Dear Unicode Consortium,

According to the World Health Organization, 15% of the world's population (an estimated 1.1 billion people) identify as having some form of disability. This represents the world's largest minority and the ONLY minority group that ANY OF US can become a member of at ANY time. 

On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities, thus making July the official Disability Pride Month. We have come a long way and yet we still don’t have a disability + disability pride flag emoji to represent our progress and fierce community. 

Emojis are a universal language and powerful tool for communication, representation, support, celebration, and connection—so where are our rallying flag icons? These emojis allow us to be loud and proud of our identity while allowing our allies to support us visibly. By not encoding our flags, you are perpetuating the exclusion, denial and erasure of our existence and human rights.

Please give our disabled community the love and recognition we deserve in the next Apple & Android update by making our flags part of the Unicode Standard. 

Kae

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Disability Pride Flag Background: Created by disabled artist Ann Magill in 2019.

Having All Six "Standard" Flag Colors: signifying that Disability Community is pan-national, spanning borders between states and nations.

The Black Field: Mourning and rage for victims of ableist violence and abuse

The Diagonal Band: "Cutting across" the walls and barriers that separate the disabled from normate society, also light and creativity cutting through the darkness

The White Stripe: Invisible and Undiagnosed Disabilities

The Red Stripe: Physical Disabilities

The Gold Stripe: Neurodivergence

The Blue Stripe: Psychiatric Disabilities

The Green Stripe: Sensory Disabilities

Disability Flag Background: The Disability flag, also known by several other names such as the Overcoming flag or Flag of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, is a flag that represents people who have disabilities, worldwide. It was created by the Valencian dancer Eros Recio (who suffers from Down Syndrome) in 2017 and then presented to the United Nations. The flag is meant for general use, particularly at disability-centered events. It has been especially used for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which falls on 3 December every year.