July is Disability Pride Month. It is observed in July because the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed on July 26, 1990, a landmark piece of civil rights legislation that established legal protections for people with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, and government services. The month is a recognition that disability is not something to hide or overcome. It is an identity, a community, and a history worth acknowledging.

What does Disability Pride actually mean?

Pride in this context does not mean happiness about every circumstance. It means refusing to accept shame as the default. Disabled people have been told through institutions, through language, through policy that their value is conditional on how closely they can approximate non-disabled norms. Disability Pride pushes back on that. The problem is not the disability. The problem is environments, systems, and attitudes that were not built with disabled people in mind.

Why acceptance and inclusion matter

Neurodivergent people spend a significant amount of energy managing how they are perceived in spaces that were not built for them. That energy has a cost. When people can show up without having to perform, they regulate better, engage more fully, and have a more accurate read on what they are actually capable of. Environments that are genuinely inclusive are not just more comfortable. They produce better outcomes for the people in them.

Pride and self-esteem

Self-esteem is built from repeated experiences of being valued. For people who grew up being told their natural way of existing was a problem, those experiences are often rare. Pride is a reframe. It shifts the narrative from deficit to identity and connects people to a community with shared experience.

People with positive associations with their identity show stronger self-esteem, greater resilience, and better mental health outcomes. Disability Pride Month is not symbolic. For a lot of us, it is the first time anyone said out loud that our existence is not a burden. That it never was.

That is what we are building here too.

The flag was created by Ann Magill, a disabled writer and activist with cerebral palsy. She designed it in 2016 following the massacre at the Tsukui Yamayuri En care home in Japan, where nineteen disabled people were killed specifically because they were disabled. She wanted the community to have a symbol it could raise and recognize.

What each element means:

The Sanctuary membership is still $30 per year. We have added new perks to make it worth even more.

• $30 off your first purchase across any service, class, or activity offered by Neurodiverse Inclusive Solutions or Basecamp NW
• 10% off all services going forward after your first
• Access to the Employment Support Group every Friday, 6:00 to 7:30 PM on Microsoft Teams
• Access to the Sanctuary Minecraft server — moderated, low-chaos, built for neurodivergent adults and families
• Members-only support groups and events
• Local to Salem? All in-person meetups, local events, and Basecamp NW updates go to members first

Membership is the most direct way to stay connected and to support the work that makes all of this possible.

Basecamp NW is the outdoor regulation branch of Neurodiverse Inclusive Solutions. The outdoors is one of the most effective regulation environments available. Not therapy. Not a social skills class. Just getting people outside and doing things that help the nervous system settle. All activities are neurodivergent-informed, which means the environment, the pacing, and the facilitation are designed with sensory and regulation needs in mind. Everyone is welcome.

Activities include guided regulation day experiences, structured group outings, hiking, camping, and NRA-certified firearms safety and marksmanship instruction. Firearm handling requires sustained focus, breath control, and physical stillness. It turns out to be one of the more effective regulation activities available for a wide range of people.

The Women on Target event was the first activity under the Basecamp NW banner, and it will not be the last. We are building out a full calendar of regulation-focused outdoor activities and this is just the beginning.

Basecamp NW is local to the Salem, Oregon area. When you book any class or outing, you automatically become a Basecamp NW member with access to the full activity calendar as it grows.

One of the bigger goals behind everything we do is creating a permanent, sensory-inclusive community space in Salem called The Nest. A place where neurodivergent individuals, families, and providers can access services, community, and support in an environment actually designed for how we function.

We are still in active development. The conversations are happening and the vision is clear. What moves it forward is community support.