NATIONAL DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH No. 4 (7.2423)

 

WHAT IS DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH?

 Disability Pride Month initially started as a day of celebration in 1990—the year that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law.  The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas, including employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications, and access to state and local government programs and services.

In 1990, the same year the act was instated, Boston held the first Disability Pride Day. Cities across the country have celebrated disability pride month with parades and other festivities since 2015.

 

FEATURE OF THE WEEK

                                                                    

 Roger Demosthenes O'Kelly

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Roger Demosthenes O’Kelly has a storied place in Black History that unfortunately is often overlooked by many. The NC-born Black man eventually became partially blind in one eye from childhood scarlet fever and completely deaf a few years later. He’d soon carry a small notebook with him to communicate. As a result, O’Kelly first attended the NC Colored School for the Deaf and Blind, working as a stable hand; a football injury he’d later acquire would completely blind him in one eye, but he remained optimistic. O’Kelly began to pursue a career as a lawyer after he’d finished his primary education.

Initially, O’Kelly tried applying to Gallaudet after he graduated, a premier university for Deaf students, but settled on Shaw University after he was rejected. He successfully graduated and earned his license to practice Law in 1908, becoming what is widely-considered the first Black Deaf lawyer in the country. After he completed his educational pursuits at Yale, he was the first Black Deaf person to graduate — in his case, with a bachelor’s in law — and accomplished much of this while taking tunnel-drilling side jobs in the meantime.

O’Kelly began to teach at his former alma mater in NC after scoring his degree from Yale, then later made a name for himself with his own private law firm, O’Kelly’s Legal Bureau. Specializing in domestic, corporate, and real estate title cases, O’Kelly’s law firm thrived during a time of segregation, even despite the obstacles he faced because of his disability. He’d live a full life of 82 years, marrying Goldie Weaver in 1920.