• Red: physical disabilities.
• Gold: neurodiversity.
• White: invisible disabilities and undiagnosed conditions.
• Blue: emotional and psychiatric disabilities.
• Green: sensory disabilities, including deafness, blindness, and other sensory disabilities.
• Faded Black Background: mourning and rage for victims of ableist violence and abuse.

• View The Ride Ahead film on July 3, at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (in-person only) on Youth and the Future of Culture, or on July 21 via PBS POV. 
• Explore access to large events with NARIC's A View From the Accessible Seats article.- there are tips and resources for hosting as well.
• Accompany Andrew Leland's journey from sightedness to navigating blindness with How To Be Blind - for a deeper dive,  his recent memoir is The Country of the Blind, A Memoir at the End of Sight.
• Learn of Lolo Spencer's journey from advocate to actor.
• Engage with Naheen Ahmed's CBC First Person article: My Disability Makes My Body Feel Unpredictable: Art Helps Me Lean Into the Chaos 
• Navigating Personal Living Space with Heather Hogan on Making Accessibility a Part of My Home
• Navigating the existing healthcare system as exemplified with a chronically ill college student fighting against United Heathcare's denial of coverage.

• Participate in the ADA National Network's 34th Anniversary Awareness Campaigns 
• Patapsco Valley State Park/A Park for Everyone (link) has a webinar on Adaptive Initiatives to ensure recreation for visitors of all abilities July 17 2-3:30 pm
• Take in an interview of Guinevere Chambers, Disability Sociologist via the Ologies podcast whose content is described as "Sexuality and disability! Invisible illnesses! Airline frustrations! How many of us are disabled!...[B]ust myths and provide perspective on everything from the history of ableism to sign language to eyeglasses, the criminal justice system, caregiving, how to ask for what you need, handling curious strangers, disclosing disabilities, where ADHD and autism come into play, and how to follow this study path." Transcript available at the link.
• The NYPL has a range of titles for reading a book about disability.
• Take in Michaela Otera's 2023 Disabled Beauty Series.
• Watch a movie that includes actors with disabilities
• View Tiffany Yu's Ted Talk on the disability employment gap and ways companies can make the workplace more inclusive. Tiffany shared three tips that every workplace can  incorporate to welcome people with disabilities:  Stop making assumptions. Rethink accessibility and accommodations. Embrace flexibility. To view the video click: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoyHvfJowZI 
• Visit the Society of Disabled Oracles - a creation of Alice Wong, Aimi Hamraie and Jen White Johnson. If they sound familiar, Aimi Hamraie has presented here on Critical Access Studies via the Dresher Center, and Jen White Johnson had a HTLab on Zines as Tools for Action.

• Accessibility and Disability Services (check out Disability Pride events here)  Staff attend professional development with the Association for Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) - this month their national conference is in Baltimore!
• Student Disability Services
• Report a UMBC Campus Accessibility Concern via this online form and be an accessibility ally - this is after being a good campus citizen by bringing it to the attention of the responsible department, such as reporting a Facilities Management repair to 410-455-2550.
• Learn more about UMBC's Critical Disability Studies Minor and American Sign Language courses. 
• Become involved with student organizations such as Sign of Life (ASL), UMBC NAMI (Mental Health), Delta Alpha Pi (Honor Society for Students with Disabilities), DAU, Best Buddies, and more

Some good news from the Association of Higher Education and Disability/AHEAD (one of the professional associations that UMBC's ADS/SDS Staff belongs to)

"AHEAD is happy to share that on the 33rd Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) have reintroduced the Pell Grant for Students with Disabilities Act! (HR 5739 for those wanting to reach out to their Federal Representatives)

This reintroduction is due to AHEADs continued efforts to work with Congress to address an issue that has been raised time and time again by our members as a stumbling block for students with disabilities to successfully complete college. Students are in the position of having to decide whether to follow their recommended course load or ignore the recommendation and go with a full-course load in order to qualify for the full Pell Grant amount for which they are eligible.

The Pell Grant for Students with Disabilities Act, like its predecessor in the last Congress, would allow students with disabilities to take the recommended course load without losing Pell Grant funding by having the U.S. Department of Education consider the recommended course load as equivalent to a full course load (which is 12 credits)." -AHEAD listserv post 7-27-23

Don't be shy about reaching out to your elected officials.  Closer to home, resources for campus members and visitors with disabilities include:  Student Disability Services, Accessibility and Disability Services (Employees and Visitors), and UMBC's online form for reporting accessibility concerns.  As Disability Pride Month comes to a close, please know we honor and celebrate people with disabilities every day, and have more events planned, especially for October, Disability Employment Awareness Month.

In-person elections happen on  November 8, 2022, but early voting has already begun. The  Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covers voting, so polling places should be accessible and offer support if needed due to disability. For more information on the ADA and voters with disabilities, please visit the ADA website on voting linked here.  

In this linked article, Social Security outlines how to support Voters with Disabilities Participate in the Democratic Process via the Election Assistance Commission.

You can call 866-Our-VOTE - a non-profit Election Protection group - to speak to people about voting questions and get ideas on assistance. State election websites also have a menu item for "accessible voting". For example, here is the state of Maryland's webpage for Voters with Disabilities.  

Also, the Center for Democracy and Civic Life has Voter Information posted here for Maryland and all other states. UMBC has a ballot collection box on our accessible campus in The Commons (available until 8p on Election Day 11/8) - check your Official Election Mailing, or online for the polling place/option that works best for you.

Voting in Maryland - How to register, find your polling location, etc.

Want to know more about candidates in the context of disability - RespectAbility.Org sends out a detailed questionnaire  to candidates - the 2022 RespectAbility.org Maryland Voter Guide is linked here. Other states/responses are also within their website.

Voting in Virginia

https://www.elections.virginia.gov/

The ARC of Northern Virginia had a forum with Congressional candidates to discern where they stand on disability issues in August which can be viewed  at https://thearcofnova.org/events/2022-meet-the-candidates-forums/. 

Additional campus-based resources for people with disabilities and their allies include:

• Student Disability Services
• Accessibility & Disability Services
• Report an Accessibility Concern Online Form.