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The coronavirus pandemic changed how the United States and countries around the world celebrate Pride month. This summer, many American cities opted for a hybrid celebration, hosting socially distanced marches or completely virtual events. But activists are still pushing organizers to make events accessible for the disabled community.
Annie Segarra, a disability activist, who has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and uses a wheelchair, said things like video captions, translators and audio descriptions of visual events can mean the world to disabled individuals who want to join the celebrations but are afraid of being left out.
"Accessibility is not just about physical spaces," Segarra told CBS News. "Depending on your disability, your access needs are going to be different, and unfortunately, that's something that a lot of people just don't consider. I think that people see accessibility as solely a physical experience. So typically, I guess, a representation issue for wheelchair accessibility. But it's just so much larger than that and it's such an important conversation to be able to include a number of various disabilities so that the conversation of accessibility doesn't in itself become exclusive."
At their most basic level, civil rights protest are advocating for representation among every person affected by the issue within that gender/ethnic/etc. groups. Physical abilty shouldn't be a factor in whether certain people can participate.