The Disability Flag, Disability Pride Flag or Flag of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a flag that represents people with any kind of disability. It was created by the disabled activist Ann Magill.
Disability Pride flag
The Disability Pride flag represents the Disability Pride Movement. The original Disability Pride flag was created in 2016
by Ann Magill,
a disabled woman, and featured a zig-zag or lightning bolt design.
After receiving input from people with visually triggering disabilities, the flag was changed in 2021 to have muted colors and straight diagonal stripes.
The concept and design of the Disability Pride Flag were inspired and influenced by social movements such as
LGBT pride and
Black pride.
The flag has been used at various events in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
The Disability Pride Flag is a charcoal grey flag bisected diagonally from the top left corner to the lower right corner by five parallel stripes in red, pale gold, pale grey, light blue, and green.
Meaning of the colors:
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Charcoal Grey: Mourning for people who have died due to Ableism, abuse, suicide, and illness
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Red Stripe: Physical disabilities
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Gold Stripe: Neurodiversity
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Blue Stripe: Mental disorder
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Green Stripe: Sensory disabilities
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White Stripe: Undiagnosed and invisible disabilities
Gold-Silver-Bronze flag
There were several attempts to create a flag that represented all disabilities. The Gold-Silver-Bronze Disability Flag aimed mainly to highlight the achievements and value of disabled individuals in society. The flag was designed with a metallic color scheme inspired by the medals awarded in sports and competitions, especially the
Paralympic Games. The idea behind this design was to emphasize the worthiness, accomplishments, and contributions of disabled people, countering societal narratives that often focused on limitations rather than strengths. On December 3, 2017, at the United Nations' International Day of Persons with Disabilities, parliamentarians from Latin American countries gathered in a plenary assembly in
Peru.
By acclamation, they declared the flag to be the symbol of all people with disabilities. On the same day, the flag was handed over to the European headquarters of the United Nations.
Many Spanish cities and municipalities display the flag on the International Day of People with Disabilities. In 2018, the flag was shown in the city of Santa Cruz de La Palma on the Canary Island of La Palma.
On December 3, 2018, the flag was adopted by the "Foment d'Esportistes amb Reptes" (FER), an Olympic and Paralympic sports organization in Spain.
See also
