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With more than seven million adults with a disability, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, decreed this July as "Disability Pride Month 2024", recognizing their contribution to the diversity and strength of the state.
Thus, California joins communities across the country in recognizing the many ways in which people living with disabilities, whether visible or invisible, mobility or cognitive, visual or hearing, learning or sensory, developmental or acquired .
Disability Pride Month, celebrated in July, marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a major civil rights milestone that became law on July 26, 1990.
Sponsored by California Congressman Tony Coelho, the ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of public life, removing barriers to employment, transportation, public services, and other critical areas.
California is home to more than 7 million adults with disabilities and serves one in seven children with disabilities in schools.
?Our state has been instrumental for decades in advancing the inclusion and integration of people with disabilities in all aspects of life. "My administration is working to expand educational opportunities, employment options, access to health and home care, civil rights, and community living for people of all ages with disabilities," Newsom said in his executive order.
The California governor said that the state also continues to prioritize the accessibility of all state services and is deepening its commitment to employment opportunities for people with disabilities within the state service.
"Diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility are integral parts of our continued work to build a California for all," Newsom said, calling for reflection on the essential contributions of people with disabilities to communities, state and nation, as well as to reaffirm the commitment to their rights and independence.
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