#disability pride flags

this year, let's shine some light and focus on people with more physical disabilities

people with missing/compromised limbs

people with compromised/absent motor functions

people who experience constant pains

people who are always exhausted/tired

people with nerve disorders

people who are blind (cannot see to the point of it being dangerous / getting in the way of daily ordeals)

people who have autoimmune diseases (like lupus— PLEASE stop making house md jokes. its uncomfortable obnoxious and treats many real struggles like just a joke/reference to a show)

people who have hearing issues (including those who are "fully deaf", or can barely hear anything instead of not hearing at all)

people who have heart related issues that force them to lay or sit down, etc

people who seizures due to epilepsy or other seizure-inducing issues

people who cant and/or do not speak (with nonverbality included)

people who have bone-related issues that affect their day-to-day life (so for example extreme scoliosis or other malformations)

people who are physically disabled and need mobility aids

people who are physically disabled and dont use mobility aids

people who are physically disabled but cannot get any help (including mobility aids, but goes all the way to a proper diagnosis)

people who became disabled later on in their lives (usually due to accidents but theres more reasons)

people who have limps or cannot walk """properly""" (according to the able bodied society)

There are LOTS of flags that people (myself included) have designed and proposed to be autistic pride flags.

I thought I'd run a survey on which designs folks prefer! My plan is to first do a long and comprehensive survey, and then based on its results possibly do a second survey (or Tumblr poll) with a shortlist from the first survey.

Here is a link to the survey on autistic pride flags! Please note:

Its purpose is to be comprehensive... so it is long!

You'll be asked to rate over 40 flags on a scale of 1 to 5

You do not have to rate every flag

If you get tired, you can just hit the submit button!

When you hit the submit button, you'll have an option to edit your response: right click this link and save the URL to a text file or somewhere else. You can use this URL to change your answers, or just fill in the survey bit by bit.

Here is a google doc with all the flag options in it, if you'd like to see them first, or to have as a reference when looking at others' responses.

You do not need to be autistic to fill in the survey, but I do hope any non-autistic folks filling it in are familiar enough with the community to know why I excluded flags that have puzzle pieces or a blue theme (i.e. references to Autism $peaks). 💛

Cane user pride flag because as far as I can tell no one else has made one. Normal, and one with the cane user symbol I made.

Here is a link to the web archive page where you can download HD versions of the flag and symbol. Both are public domain because I hate capitalism and I say so.

The only thing I request is that you include image descriptions wherever possible, and link other people to the files or at least let them know they're free to use for anything.

Colors are from my synesthesia.

[ID: Four versions of a pride flag with six horizontal stripes. From top to bottom, they are: Light grey, grey-green, dark grey, violet purple, medium blue, and turquoise blue.

The second, third, and fourth versions of the flag are the same as the first, but with a cane user symbol in the center, which is a white stick figure with a black outline. The figure is walking forward with a cane in their left hand, which is held forward to follow their right foot, while their right hand and left leg are going back. The first figure is skinny and made up only only straight lines and angles, except for the circle of the head. The second is still skinny, but has rounded edges. The third is fatter, with rounded edges.

End ID.]

You are 100% encouraged to download this and share it wherever you want, and use it for anything you want, including selling designs using it! And yes, this includes people who don't use canes!

You are also encouraged to edit the symbol in any way you want, to include more body types, add more disabilities, add gender symbols, pride flags, and anything else you want!

You can buy this design from my Threadless shop!

Here again is the web archive link, where you can download all the versions of the flag and symbol, and some other relevant things!

Happy disability pride month! After many months of discussions and three rounds of polls, we have new meanings for the disability pride flag! Thank you to @capricorn-0mnikorn (the flag's designer!) for all the suggestions along the way, and everyone else who gave input! 💚

In this system, rather than have each stripe represent a different category of impairment (physical, sensory, etc), each stripe represents a different model of disability ❤️💛🤍🩵💚 They are:

🩵 The social model of disability (blue): understanding disability as something that is caused by societal factors like lack of accessibility, rather than as a medical condition. For example, many wheelchair users consider what is disabling about being a wheelchair user is the lack of ramps, elevators, paratransit, etc.

The social model differentiates disability (which is social) from impairment (one's physical/mental limitations), inspired by the idea that gender is social and sex is biological.

The social model is kind of the OG model, and was big with the early disability rights movement. It influenced so many others that came after it, because it doesn't work for all disabilities, or even for all situations.

💚 The political minority model of disability (green): understanding disabled people as an oppressed minority who experience societal ableism, and who are working collectively to resist this oppression. This model isn't concerned with how or why people are disabled, it focuses on the ableism we experience. For example, folks with ME/CFS trying to get medical care and being dismissed, and the blind community suffers from braille illiteracy.

