Disability Pride Month: what is it and why it matters

July is Disability Pride Month. Our Equality and Diversity Manager Elaine MacGlone explains its importance and what non-disabled people and employers can do to support.

What is Disability Pride Month?

It’s a month for disabled people, allies and others who want to express their support for the rights of people with disabilities to come together.

It is celebratory, but also acts as a challenge to negative attitudes about disability and promotes that disability is a part of human diversity that we can be proud of. It aims to change attitudes towards disability and to highlight the steps we can all take to improve inclusion for disabled people.

The theme this year is visibility, intersectionality and disabled leadership.

Why is it important?

Despite 16 years of the Equality Act 2010 setting out protections from discrimination and the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, people with disabilities still face significant challenges in participating equally in society and in the workplace with non-disabled people.

This results in significant inequalities between disabled and non-disabled people. Some sobering statistics include:

• Work: disabled people are under-represented in employment. UK Government statistics reported that in 2025 the disability employment rate was 52.8% compared to 82.5% for non-disabled people. In addition, the employment rate is even lower for disabled people with a mental health condition.

• Negative attitudes from others: the charity Scope reports that 72% of disabled people have experienced negative attitudes or behaviours from others in the last five years and, of those, 87% said it had a negative effect on their daily lives.

• Crime: most concerning is the rise in crime aimed at disabled people in Scotland. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service reported a 25% increase in the number of disability aggravated charges in 2025-26 to 1,370. It noted that this is the highest number of charges reported since 2010 when the aggravation was introduced and represents an almost unbroken upward trend in numbers since then.

This is the Disability Pride flag

Originally designed by Ann Magill in 2016, the design was adjusted by Ann in 2021 after feedback from people with visually triggered disabilities.

Description: A black field bisected diagonally from the top left corner to the lower right corner by five parallel stripes in red, yellow, white, blue and green.

The colours of the flag have different meanings:

• Black: mourning for people who have died due to ableist violence, abuse, suicide, and illness

• Red: physical disabilities

• Yellow: neurodiversity

• White: undiagnosed and invisible disabilities

• Blue: emotional and psychiatric disabilities

• Green: sensory disabilities

What about disability in the Scottish legal sector?

Looking at the Scottish solicitor profession, our 2023 Profile of the Profession survey showed that 5% of respondents considered themselves to be disabled or to have an impairment.

While 34% of those were able to request and be granted reasonable adjustments, 17% had not requested adjustments because they did not want to disclose their disability to their employer or were apprehensive of the response they would get if they did request adjustments.

Doctor Rachael Wallace, lecturer in law at the Dundee Law School and convener of the Law Society’s Equalities Law Policy Sub-committee, carried out research in this area for her doctoral thesis Disability, reasonable adjustments and the Scottish legal profession in 2023.

She also found that many participants in her research avoided disclosing their disabilities, especially if they had a non-visible disability. Those who did disclose their disabilities found it challenging to obtain reasonable adjustments when requested.

Participants who were trainees at the time felt particularly vulnerable and reticent to report instances of bullying and other poor behaviour they experienced from senior colleagues for fear of negative consequence to their careers.

Many participants experienced a negative culture in their organisation, with ableist attitudes and comments going unchallenged.

Nevertheless, Dr Wallace’s research did also disclose good practice, noting the importance of line managers, supervisors and human resources colleagues being supportive and proactive in demonstrating that support to their colleagues.

What can non-disabled people and employers do to support?

• Learn about the experiences of people with disabilities in society. There are many disabled people who generously share their experiences online, including:

  • Gem Turner: Gem has a condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (type 3) aka Brittle Bones and is a wheelchair user.

  • Chronically Jenni: Jenni lives with chronic illness and disability. She regularly shares posts online describing her experiences and sharing hacks and products that make her life a little bit easier. Jenni has also written about Disability Pride Month and why it matters more than ever.

  • Disabled Eliza: Eliza is a disabled content creator from London. She shares content all about disability and LGBTQ+ education - topics that are close to her heart.

  • Disabling Barriers Scotland: a non-profit organisation founded by two Scottish solicitors with lived experience of disability and neurodivergence. Their mission is to create a culture of belonging in the Scottish legal profession, providing information and support to people with disabilities and to others working to improve inclusion. They run events where you can hear about the experiences of disabled people working in the Scottish profession.

• Be an active ally: allies play an important part in removing barriers and changing attituded. This means listening to people with disabilities and asking them what they need from you. Understand their limitations and don’t try to push people to go beyond these. Help and support disabled people to be heard when they speak. Educate yourself on different disabilities, but don’t expect disabled people to provide that education for you. If you witness inappropriate behaviour, be an active bystander – whether that means calling out the behaviour in the moment or assisting the person who is the subject of that behaviour.

  One way to remember how to be a good ally is to use the acronym ALLY:

  • Acknowledge (and respect) individual experiences and abilities

  • Learn about different disability types

  • Leverage your influence to promote accessibility and inclusion

  • Yield the floor to people with disabilities to help identify and eliminate barriers.

For employers

• Take a critical eye to your premises, processes, policies, culture and technology in your workplace. Are they supporting accessibility for all your colleagues, customers and others? Does your culture support a positive working environment for all? Be aware that so many disabilities are invisible. For more information, do consider our Improving Disability Inclusion advice and information.

• Psychological safety and culture: review your culture and structures to ensure that everyone feels safe to disclose their needs and obtain reasonable adjustments. Train your line managers and supervisors to have supportive and open conversations with those they manage. In particular, work to ensure that everyone in your organisation can feel confident that if they report bullying, harassment or other poor behaviour it will be investigated and action taken as necessary.

Finally, for both individuals and employers, continue these actions all year.

Pride month raises awareness and is a protest against the negative experiences of disabled people. Respect this by ensuring you adopt these actions throughout the year to ensure improvements at your organisation and to support people with disabilities to participate in society on a truly equitable basis.

If you have any feedback on this article or our disability inclusion advice and information, we’d love to hear from you!  Get in touch at [email protected].