III.2. Proclamation Recognizing July as Disability Pride Month; Imihy Bean
CITY OF HOPKINS
City Council Report 2023-062
To: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
Mike Mornson, City Manager
From: PeggySue Imihy Bean, Special Projects and Initiatives Manager
Date: June 20, 2023
Subject: Adopt a Proclamation Recognizing July as Disability Pride Month
_____________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDED ACTION
MOTION TO Adopt a Proclamation Recognizing July as Disability Pride Month.
OVERVIEW
2023 marks the 33rd anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA), ensuring the civil rights of citizens with disabilities. Nearly one in four people have
a disability, and people with disabilities in our community and our staff make tremendous
contributions to the City of Hopkins.
The first Disability Pride Day celebration occurred in Boston in July of 1990, to celebrate
the passage of the ADA. In 2015, New York held the first official celebration of Disability
Pride Month, recognizing the 25th anniversary of the passage of the ADA. Disability Pride
month celebrates disabled persons embracing their disabilities as integral parts of who
they are, reclaiming visibility in public and interacting fully with their disabilities o ut in the
open, and rejecting shame and normalized ableism.
Tonight, the City recognizes July as Disability Pride Month, and acknowledges the City’s
current and continued work to make City spaces and communications more accessible
to our community. These efforts include hearing accessibility added in the remodel of the
Council Chambers, increased website accessibility and an ongoing ADA assessment of
the City’s parks and public buildings.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
• Proclamation Recognizing July as Disability Pride Month
Administration
A Proclamation
Recognizing July as Disability Pride Month
WHEREAS, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed on July 26, 1990, to
ensure the civil rights of citizens with disabilities, launching the inaugural Disability Pride
Day celebrated in Boston; and
WHEREAS, New York City officially recognized the first Disability Pride Month in July
2015, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the ADA; and
WHEREAS, Disability Pride month celebrates disabled persons embracing their
disabilities as integral parts of who they are, reclaiming visibility in public, and interacting
fully with their disabilities out in the open, and rejecting shame and internalized ableism;
and
WHEREAS, Disability Pride month allows the disability community to come together,
uplift, and amplify one another’s voices and be heard; and
WHEREAS, the City of Hopkins celebrates and recognizes our disabled community
members, City staff and volunteers, who benefit from the hope and freedom envisioned
by the passage of the ADA, as well as the businesses and organizations that bring forth
the vision of accessibility embodied within the Act; and
WHEREAS; the City of Hopkins acknowledges that celebrating culture, community, and
the ADA is only a starting point, and there remains signi ficant room for progress toward
full and equitable access and inclusion for all of those in Hopkins;
NOW THEREFORE, I, Patrick Hanlon, Mayor of the City of Hopkins in the State of
Minnesota, along with my fellow Council Members, recognize, adopt, and proclaim the
month of July as Disability Pride Month in the City of Hopkins, and urge all residents to
accept and honor each person’s uniqueness, seeing it as a natural and beautiful part of
human diversity.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set
my hand and caused the Seal of the City of
Hopkins, Minnesota to be affixed this 20th day of
June 2023.
_______________________________________
Patrick Hanlon, Mayor