Disability Pride Month at RCOT
What is Disability Pride Month
July is Disability Pride Month. It's a month to celebrate each person's uniqueness and open up conversations around stigma, discrimination and the contributions of disabled people.
We continue to work hard as an organisation, and as part of the wider occupational therapy community, to improve accessibility and ensure everyone feels a sense of belonging in the profession.
Why Disability Pride matters to occupational therapy
Occupational therapy is all about enabling people to live the life they want. We know that for many disabled people, this can mean navigating barriers, stigma and exclusion.
That’s why inclusion is at the heart of what our profession does – making sure disabled people's voices are not just included, but valued. Our profession needs to go further, fighting for occupational justice and working for systemic change.
What we're doing
Our hero ‘O’
As we do every year to mark Disability Pride Month, we'll be changing the ‘O’ in our RCOT logo to show solidarity with our disabled members, colleagues and people everywhere.
The design is based on Ann Magill's pride flag.
The ‘O’ in our logo represents our identity as an organisation as well as ‘occupation’. We wouldn’t be here without the disabled people who have significantly contributed to our profession.
Your member logo
For the first time ever, we’re able to provide members with a Disability Pride month version of the Member of RCOT (MRCOT) logo!
Add it to your digital platforms, celebrate in your signatures or wave it at an event near you!
Spotlighting the voices, stories and contributions of disabled occupational therapists
During the month, we’ll post blogs from OTs that explore the intersection of identities.
What you can do
Read and share
If you’re ready to read something now, explore our back catalogue:
Change won't happen by itself – OT, Georgia Vine, reflects on living in ableist society
Occupational therapy innovation: Mental health, learning disabilities and autism
https://youtu.be/fSDCmrNv270 – Rachel Booth Gardiner – Career Conversations
Join the conversation
Members can head over to the RCOT Communities platform to start conversations, share interesting resources, promote great research and celebrate Disability Pride.
Be a critical friend
If you want to support disabled OTs and act as a critical friend to RCOT, you could join AbleOTUK.
Challenge your own biases
Explore our Equity, Diversity and Belonging toolkit. This first toolkit focuses on critical self-awareness and will help you build insight into your own biases and guide you in overcoming them.
Show your support
However you celebrate Disability Pride, show your colours this July. Whether it’s updating your email signature, wearing a pin badge or simply starting a conversation – visibility matters.
We’d love to see our members sharing Disability Pride across the world of OT. If you attend a local event, hold a talk at work or snap a photo of something you’re reading – share it on social media and tag us alongside the #DisabilityPride.
Our commitment to equity, diversity and belonging
We know that real change takes action. That’s why equity, diversity and belonging are core to our strategy, our leadership and our work with members. We're listening, learning and working together to create a profession where every LGBTQIA+ person feels seen, valued and safe.
Check out our Equity, diversity and belonging strategy and action plan.
We want to thanks members of AbleOTUK, the Expert Advisory Group, the RCOT Colleague Network and RCOT members who have worked with us to help make our work more equitable and accessible over the last few years.