October 2026
The Office for Students with Disabilities, in collaboration with students and campus partners, invites you to celebrate Disability Awareness Month in October.
Join us for a series of engaging events that promote inclusion and raise awareness and understanding for people with disabilities.
From workshops and arts & crafts to social gatherings, there’s something for everyone. Let’s come together to foster a more inclusive environment and celebrate the diversity that enriches our campus.
Check out our events calendar for more details, updates, and other events scheduled throughout the month.
Annual 2K Journey Registration
Join us for our annual 2K Journey on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at the Jesse Owens Stadium, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Register by September 30, 2026, for your free shirt and participation medal.
Location: Jesse Owens Stadium, 22 Circle Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90032
What is Disability Awareness Month?
Each October, we celebrate and honor Disability Awareness Month. We also recognize that October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, recognizing the value and contributions of people with disabilities within our communities, workplace, and beyond.
During this time, we want to emphasize our commitment to supporting and advocating for students with disabilities and invite the community to create inclusive and engaging environments where all individuals—students, staff, and faculty—can thrive, and have access to meaningful opportunities.
Disability Pride Heart
Inspired by the Disability Pride Flag created in 2021 by advocate Ann Magill, the flag itself symbolizes unity, identity, and grassroots resistance within the global disability community.
Featuring a charcoal gray background with five muted diagonal stripes—each color representing a different aspect of people with disabilities. Additionally, while many flags follow the custom of two or three colors, this flag uses six colors to reflect the community's wide diversity.
The diagonal orientation of the stripes is to symbolize "cutting across" the vertical walls and horizontal ceilings that keep people with disabilities segregated. The stripes also begin in the upper-left corner (where the stars on the U.S. flag, symbolizing honor) and move toward the lower-right corner, representing people with disabilities' place in the wider world.
- Red – Physical Disabilities (and other conditions that affect the body’s structure or function)
- Red also stands for strength, resilience, and the ongoing advocacy for physical accessibility in public and private spaces.
- Gold (Yellow) – Cognitive and Intellectual Disabilities
- Gold also reflects creativity, innovation, and the need to value neurodiverse ways of thinking and being.
- Green – Sensory Disabilities
- Green also symbolizes growth and connection, and it honors the cultures, languages, and leadership of sensory disability communities.
- Blue – Psychiatric Disabilities (or mental health disabilities)
- Blue also represents the importance of mental health visibility, advocacy, compassion, and peer support.
- White – Invisible and Undiagnosed Disabilities
- White also represents invisibility and the wide spectrum of experiences that are too often unnoticed or misunderstood.
- Charcoal Gray Background – The flag's charcoal-gray background symbolizes mourning and rage. It honors people with disabilities who have passed due to systemic ableism, including the lack of access to healthcare, violence, institutional neglect, suicide, and marginalization. It also symbolizes protest and the urgency of disability justice.
