room for rage. We’re holding both.

Disability Pride is not about being palatable.

It’s not about “overcoming” anything. It’s about refusing to shrink ourselves to fit a system that was never built for us. It’s about celebrating our culture, our brilliance, our language, our joy—on our terms.

It’s about claiming space in a world that routinely tells us we’re too much, too needy, too complicated. Disability Pride is how we resist invisibility. It’s how we show up in our wholeness.

² Disability Pride means embracing disability as a valuable and powerful part of identity and culture. It rejects the idea that we should be ashamed of our bodies, minds, or needs—and instead celebrates them as worthy, whole, and connected to broader movements for liberation.

Disability Rage is not a threat.

It’s a call to action. It’s the collective fire that rises when our people go without care, without food, without housing, without protection.

It’s what fueled the Capitol Crawl³. It’s what fueled ADAPT⁴ shutting down government buildings. It’s what fuels us still.

Rage is rooted in love—a fierce love for our people, for our communities, for the world we know is possible.

Too often, the ADA gets treated like the final word in Disability Justice. But access without liberation is not enough. Ramps don’t dismantle ableism. Policies don’t always change culture. And compliance doesn’t guarantee equity.

This month, we honor our freedom fighters and demand more. The ADA was never the finish line. It was a tool—a starting point—for building something bolder. It was never meant to be the ceiling. It was the floor.

So we’re not just celebrating what’s been done—we’re continuing the work of those who came before us.

So as we commemorate this anniversary, let’s ask:

• Who still doesn’t have access?
• Whose voices are still left out?
• What does justice look like beyond legal compliance?

These questions aren’t rhetorical. They’re meant to guide our organizing, our storytelling, our dreaming.

Pride without action is performance. Rage without direction is burnout. But together? They’re power.

This is your reminder: you don’t have to choose. You can love your disabled self and still be furious at the systems failing us. You can show up in joy and in protest. You can be proud and be pissed off.

We’ve been doing both for decades.

Let’s keep going.

Download Our Resource:

To support reflection and conversation, we’ve also put together a downloadable resource with journaling and spoken word prompts to help you explore your own relationship to Disability Pride, Disability Rage, and what justice looks like in your community.

Whether you’re writing for yourself, bringing this into a classroom, or using these prompts in your organizing spaces, we hope they spark deeper dialogue, healing, and collective vision.

Because the future we’re fighting for begins with naming what we feel—and what we deserve. You can download it here.

 

Footnotes

¹ ADA – The Americans with Disabilities Act is a civil rights law passed in 1990 that prohibits discrimination against disabled people in employment, education, public accommodations, and more.

² Disability Pride – Celebrates disability as a natural and valuable part of human diversity, challenging the idea that we need to be fixed, hidden, or ashamed.

³ Capitol Crawl – In 1990, over 60 disabled activists left their wheelchairs and mobility aids and crawled up the steps of the U.S. Capitol to demand the passage of the ADA.

⁴ ADAPT – A national grassroots organization of disabled activists that uses direct action to demand equal access to transportation, healthcare, and community living.