Disability Pride Series

Disability Pride means refusing shame about disability while being honest about the real barriers disabled people face. This series covers history, identity, rights and everyday life, written in plain language by our editorial team.

These are information articles, not medical or legal advice. Every piece lists further reading from official and charity sources, and a date it was last reviewed.

• Allyship: what non-disabled people can actually do

  Good intentions are not the same as good allyship. Here is what UK disabled activists and organisations commonly ask non-disabled people to do, and to stop doing.

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 7 minute read · Published 15 October 2025

• Disability, language and identity: why the words we use matter

  'Disabled person' or 'person with a disability'? 'Wheelchair user' or 'wheelchair-bound'? Language choices around disability carry real political and personal weight, and there is no single rule that satisfies everyone.

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 7 minute read · Published 1 October 2025

• The independent living movement: choice and control, not institutions

  Independent living is a political idea as much as a practical one: that disabled people should direct their own support and daily lives, rather than have them managed by institutions or professionals on their behalf.

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 8 minute read · Published 15 September 2025

• Ableism at work: what it looks like and what actually helps

  Ableism at work is rarely a single dramatic incident. More often it is a pattern of small assumptions, delays and doubts that add up to disabled staff having to work harder for the same result.

  Content warning: Discussion of workplace discrimination and disbelief

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 9 minute read · Published 1 September 2025

• Deaf culture, British Sign Language and the capital-D difference

  Many Deaf people describe themselves as members of a linguistic and cultural community, not simply as people with hearing loss. British Sign Language sits at the centre of that identity.

  Content warning: Brief discussion of historical suppression of sign language in education

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 8 minute read · Published 22 August 2025

• Access is a right, not a favour

  Being granted access as a special kindness, rather than as something owed, is a subtly different experience from having a genuine right to it. The difference matters far more than it sounds.

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 7 minute read · Published 15 August 2025

• Disability Pride: where it came from and what it means in the UK

  Disability Pride began in the United States in the 1990s but has deep roots in decades of British disabled activism. Here is how a movement of protest became a movement of pride too.

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 8 minute read · Published 8 August 2025

• Chronic illness, fatigue and living within an energy limit

  Conditions such as ME/CFS, long Covid, lupus and fibromyalgia often mean managing a fixed, unpredictable energy budget. Pacing, and the 'spoon theory' many people use to explain it, are central to daily life.

  Content warning: Discussion of chronic pain and severe, house-bound illness

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 9 minute read · Published 1 August 2025

• Neurodiversity: autism, ADHD and thinking differently

  Neurodiversity reframes autism, ADHD, dyslexia and related conditions as natural variation in human thinking rather than only deficits to be corrected. Here is what that means in practice.

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 8 minute read · Published 22 July 2025

• Blindness, low vision and the assumptions people make

  From guide dogs to reading screens, a look at the everyday realities of living with sight loss in the UK — and the gap between what people assume and how blind and partially sighted people actually get on.

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 8 minute read · Published 15 July 2025

• Invisible disabilities and the question 'but you don't look disabled'

  Most disabilities are not visible at a glance. Here is what that means for the people living with them, and for anyone tempted to judge a disabled bay or a blue badge on sight.

  Content warning: Brief mention of public hostility and confrontation

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 7 minute read · Published 8 July 2025

• The social model of disability, explained without jargon

  A short guide to the idea that disabled people are held back more by barriers built into society than by their own bodies or minds — and why that shift in thinking matters.

  By Disability Information UK editorial team · 8 minute read · Published 1 July 2025