This is a sum of Disability Awareness Calendar , which includes Disability Awareness Months and Disability Awareness Days. It also has some bonus (- non-disability-related) awareness months and days!
There is a downloadable pdf included.
Disability Awareness Months
There are a lot of disability awareness months and disability awareness days throughout the year. It can get a little overwhelming some months (like April and October – what is it with squeezing ALL THE AWARENESS into a single month?!) But it’s still really useful for some of us to be aware of what we can make a collective focus on, or when to plan out our disability awareness trainings and so forth.
So, here we go, all the disability awareness months with links to more information about the given month!
(the downloadable pdf is at the end of this post)
January Disability Awareness Months & Days
Birth Defects Prevention Month
January 4 – World Braille Day
January 14 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 24 – Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day
January 26 – Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day
January 27 – World Leprosy Day
January 30 – CTE Awareness Day
February
Black History Month (African-American History Month) – #BlackDisabledHistoryMonth
Deaf History Month
National Cancer Prevention Month
Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance & Inclusion Month
February 2 – Rheumatoid Arthritis Awareness Day
February 4 – World Cancer Day
February 7 – Go Red for Women Day (American Heart Association)
February 9-15 – Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) Awareness Week
February 17 – Random Acts of Kindness Day
February 23 – February 29 – National Eating Disorders Awareness Week
February 27 – Anosmia Awareness Day
February 29 – Rare Disease Day
March
Bleeding Disorder Awareness Month
Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month
Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Awareness Month
Developmental Disabilities Month
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Awareness Month
National Women’s History Month
March 1 – International Wheelchair Day
March 5 – Multiple Personality Day
March 8 – International Women’s Day
March 21 – World Down Syndrome Day
March 21 – International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
March 24 – World Tuberculosis Day
March 26 – Purple Day for Epilepsy
March 30 – World Bipolar Day
Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash
April
Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Awareness Month
April 2 – World Autism Awareness Day
April 7 – World Health Day
April 11 – Parkinson’s Disease International Awareness Day
April 22 – Earth Day
May
Better Hearing and Speech Month
Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month
Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month
National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month
May 1 – International Labor Day
May 5 – World Asthma Day
May 10 – World Lupus Day
May 10 – May 16 – Women’s Health Week
May 12 – Fibromyalgia Awareness Day
May 12 – International Awareness Day for Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases (CIND)
May 14 – Apraxia Awareness Day
May 15 – June 15 – Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month
May 17 – International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia
May 21 – Global Accessibility Awareness Day
May 21 – World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
May 24 – World Schizophrenia Day
May 25 – Memorial Day
May 30 – World Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Awareness Day
June Disability Awareness Months and Disability Awareness Days
June 7 – National Cancer Survivors Day
June 18 – Autistic Pride Day (interesting post on reasons why we need this is linked here)
June 27 – U.S. National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Day
July
July 4 – Independence Day
July 26 – ADA Awareness Day
July 28 – World Hepatitis Day
August
August 7 – Purple Heart Day
August 17 – National Nonprofit Day
August 21 – National Senior Citizens Day
August 26 – Women’s Equality Day
September
Leukemia & Lymphoma Awareness Month
MDA National Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Month
Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month
World Suicide Prevention Month
September 2 – Labor Day
September 10 – World Suicide Prevention Day
September 15 – World Lymphoma Awareness Day
September 21 – World Alzheimer’s Day
September 23 – International Day of Sign Languages
September 29 – World Heart Day
October
NDEAM National Disability Employment Awareness Month
Learning Disabilities Awareness Month
Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Month
October 4 – October 10 – Mental Health Awareness Week
October 6 – World Cerebral Palsy Day
October 8 – World Blind Day / World Sight Day
October 10 – World Arthritis Day
October 10 – World Mental Health Day
October 24 – United Nations Day
October 25 – World Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Day
November
National Family Caregivers Month
National Native American Heritage Month
Prostate Cancer / Men’s Health Awareness Month
November 11 – Veterans Day
November 13 – World Kindness Day
November 14 – World Diabetes Day
November 16 – International Day for Tolerance
November 18 – World COPD Day
November 21 – Pancreatic Cancer Day
December
December 1 – World AIDS Day
December 1 – Giving Tuesday
December 3 – International Day of People with Disabilities
December 10 – Human Rights Day
Such a long Disability Awareness Calendar, with so many months and days.
Which I guess is a good thing, to nudge us all in the direction of understanding more.
Download your calendar here or by clicking the button below.
(Either way will take you to Gumroad, and you just select that you want it, and put in that you want to pay 0 for it (- or if you do want to chip into expenses for keeping this stuff running, that would be great! thanks – if not, no worries). From there, you put in your email address (which I do not store or start some marketing thing with you for) and it’s sent automatically to you.)
Meriah Nichols is a counselor. Solo mom to 3 (one with Down syndrome, one on the spectrum). Deaf, and neurodiverse herself, she’s a gardening nerd who loves cats, Star Trek, and takes her coffee hot and black.
Don’t forget Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September!
Thank you! adding it now
November–Chronic Pain Awareness Month; 1st Monday in November, “Color the World Orange Day” for Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome/Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy(CRPS/RSD)
“I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 56 ,in Jan of this year. I was approved by my neurologist to try feasible alternatives to my current prescribed medication in the hope of improving my quality of life. and I have to say this natural treatment is a 100% game changer for anyone with PD. It has been a complete turnaround with my balance, mobility, speech and tremors this is the best that I’ve felt in years. VISIT Kykuyu. Karen McNicholas”