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I’ve been to a few celebrations to honor the Americans with Disabilities Act anniversary over the years. I bet for people who’ve never been, they figure we sit around and say that laws are cool. But that’s not what those events are! They include stories of continued ableism in the face of laws that are designed with access in mind but never with anti-ableism in mind. They include arts and presentations and celebrations of culture and a disability aesthetic. I’ve even been to events that criticized the law and the way some people think that legal compliance is the end-all be-all of disability advocacy. It’s not! Let’s be honest: The laws don’t benefit everyone as they should to begin with, and people should be prepared to accept these criticisms. The Disability Visibility Project’s ADA 30 In Color was a fascinating panel discussion and set of essays last year that I really loved. It did all these things by centering the stories of BIPOC activists, politicians, artists, and culture makers and their stories inspired by the law’s anniversary.

This year, actually, tomorrow, will be a really engaging mix of art, essays, messages, comedy, and performances from Deaf and disability culture. Some of the performances are about disability experiences specifically, but quite a few aren’t. The point is that they come from Deaf and disability community, and access has been baked in. Every piece (and there are 51 of them!) has open captions, ASL interpretation, and open extended audio description. The focus this year is around non-apparent disabilities. Otherwise called invisible disabilities. Otherwise called, “But you don’t look disabled.” Otherwise called, “My aunt did yoga, and her multiple sclerosis went away. Have you tried yoga?” (That is not an endorsement for yoga. Just pointing out the ludicrous responses non-disabled people give if you happen to mention you’re sick for longer than a week, and they’re not emotionally prepared to handle a world that includes you being sick for longer than a week.)

Hop on over to Facebook Live at 8:00 pm Eastern / 5:00 pm Pacific. Edit: The event was moved a day later to Thursday, August 26th! Go to Facebook Live for all the stories and artistic presentations. It’s free! And the theme this year is “Celebrize” as in celebrating and recognizing.

ADA31 Lead On – Celebrize! has four sections – Language, Disclosure, Accessibility, Future – with introductions by emcees, Nina G and Mean Dave, both disabled comedians. Plus additional framing by Fya and Dominick Evans.

[Image Description courtesy of the ADA 31 Lead On team: Two gold comedy and tragedy masks with red and blue accessible (lip-readable) PPE face masks show the smile of comedy and the frown of tragedy, next to a paintbrush that is creating a musical staff with the words: ADA31 Lead On – Celebrize! Celebrate & Recognize Non-Apparent Disabilities.]

Check out short videos and clips on the ADA30 Lead On channel on YouTube!