💛 The affirmation model of disability (yellow): disability is an identity worth taking pride in! Deaf gain, not hearing loss. Neurodiversity as something that enriches humanity. Whereas the social model is opposed to the medical model of disability, the affirmation model is opposed to the deficit model of disability.

❤️ The debility model (red): this is a postcolonial model that focuses on how colonial and racist violence cause disablement; like people who are injured by war, or preventable diseases like AIDS. This model differentiates disability, which has a clear before-and-after, from debility, which is a slow wearing out through repeated colonial/racist/etc violence. Unlike the affirmation model, this model views some disabilities as worth preventing, and focuses on how disability is used as a tool of racist/colonial/etc oppression.

🤍 Other models (white): there are lots of other models of disability! Like the medical model (disability is a medial problem), the human rights model (disabled people need human rights laws), and the cultural model (disability is a social construction). Models are lenses used for understanding disability, and one might use one lens in one context, and and another in a different context.

Why these colours? In brief: ⚪ White is often considered the combination of all colours. 🩸 Red has associations with blood and violence. 😁 Yellow has associations with happiness. ♿ Blue is associated with accessibility. 🟩 Green is a combination of yellow (affirmation) and blue (social), or for how the political minority model has grassroots organizing, in contrast to the human rights model.

🖤 Dark grey (or black) continues to represent our collective mourning of disabled lives lost to ableism, eugenics, violence, suicide, abuse, and neglect.

SVG version of the infographic here. ❤️💛🤍🩵💚

EDIT 2024-09-20: new survey on intersex disability flags & coining!

[original post continues...]

The flag on the top with the disability pride rainbows on both sides of the flag is for understanding intersex as part of the disability community. Having the stripes on both ends represent people with other disabilities standing in solidarity with intersex people & fighting the same fights against pathologization, for bodily autonomy, etc.

Considering intersex to be part of the disability community is NOT the same thing as considering intersex to be a medical disorder (intermedicalism). Many disabled people are actively fighting medicalization, with groups like the capital-D Deaf community, mad pride, and the neurodiversity movement being examples.

The flag on the lower left with dark grey on both sides represents people who have disabilities caused by being intersex. For example: chronic pain as a result of IGM, (C)PTSD from medical trauma. People with disabilities linked to being intersex, such as Deafness attributed to MRKH, are also welcome to use this flag.

Finally, the flag on the lower right is for intersex people who also have non-intersex disabilities (e.g. ADHD, EDS, Long Covid). It's an alternative to @queercripintersex's disabled intersex flag for people who prefer the disability pride flag over the universal symbol of access.

I personally interpret @queercripintersex's disabled intersex flag as a flag for intersex and disabled in any way: so it would include people who are disabled solely due to being intersex AND people who are intersex who have non-intersex-related disabilities.

Finally, I wanna coin ~terms~ to go with the first two flags! (Intersex is in disability community; disability secondary to being intersex). But I've been indecisive about what to call them. Disintersex is a solid contender.... but which flag should it be for? 🤔 Interdisabled already has an unrelated meaning. Interdissex is open. Variations on crip also have potential, but I know it's a contested term.

So: two polls! Both polls have the same options, so when voting consider that I want distinct names for the two flags. First poll is below, second poll will be in a second post. 💜

Anyways here's a hypermobile pride flag since I can't do anything else right now

Dark red for pain. Lighter red for the body itself being out of wack. The middle is supposed to be a tannish yellow color but my phone is probably lying to me cuz I assume that's what color ligaments / tendons are. White is also for pain and to represent the obnoxious bones. Gray is for the fact that it is so fucking hard to diagnose or even be believed about

[Image description start. A digitally scribbled pride flag with unevenly drawn stripes of dark red, light red, tan, white, and dark gray. Image description end.]

Public domain. Everyone cross your fingers that if the doctors decide to see me that my rib will not magically put itself back into place before we get there because that would be just my luck

I'll make it more even digital version when I am able to turn my laptop at some point on and it will be uploaded to the internet archive.

For future reference since I'll probably forget again, outline is 120 pixels.

pro tip: make the symbol you're designing the right size to go directly on top of the flag, lol.........I did not do this. So these will each be slightly off center.

[ID: Four versions of the cane user flag, with different variations of the cane user symbol on each one.

The cane user flag has six horizontal stripes of: Light grey, grey-green, dark grey, violet purple, medium blue, and turquoise blue.

Each symbol in the center is a figure in white with a black outline, walking with a cane in the left hand, and stepping forward with the right foot.

The first three have rounded edges. The first is chubby, the second is thinner, the third is skinny,and the last is a skinny figure made of only straight lines, except for the circle for the head.

End ID.]

You can download these (along with a few other related things) in HD from the web archive here.

You can buy designs with this flag from my Threadless store here.

You are encouraged to download these and share them, and use them for anything you want, including making your own merch to sell! All I ask is that you add an image description whenever possible when sharing online, and link others to the web archive page where they can download an HD version of the flag if they want!