July is Disability Pride Month, an annual celebration of disability identity and a month dedicated to honoring the contributions and resilience of people with disabilities. Disability Pride Month connects back to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990. The 2026 Disability Pride Month theme is “The World Works Better With Us.” July is filled with events and opportunities to learn more from people with disabilities, about the challenges they face, and how we can make our communities more inclusive.
Accessibility in transportation is critical for the lives of people with disabilities. According to the CDC, more than 1 in 4 US adults have a disability. The 2022 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) estimated that over 6 percent of Americans age 5 and older had a self-reported travel-limiting disability, with over 14 percent of adults age 65 and older reporting a travel-limiting disability. What happens when someone has a disability that limits their ability to get around their community? The NHTS found that “they were less likely to travel, be employed, and live in a household with a vehicle” and “compensated for their disabilities by asking others for rides, limiting travel to daytime, and using rideshare and special transportation services, such as Dial-A-Ride.” Safe spaces for walking and rolling, along with access to transit, are necessary for people with disabilities to access jobs, stores, healthcare, and places for recreation. Active transportation facilities also support independence, social connectedness, physical activity, and access to nature.
What can you do to celebrate Disability Pride Month?
Whether you are interested in Disability Pride Month as an individual or are looking to do more as part of an agency or organization, here are some ways to celebrate Disability Pride Month.
Learn
Learn about disability history and culture. There are many online resources, such as UC Berkeley’s Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement Project. Specific to transportation, check out AASHTO’s podcast episode on Advancing Accessibility in Transportation and the video on Curbing Ableism by Beck Levin (Disability Rights California) at the 2025 Active Transportation Program Symposium. This short video by Chronically Jenni provides a great intro to how things originally developed for people with disabilities, like curb ramps, help people of all abilities.
Join or Plan an Event
Agencies and organizations such as the California Natural Resources Agency and the LA County Library are hosting in-person or virtual events to celebrate Disability Pride Month. Check with your local libraries, colleges, social services providers, and disability rights organizations to find an event in your community to attend or support. Looking to plan an event further out? Consider getting involved with A Week Without Driving, a week in October that elevates the voices of nondrivers and reimagines mobility across the country. Join the League of American Bicyclists on July 28th at noon PT for a webinar with Anna Zivarts, founder of Week Without Driving, along with Ruth Rosas, Director of Coalition Building at Nondrivers Alliance, and local organizers from across the country to explore how different communities have brought this campaign to life and hear real-world examples and practical insights.
Take Action for Access and Inclusion in Your Community
Most importantly, use this month as a prompt to do more to support accessibility and inclusion in your community or at your agency or organization. This could look like updating your local policies and practices for consistency with the US Access Board’s Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG), consulting with disabled people on your next active transportation plan, identifying funding to make accessibility improvements along streets and paths, working with organizations like BORP to incorporate adaptive cycles into your non-infrastructure activities, and much more.
Looking for more resources? Check these out:
- Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center’s Access for Individuals with Disabilities
- National Aging and Disability Transportation Center
- Accessible Transportation Resource Center
- UC Berkeley CATSIP’s Accessible Infrastructure
- University of Montana Research & Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities