National Disability Rights Awareness Month
South Africa celebrates National Disability Rights Awareness Month annually between 3 November and 3 December. 3 December is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and is also celebrated as National Disability Rights Awareness Day.
On this day, World Health Organization (WHO) joined its partners to celebrate under the theme (A Day for All), which reflects a growing understanding that disability is part of the human condition.
Disability is the consequence of an impairment that may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental, or some combination of these. A disability may be present from birth, or occur during a person’s lifetime.
The Disability Awareness Month offers an opportunity for all of us to remove these barriers and to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities through concrete action.
The Department of Women, Youth and People with Disabilities is responsible for driving the government’s equity, equality and empowerment agenda in terms of those living with disabilities.
What are the colours for disability month?
The Disability Pride Flag, initially designed in 2019 by Ann Magill, was created to encompass all disabilities. It was revised in 2021 with community input, and is now in the public domain. Within the flag, each color stripe has a meaning:
- Red – physical disabilities
- Gold – neurodiversity
- White – invisible disabilities and disabilities that haven’t yet been diagnosed
- Blue – emotional and psychiatric disabilities, including mental illness, anxiety, and depression
- Green – for sensory disabilities, including deafness, blindness, lack of smell, lack of taste, audio processing disorder, and all other sensory disabilities
The faded black background mourning and rage for victims of ableist violence and abuse. The diagonal Bband cuts across the walls and barriers that separate the disabled from normate society, also representing light and creativity cutting through the darkness.
https://diversity.ldeo.columbia.edu/heritage-months/disability-pride