Disability Pride Month 2026

Place:Various locations
Time:All day, every day
Date:July 31, 2026

July is Disability Pride Month. It coincides with the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) being signed into law on July 26, 1990, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.

This year, we invite our UCSF community to engage with stories that reflect the diversity of disability experiences. One way to deepen awareness and understanding is through film and literature that center disabled voices, challenge stereotypes, and expand how disability is represented in culture.

As we celebrate Disability Pride Month, we encourage everyone to engage with these works not as a checklist, but as an invitation—to listen, reflect, and consider how disability shapes culture, policy, and everyday life. Disability Pride is both a celebration and a continued action toward accessibility and belonging for all.

UCSF welcomes all participants to our events. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this event because of a disability, please contact the point person named in the events calendar as soon as possible.

Guest Speakers: UCSF endeavors to create greater understanding and supports the exchange of diverse ideas. Views and opinions of guest speakers on campus are their own and may not reflect the perspective of the University.

Disability Pride Month Events

Community Events

These events are not organized by UCSF

Wheel of Pride: Navigating Life hosted by San Francisco Community Living
Thursday, July 7th, 11:00 am to 2:00 pm
SF Public Library, 100 Larkin St (at Grove)
RSVP

Disability Pride Month Festival hosted by San Francisco’s Disability Cultural Center
Sunday, July 19th, 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Disability Cultural Center, 165 Grove Street, San Francisco
Register

Cafe Crip | Disability Pride + the ADA
Friday, July 31st, 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Virtual (Zoom)
Register

Educational Resources

UCSF Resources

From Disability Resource Center (DRC)

Film & Media

Crip Camp (2020) — This award-winning documentary traces the roots of the disability rights movement, highlighting the activists whose advocacy helped secure landmark civil rights protections and transform disability justice in the United States.

CODA (2021) — This acclaimed coming-of-age film follows a hearing Child of Deaf Adults (CODA) as she navigates family, identity, and independence. Featuring Deaf actors in leading roles, the film offers an authentic portrayal of Deaf culture, communication, and community.

Disability Renegades (PBS) — This short-form video series celebrates disability culture, identity, and activism through the stories of disabled leaders, artists, advocates, and changemakers. The videos are accessible, engaging, and ideal for introducing audiences to contemporary disability perspectives.

Books for Reflection & Learning

All books are available free of charge to UCSF students, staff, and faculty through the Disability Resource Center, located in Millberry Union, Room 102-West (500 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143).

Being Heumann by Judith Heumann - A foundational memoir by one of the most influential disability rights activists in U.S. history, chronicling the Section 504 protests and decades of advocacy.

Demystifying Disability by Emily Ladau - An accessible introduction to disability rights, language, and etiquette, written from a disability justice perspective.

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha - An exploration of disability justice as a movement rooted in care, community, and collective liberation.

Disability Visibility edited by Alice Wong - A collection of essays and reflections by disabled writers offering diverse perspectives on identity, access, and justice

Accessibility Resources

From UCSF Library

E-Books from the UCSF Library

To Be a Problem: A Black Woman's Survival in the Racist Disability Rights Movement (2024)

Remapping an Ableist World: Disability and Oppression under Capitalism (2025)

This Brain Had a Mouth : Lucy Gwin and the Voice of Disability Nation (2021)

Being Heumann : an Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist (2019)

An Independent Man : Ed Roberts and the Fight for Disability Rights (2021)

The Anti-Ableist Manifesto : Smashing Stereotypes, Forging Change, and Building a Disability-Inclusive World (2024)

Disability Pride : Dispatches from a Post-ADA World. (2022)

Scholarly Articles from the UCSF Library

Hartmann A. C. (2019). Disability inclusion enhances science. Science (New York, N.Y.), 366(6466), 698.

Mueller, C., & Qin, S. (2026). What does it mean to be proud: A scoping literature review of disability pride. Rehabilitation psychology, 10.1037/rep0000663. Advance online publication.

Bogart, K. R., Lund, E. M., & Rottenstein, A. (2018). Disability pride protects self-esteem through the rejection-identification model. Rehabilitation psychology, 63(1), 155–159.

Jones S. E. (2025). 'Disabled joy is resistance': Insights and recommendations from social psychology on reducing ableism. The British journal of social psychology, 64(3), e12893.

Qin, S., Isadore, K., Chun, J., Chen, R. (Zoey), & Mears, M. (2025). Belonging and pride in people with disabilities: An approach to counteract stigma. Stigma and Health.

Li, L., Donato-Sapp, H. L., Erevelles, N., Torres, L. E., & Waitoller, F. (2021). A Kitchen-Table Talk Against Ableism: Disability Justice for Collective Liberation. Equity & Excellence in Education., 54(4), 361–374.