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Have You Seen The New Disability Pride Flag?

2021 Disability pride flag with five stripes

2021 Disability Pride Flag

The original disability pride flag, created by Ann Magill in 2019, underwent a makeover by Magill for accessibility purposes in 2021. They altered the original zigzagged design because it worsened symptoms for individuals with visually triggered disabilities, including seizure and migraine disorders. Magill’s updated design features muted colors and a straight diagonal band from the top left to the bottom right corner.

The original flag’s zigzags represented how disabled people creatively navigate barriers. On the improved flag, the parallel stripes stand for intracommunal solidarity. The colors on the flag symbolize various disability experiences. The black background mourns disabled people who have died due to negligence, suicide, rebellion, illness, and eugenics. The stripe’s color represents disability types:

  • Red: physical disabilities
  • Gold: cognitive and intellectual disabilities
  • White: nonvisible and undiagnosed disabilities
  • Blue: psychiatric disabilities
  • Green: sensory disabilities


Society presents many obstacles – stigma, shame, inaccessibility, ableism – to proudly identifying as disabled. Frequently, non-disabled people infantilize disabled people and strip us of personal dignity and autonomy. Disability Pride Month is a time to positively assert our identity, listen to disabled voices, and advocate for appropriate accommodations inside and outside of faith communities. The disability pride flag is an outward symbol of the identity, resilience, and capacity of the disability community. Consider flying or displaying the disability pride flag at your faith institution this Disability Pride Month as a symbol of solidarity with your disabled constituents.

Meet the Author

Becca Block

Block graduated cum laude from the University of South Carolina School of Journalism & Mass Communications. She also works at Temple Beth Ami in Maryland as an accessible educator in the religious school.

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