Breaking down barriers this disability Pride Month | Tenant news

July is Disability Pride Month — a time not just to raise awareness of and celebrate disabled peoples’ lives, but to help dismantle barriers, foster independence, and build truly inclusive communities.

Around one in four people in the UK are disabled, making disabled people the country's largest minority group.

While attitudes have changed over time, many disabled people still experience challenges that can affect everyday life. These may include inaccessible buildings, information that's difficult to access or assumptions about what someone can or can't do.

This Disability Pride Month, and every month, we’re encouraging conversations about inclusion, equality and respect. We want to celebrate the contributions disabled people make while recognising that there’s still more to do to remove barriers and improve accessibility.

Creating inclusive communities

It's worth remembering that not all impairments are visible. Some people may have needs or challenges that aren't immediately obvious to others.

At Habinteg, we're committed to providing accessible homes and listening to tenants so we can continue improving our services. Creating inclusive communities isn't something that happens during one month of the year. It's part of the way we work every day.

Everyone – including you - has a part to play in creating inclusive communities where disabled people feel welcome, valued and able to take part. You could:

• Give someone extra time to speak or respond in a conversation.
• Allow people more time to read or understand information.
  
• Avoid rushing someone who may need longer to move around or complete a task.
• Share information in accessible formats where possible.
• Ask before offering assistance and respecting the person's response.

What you can do

At Habinteg, we're committed to providing accessible homes and listening to tenants so we can continue improving our services. Creating inclusive communities isn't something that happens during one month of the year. It's part of the way we work every day.

Being mindful of how you treat disabled people in your community isn't the only way to support inclusion.

You could also take time to learn more about disabled people’s lives by reading books written by disabled authors, following disabled activists and organisations online, or listening to disabled people's experiences.

Sharing information and resources from disabled people and charities can help raise awareness and encourage conversations about inclusion. To learn more about Disability Pride Month and disability inclusion, visit Disability Rights UK at www.disabilityrightsuk.org.

You can also raise awareness of the work that we, and our access experts at the Centre for Accessible Environments, do by joining our Insight Group or sharing our Instagram and Facebook posts.

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