Intersectionality and Disability: Race, Gender, and LGBTQIA2+ Identity in Accessible Spaces

Recognising and Centring Multiply Marginalised Disabled Voices During Disability Pride and Pride Month

In theory, "inclusive" spaces are meant to welcome everyone. In practice, many still fail to truly include those living at the intersections of multiple marginalised identities, particularly people who are disabled and are also LGBTQIA2+, Black, Indigenous, or people of colour.

During Disability Pride Month, it's crucial to spotlight the experiences of multiple marginalised disabled people, those whose identities span disability, race, gender, and sexuality. These individuals often face numerous barriers, not just physical accessibility but also cultural, institutional, and emotional safety.

The Myth of the "Universal" Disability Experience

The mainstream disability narrative has too often centred on white, cisgender, heterosexual individuals, leaving out the diverse realities of others within the disabled community. This monolithic framing erases the compounded oppressions that arise when ableism intersects with racism, homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny.

A gay person who is disabled of colour may, for example, navigate an LGBTQIA2+ space that claims to be inclusive but lacks ramps or ASL interpreters, or worse, exhibits covert racial bias. Likewise, a disability rights conference may speak the language of accessibility while remaining silent on gendered violence or trans inclusion.

When accessibility is designed without considering how identities overlap, it leaves people behind.

"Inclusive Spaces" That Still Exclude

Even well-meaning spaces can fall short. Some examples include:

• LGBTQIA2+ events are held in inaccessible venues, assuming a non-disabled audience.

• Disability initiatives that don't account for racial trauma or fail to include interpreters fluent in multiple languages and cultural contexts.

• Healthcare systems that misgender trans-disabled people or dismiss pain in Black-disabled bodies due to systemic medical racism.

  
  

For people who embody multiple identities, exclusion is rarely one-dimensional. It's layered, exhausting, and often hidden behind the mask of performative inclusion.

Centring Multiply Marginalised Voices

So, how do we shift from surface-level inclusion to proper intersectional access?

• Design with—not just for—diverse disabled communities. Involve people at the intersections of disability, race, gender, and LGBTQIA2+ in the planning, creation, and leadership of spaces and policies.

  
  

• Move beyond compliance. Legal accessibility standards are a starting point, not the finish line. Cultural, emotional, and linguistic access matter too.

  
  

• Celebrate, don't just accommodate. Recognise the rich leadership, culture, and knowledge that multiple marginalised people who are disabled bring. Inclusion should never be just about fitting people into existing structures, it should transform those structures to accommodate them better.

  
  

This Month and Every Month

As we celebrate Disability Pride Month, let's remember that progress means nothing if it only lifts some while leaving others behind. Justice requires us to widen the lens, question the defaults, and dismantle the hierarchies within our movements.

Multiply marginalised people who are disabled don't just exist at the margins, they lead, they innovate, they survive systems not built for them. It's time we centre their experiences not as an afterthought but as the blueprint for how we create truly inclusive and liberatory spaces.

Language. Design. Culture. Everything matters, and everything must be reimagined with intersectionality at its heart.