It’s Disability Pride Month...Something most of the world doesn’t acknowledge, or see. A bit like the disabled community really 🤷🏻‍♀️It can be a difficult month for many filled with polarising emotions. I know for me it is. I have so much warmth that comes from the friendships that I’ve made in this community and the sense of belonging that I’ve finally started to feel after decades of fighting my body.But there’s also the stark realisation that the world still sees us as “other”. We are still segregated. The fact is, and let me just talk about my own experience here because I want to be truly authentic, I have to use a separate entrance a lot of the time, often the not-so-glamorous one. The one behind the curtain, through the back, by the bins or through the storage area. And that’s if I can get in at all. Very often I’m excluded from a venue by its lack of access or provision for my basic needs such as a toilet. How much am I missing out on purely because I’m disabled and my access needs are too difficult to cater for? It makes me want to scream. Then it makes me want to fight ...and finally it makes me want to help. Help change things. Help people see that, yes it requires thought to be inclusive of ALL access needs (so much more than a ramp) but it needs to be done. And there is help to do it. Nothing about us without us - means there is a mountain of disabled people ready to act as consultative resource. The world can change. 50 years ago anyone LGBTQIA+ was scared to be out but now look at the welcome that is starting to be shown (I say starting, as someone who identifies as Queer I’m very much aware of the work that still needs to be done) so I’m hopeful - and I want to help. That’s a lot of emotions for one month!So if you’re feeling a mixing pot of swirling emotions you are not alone, if you don’t feel very proud or if you want to scream it from the rooftops (if you can access them! 😉) then know that it’s all good. And as this beautifully simple poem says - you are ENOUGH 🏳️‍🌈Poem by Becky Hemsley @Becky Hemsley #disabilitypridemonth #talkingtothewild #beckyhemsley #youareenough❤ #youhavealwaysbeenenough