Why Disability Pride Month Matters to Your Business

By Matisse Hamel-Nelis

Every July, Disability Pride Month rolls around, and if your first thought is, “That’s not really about business,” I want to gently challenge that.

Disability Pride Month is a celebration of identity, resilience, and community. It’s about embracing disability as a natural and valuable part of human diversity, not something to be pitied, fixed, or hidden. But here’s the thing: the values at the heart of Disability Pride (access, equity, dignity, and inclusion) aren’t just feel-good ideas. They’re essential to building a business that’s sustainable, innovative, and future-focused.

Let’s talk about what that actually looks like.

It starts with representation.

If you’re a business owner, ask yourself: Are people with disabilities reflected in your team, leadership, vendors, or marketing? Or are they still missing from the picture?

Hiring talent with disabilities isn’t charity. It’s smart business. People with disabilities bring lived experience, creative problem-solving skills, and perspectives that drive innovation. But far too often, they’re shut out because of inaccessible job postings, rigid processes, or assumptions about what they can (or can’t) do.

It extends to your customer experience.

From websites that don’t work with screen readers to physical spaces without ramps or quiet zones, inaccessible businesses lose customers, plain and simple. And not just customers with disabilities. Parents with strollers, older adults, and people recovering from injuries all benefit from accessibility. When you make things easier to use, you make them better for everyone.

And it shows in your values.

Supporting Disability Pride Month isn’t about throwing a logo on social media and calling it a day. It’s about doing the work year-round: learning, listening, hiring, adapting, and being willing to change. It’s about moving from performative allyship to meaningful inclusion.

So, this July, don’t just celebrate Disability Pride; live it.

Audit your spaces. Review your hiring practices. Partner with disabled creators or consultants. And most importantly, treat accessibility like the leadership priority it is, not a box to check, but a culture to build.

Because when your business reflects the full diversity of your community, everyone thrives.