The first Fact Sheet describes the Disability Pride Flag, 10 disability justice principles and a basic overview of disability language guidelines.
The second Fact Sheet describes the 6 central tenets of empowerment-oriented social work practice with the disabilty community - as explained in the open source textbook titled 'Social Work Practice and Disability Communities: An Intersectional Anti-Oppressive Approach'.
A plain text transcript is shared following the two Fact Sheet images below. Click the images to expand or download.
Fact Sheets - Plain Text
Page 1
July is Disability Pride Month.
Disability Pride Month is about celebrating the inherent value of disabled people and honors the experiences of the disability community.
The Disability Pride Flag
Design created by Ann Magill in 2019 and revised in 2021.
The colors on the flag represent different disability experiences, highlighting the varied challenges and victories that individuals with disabilities face.
Red: Physical disabilities.
Gold: Cognitive and intellectual disabilities.
White: Nonvisible and undiagnosed disabilities.
Blue: Psychiatric disabilities.
Green: Sensory disabilities.
Black: Commemorates and mourns disabled people who have died due to ableism, violence, negligence, suicide, rebellion, illness and eugenics.
Disability Justice Principles
The disability justice collective, Sins Invalid, established the 10 Principles of Disability Justice framework in 2015 to address intersecting oppressions faced by disabled people and to guide inclusive and equitable practices. Learn more at SinsInvalid.org.
1. Intersectionality
2. Leadership of Those Most Impacted
3. Anti-Capitalism
4. Cross-Movement Solidarity
5. Wholeness
6. Sustainability
7. Cross-Disability Solidarity
8. Interdependence
9. Collective Access
10. Collective Liberation
Disability Language
Person-first or identify-first language can be appropriate depending on preference.
When in doubt, ask the person which they prefer.
Person First Language
Person-first language emphasizes the person before the disability.
For example “a person with a learning disability” or “people with spinal cord injuries.”
Identity First Language
Identity-first language puts the disability first in the description.
For example, “disabled” or “autistic."
Reminder: Disability is not a bad word!
Page 2
July is Disability Pride Month.
Disability Pride Month is about celebrating the inherent value of disabled people and honors the experiences of the disability community.
6 central tenets of empowerment-oriented social work practice with the disability community
Alongside the framework of disability justice movement, six central tenets can be used to guide empowerment-oriented social work practice with disabled people.
These tenets are outlined further in the 2023 opensource textbook, Social Work Practice and Disability Communities: An Intersectional Anti-Oppressive Approach.
Read more at Rotel.pressbooks.pub/disabilitysocialwork
1. Community Inclusion, posits that all people have the right to be respected and appreciated as valuable members of their communities.
2. Circles of Support. This concept honors the fact that people may have a range of friends, family, or other supports in their life who can provide friendship and support. It is also important for social workers to honor that the client at the center of the circles of support has the right to direct their care – including how they want their circles of support to be included in that process – or not!
3. “Nothing about us without us”. This phrase became the rallying cry of the disability civil rights movement adopted in the 1990s to communicate the idea that no policy should be decided by any representative without the full and direct participation of those whom the policy affected. More recently, disability civil rights advocates have reframed this saying to read “about us, by us”.
4. Self-determination. The process of making something happen in one’s own life. It is the opportunity to make choices, set goals, solve problems, and make a range of decisions for oneself.
5. Interdependence. The notion that we are not and do not need to be as independent as we think we are in this society, we are actually much more interdependent than we realize, and this should be recognized and honored. Interdependence honors the goal of working to meet each other’s needs without always reaching for state solutions.
6. Dignity of Risk. Perhaps the most controversial and challenging of all of the tenets. This is the idea that everyone can learn from everyday risks. Central to honoring the dignity of risk is respecting an individual’s autonomy and self-determination to make choices. Also important is the right to make choices even if social workers or other professionals in the person’s life feel that they could endanger the decision-maker in question. In order to respect a person’s dignity of risk, one should provide intermittent support even if others do not approve of the unsafe choice. As there is inherent dignity in the experience of everyday risk, this concept suggests that limiting a disabled person’s ability to make a risky choice or limiting their access to the community does not foster overall wellness in the long run.
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