Celebrating Disability Pride: Striving for Inclusivity and Innovation at EWB-USA
The celebration of Disability Pride in the United States dates back to 1990 when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which guarantees certain civil rights protections to/ prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in various areas of public life, was signed into law. That summer, the city of Boston held the first Disability Pride Day. The first official nationwide celebration of Disability Pride Month started nearly a decade ago in July 2015, the year that marked the 25th anniversary of the ADA. Since then cities across the country have celebrated Disability Pride with various festivities.
Here at Engineers Without Borders USA, we are also celebrating. We know that engineering and adaptive solutions are fueled by creativity. We continuously want to recognize that people with disabilities are often uniquely positioned to be creative, empathetic leaders.
To all of the changemakers in our network:
We need you. We need you on our teams, partnering with us on our projects, teaching & learning in our classrooms, and in the fabric of our communities. In all your incredible diversity. Always.
While we are not experts in this field, we have curated a list of resources, found below, from those who are to provide ourselves and our community with tools for continued learning. At EWB-USA, our DEI committee is always striving to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment for everyone in our community: volunteers, staff, partner communities, and partner organizations.
Resources:
- Defining Inclusive Development by International Development and Disability Consortium
- A Podcast interview of Dr. Emily Ackerman about engineers and academics with disabilities
- Articles titled “Engineers with Disabilities Describe Creative, Persistent Strategies They Took to Succeed” and “Living and Working as an Engineer With Adult Onset Disability”
- A History of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- A Book titled Demystifying Disability by Emily Ladau
- Free download of Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM: Promoting the Success of People with Disabilities in the STEM Workforce (proceedings of a workshop series)
Learn about ground breaking activists from the STEM field:
- Farida Bedwei – Ghana-based software engineer, disability rights activist, writer, entrepreneur
- Hani Khoury – Palestinian-American Professor of Mathematics, writer, and advocate
- Maggie Aderin-Pocock – British space scientist, engineer, author, and broadcaster
- And several more amazing trailblazers!
As we take steps toward greater inclusivity, such as our website redesign launching in fall 2024, we invite our community to share their stories of impact and feedback on how we can improve. Email us at info@ewb-usa.org at any time. Together, we can build a more inclusive world for all.