Disability Rights Florida Blog (504-sit-in-history)

Disability Pride Month is an important time to shed light on stories often untold. We hope by sharing this information, Frida Kahlo’s full story and identity as a disabled, bisexual, Mexican, woman of color, and talented artist will be told. Her identities and experiences shaped the way she painted, how she painted, why she painted, and what she painted. To continue to view Kahlo in a vacuum, without honoring her marginalized identities, limits our understanding and appreciation for her work.

Reproductive health is discussed as a universal right, yet the topic of disability is often absent from the conversation. To ensure that safe, inclusive health care is available to everyone, disability and reproductive rights must be considered through an intersectional lens.

Happy Pride Month! What a wonderful month to celebrate with you. Before we begin the blog, we want to name that whether you are out or not, figuring out your identity or not, we see you, we appreciate you, and care for you. Your experiences and identities are valid, and we hope to always offer you a safe space at our organization and events to be your true and authentic self. 

May is the month of Mental Health Awareness, a time to advocate for mental health wellness, community services, and equitable access to care for those with mental illness. This May is especially important due to the significant upcoming changes on the mental health horizon with the coming of the national 988 Suicide Hotline and crisis response system.  

We join other advocacy groups across the country in raising awareness around limb loss and limb differences with the 2022 theme “Your Ordinary is Extraordinary”.

April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day. As we honor and center folks with autism and their experiences today, we want to highlight the concept of 'neurotypical passing' and how this concept has impacted the autistic community. Today, we share an article written by Charli Clement from the Conscious Being magazine.

It is Brain Injury Awareness Month! Let’s observe brain injury awareness month together by looking at what living with a brain injury might look like. The range of disabilities is so vast, so even one category of injury can mean a lot of different things for each person affected.

We’re joining others across the nation in raising awareness around women who are affected by this epidemic. We want women and girls to feel empowered, and this begins with putting the power in your own hands. You can be your own advocate when it comes to preventing, or living with HIV.

It’s March 1st, which means it’s Self-Injury Awareness Day. This is a globally recognized event intended to draw attention to self-harm and the resources available to help those who may need them. The prevalence of self-injury has increased over recent years, and studies show that about 17% of all people self-harm during their lifetime. Self-injury, which can also be known as self-harm or self-abuse occurs when a person harms themselves in a way that is intentional and repeated. With the spread of COVID-19, folks have faced unprecedented mental health challenges that may contribute to even higher self-injury rates. So with this, let’s take today and the month of March to look at how we can help ourselves and help others in the community who may struggle with self-injury. 

In light of a very important anniversary, we’re appreciating and reflecting on our Client Assistance Program (CAP). As some may know, Disability Rights Florida (DRF) has nine programs to serve the disability community. CAP which began on February 22, 1984, is one of these nine. So, what better way to honor this anniversary than to highlight CAP and its goals?

February is Black History Month! We will be highlighting impactful Black disability activists and advocates throughout the month. Check back for new features each day!

Many bills which have the potential to directly impact people with disabilities have been filed by lawmakers this year. Below are just a few of the issues Disability Rights Florida is focused on for this session.

Education, access, and outreach are some of our core values at Disability Rights Florida. This year, we have many public events lined up to provide services to you and receive insight from you into what matters most to the disability community. Two types of these public events are Fully Accessible COVID-19 Vaccination Events and Public Forums.

December 3rd is International Day of Persons with Disabilities! This day strives to bring awareness to the experiences of people with disabilities around the globe, promoting the disability community’s rights, dignity, safety, wellbeing, and success. It also calls attention to the treatment of people with disabilities and where there is more work left to do.

November 11th is World Usability Day, an annual event intended to highlight the importance of technology as a way to help make our lives easier. Devices like cellphones, laptops, tablets, and public access kiosks — and the websites, applications and interfaces that run on these devices — have the potential to remove barriers, open up opportunities, and advance inclusion for people with disabilities.