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.
May
View the complete Disability Calendar of Events
Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month
Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS), and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) Awareness Month
National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Our resources about the Disabled Asian Community
May 14 – Apraxia Awareness Day
May 15 – June 15 – Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month
May 17 - 24 - Face Equality Week
”A Lesson from Frankie and Pearl - Raising Awareness & Acceptance in Schools” Program - a lesson plan based on an animation that tells the story of a girl with a birthmark, navigating her first day at a new school. There are three lesson plans that support health curriculums: Kindergarten-Grade 1, Grade 1-3, and Grade 4-6.
Other resources from Face Equality International
May 21 – Global Accessibility Awareness Day
May 23 - William Ellsworth "Dummy" Hoy’s birthday (1862 – 1961)
Dummy Hoy is known as the first deaf major league baseball player. Dummy’s real name is William Ellsworth Hoy but he was also known as Dummy, Billy Hoy, and Bill Hoy. Back then, the word “dumb” was used to describe someone who could not speak. Hoy actually referred to himself as “Dummy” instead of William and often corrected people. That is how he got that nickname. He graduated from the Ohio School for the Deaf and started his professional career in 1886 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Hoy went on to play for five different major league teams as an outfielder for fifteen years.
In 1901 while playing for the Chicago White Sox, he hit the first-ever grand-slam in the American League. Dummy is credited with creating the hand signals that are still used in baseball today. When he started playing, all the calls by the umpire were shouted. When he came up to bat, he asked his coach to raise his right arm to indicate a strike and his left arm to indicate a ball.
May 30 - Pennhurst lawsuit filed (1974)
“The abusive, inhumane living conditions of the residents with developmental disabilities at Pennhurst State School and Hospital, in Spring Hill, Pennsylvania, were brought to the public’s attention in 1968 in a five-part television exposé by Bill Baldini called “Suffer the Little Children.” While the airing of the documentary resulted in some improvements, particularly related to the development of early community supports, conditions at Pennhurst continued to deteriorate.”
“On May 30, 1974 a class action lawsuit was filed in the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of former and current residents of Pennhurst against the institution, its superintendents, and state officials responsible for Pennhurst’s operation. The plaintiffs, represented by prominent civil rights attorney David Ferleger, argued that the institutionalization of the residents violated their constitutional rights … and sought damages and equitable relief, including the closing of Pennhurst, and provision of education, training, and care in community settings.”
“After a thirty-two day trial, U.S. District Court Judge Raymond J. Broderick found that Pennhurst was overcrowded, understaffed and lacked the programs needed for adequate habilitation and ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor.”