Accessibility-Inclusion-Protest

As companies dust off their rainbow logos and products for another round of Rainbow Capitalism, it’s time to reflect on the true meaning of Pride. Pride started as a protest and while corporations want to pretend they’ve been supportive the whole time, they haven’t. Ollie Bell writes about how Pride is becoming more about making a profit to the detriment of isolating genuine radical activists, especially queer disabled activists.

Disabled activists worked tirelessly to scrap the Thatcherera Green Paper on Disability Reform, and they won! They made their voices heard during the Care referendum by calling for a Yes/No vote. These wins didn’t come out of nowhere but are the result of years of fearless disability activism.

Disabled queer people are already out here organising for LGBTQ+ liberation. You’re less likely to see us in boardrooms, in NGOs or in mainstream LGBTQ+ activism. Instead you’ll find us in more radical, grassroots groups. For many queer disabled people, we either have to hide our disabilities or we’ve been pushed out of more reformist advocacy.

Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin (TIPD) was founded by myself (a disabled/neurodivergent person) and at different points has had organisers with various disabilities (including autism, dyspraxia, learning disabilities, etc). Our lived experiences of being disabled and queer under capitalism often radicalises us to see through its illusions and draw revolutionary conclusions.