If Iād known that THIS Disability Rights flag existed as early as 2017 (if it had shown up in ANY of my Internet Searches), I MIGHT not have continued trying to design one myself
Wikipedia Article on the Disability Flag, designed by Valencian dancer Eros Recio in 2017 (warning:. an image of the zigzag flag I designed also appears in the right-hand sidebar to this article, beside the āInfluence of Disability Prideā section [section 3]).
[Image description: a flag of three equal horizontal stripes, from top to bottom: Gold, pale grey (silver) and muted orange (bronze). Description ends]
Apparently, according to the Wikipedia article linked above, it was officially adopted as the official flag of all persons with disabilities on December 3, 20`7 (the 3rd of December is the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities) by āparliamentarians from Latin American countries gathered in a plenary assembly in Peru.ā
This is another clue that the āWorldwide Webā is not actually that world wide ā because even though I read this Wikipedia article just yesterday, when I searched for āUnited Nations Disability Flagā today, this image was absolutely no where in the first page of search results. But I bet it would have shown up, if I were searching from anywhere in Europe, or Latin America.
On the other hand, even if I had known about it, I might have decided that we still needed a more punk flag than this, and kept on working a black, pirate-inspired, eff-ewe, flag
Because the gold, silver and bronze stripes were inspired by the Paralympics. And Iāve always hated how disabled athletes have been used as a āso whatās your excuse?ā cudgel against the rest of us.
To be fair, though, Eros Recio (who is disabled, himself), has said this flag represents overcoming the ableism we face, rather than overcoming our disabilities.
But since the queer community benefits from multiple flag designs (The Gilbert Baker flags, the Progress Flag, the Bear Flag, the Leather Pride Flag, etc.), than so can the Disability Community.
So I am hereby encouraging people (especially anglophone White, USA people) to spread awareness of this particular flag. USA culture is like honey: just one spilled drop can spread over everything, and make everything sticky. And this is especially true of USA-based Internet culture. If enough American based English-speaking people spread awareness of this flag online, than maybe the next time someone searches for āUnited Nations Disability Rights Flag,āĀ this image will pop up, instead of photos of Wheelchair accessible parking spaces in fron the UN building in New York.