Opportunities to recognize and discuss disability all month long
Below you will find the names of famous disabled people born this month, dates of note in disability history, awareness/acceptance days related to specific disabilities and dates of cultural significance.
If there’s something you’d like to see on this month’s calendar, please let us know.
January
View the complete Disability Calendar of Events
January 3 - Maysoon Zayid’s TED Talk premiered (2014)
Maysoon Zayid’s “I got 99 Problems...Palsy is Just One.” is one of the most recommended TED Talks. She’s a stand-up comedian and disability activist from New Jersey. While she’s a comedian and her talk is comedic, it touches on really important points about how disability is represented, and touches on changes needed so that disability is understood as a natural and regular part of human diversity.
January 4 – World Braille Day (Birthday of Louis Braille (1809-1854)
Louis Braille was a teenage inventor who was blind: “LOUIS BRAILLE (1809–1852) was born in Coupvray, a town in north central France, on January 4, 1809. At the age of three, he accidentally blinded himself in one eye with a stitching awl taken from his father's leather workshop. His other eye went blind because of sympathetic ophthalmia, an inflammation of both eyes following trauma to one.”
Powerpoint about Louis Braille
Blindness and Braille Resources Page
Martin Luther King Day - 3rd Monday of January
Reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King and Civil Rights Overlooked
Disability Rights Are Civil Rights downloadable poster
January 23 – Ed Roberts Day
“Ed Roberts was both an advocate and an activist. He was a leader in the civil rights movement and championed the rights of people with disabilities. He was the founder of the first Center for Independent Living and the World Institute on Disability. Ed advocated for his right to attend a university and was an activist in the 504 sit-in held in San Francisco. He was known for a lot of things by a lot of people, but most importantly he believed in empowering others to become advocates and activists.” - Yo Disabled and Proud