Then and Now: Disability Across Generations

Hi, everyone! Emily Ladau and Kim Knackstedt here, bringing you into our conversation.

As we celebrate Disability Pride Month throughout July, we’re reflecting on disability identity, history, and leadership. Recently, we were chatting about how disability identity has evolved across generations and where things stand today.

What does it really mean to identify as disabled? For some, it’s an identifier and a source of pride. For others, it’s a label embraced later in life—or never at all. As disabled people from different generations and backgrounds, we’ve witnessed and experienced how disability identity is shaped by time, culture, visibility, and community. Join us as we explore how disability identity has evolved across generations, and how both visible and invisible disabilities influence the way people connect—or disconnect—with the disability community.

But, before we start, we want to name where we are coming from in this conversation. We are both white women who are based in the United States. We are also both millennials, although Kim is an “elder” millennial while Emily is a younger millennial (we will discuss that more!). We are both disabled—Emily has both apparent and nonapparent disabilities and Kim has primarily invisible disabilities (also to be discussed more!). We exist at a nexus point of both privilege and marginalization, and we recognize that this influences our experiences with disability identity. So, we can’t speak for anyone but ourselves, and our conversation is rooted in our own perspectives.

Read on and be sure to share your perspectives in the comments!