DHM started as a commemorative month in 2010, when it was officially recognised by the UK government. Like other commemorative months, each year DHM is themed to reflect on topics that are significant to the disabled community. This year, the theme DHM is ‘Disability, Life, and Death’ to reflect on the topic of assisted dying within the disabled community.
 

In the UK, at least 16.1 million people are registered to have a disability. At Coventry University, many students and staff will have a variety of different visible or invisible disabilities.  

People with a disability will have a different lived experience compared to those who without one. They may:

• Have to work harder to overcome educational barriers – as some disabilities make it harder to process information
• Have to overcome physical barriers when getting to different places – as buildings are not always made with disabled people in mind
• Have to face types of discrimination and prejudice – as people often do not understand (and assume things about) how disabled people live.

Disabled people also tend to be more likely to be disempowered, as people often associate them with traits that patronize, pity, or dehumanize them.  

Celebrating DHM directly contributes towards helping disabled people overcome all the barriers mentioned above. It does this by:

• Raising awareness about disabled people and how they live, helping normalise disability and reduce the stigma surrounding being disabled
• Helping highlight positive change in society that make being disabled easier, whilst shining a light on what still must be done to improve the lives of disabled people
• Celebrating disabled people and empowering them, helping encourage disabled people to feel more capable to things they otherwise may not have done

Since it started as a commemorative month, DHM has played a significant role in helping celebrate disabled people, whilst advancing their rights overall. As a result – commemorating DHM is both positive and very important.  

There’s a lot of things that you can do to help commemorate DHM – both inside of and outside of university. In general, you could…

• Learn more about what different disabilities exist, how they might present, and what you can do to be supportive of people who have them
• Challenge jokes or comments that are disablist should you feel comfortable to, and instead encourage people to be accepting of others
• Join demonstrations and protests that help raise awareness of issues that are important to disabled people

Within Coventry University specifically, you could also…

• Watch out for any physical or educational barriers that you can recognise, and bring them up to your course or school representative
• Support societies such as the Disability, Neurodivergence, & Mental Illness Society by purchasing a membership and going to their events
• Join our Disabled Students’ Community and help make change through our Disabled Students’ officer
• Take part in events organised by the Students’ Union that commemorate DHM and celebrate the disabled community
• Come up with a campaign that supports disabled students to help enact change within the University

You can find out more about DHM by visiting the official UK Disability History Month website.

If you have any questions about DHM – feel free to get in touch with the Students’ Union at Communities.Su@Coventry.ac.uk