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Have you ever heard of Disability Pride Month?

It happens every July and has been celebrated in the UK since 2015.

It's an opportunity to raise awareness of disabilities, start positive conversations and celebrate the diversity and differences of the disabled community.

Disability Pride Month has its origins in the US, where in 1990 a law called the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed to prevent people with disabilities being discriminated against.

Up until this point, people with disabilities weren't always treated equally and didn't have access to the same opportunities.

England, Scotland and Wales have a similar law that was passed in 2002 called the Disability Discrimination Act, that was itself replaced by the Equality Act in 2010.

People in Northern Ireland are protected by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Over time, Disability Pride has evolved from a day of celebration to a month-long event.

Under the Equality Act, a disability is when you have a condition that affects you physically or mentally and has a "substantial" and "long-term" negative effect on daily activities.

One in five people in the UK live with a disability.

There are lots of different types of disability that affect people in different ways and each of the colours on the Disability Pride Flag represent these.

The Disability Pride Flag was created by Ann Magill in 2019.

The coloured stripes are placed diagonally across the flag to show how disabled people have to cut across barriers in society.

The first Disability Pride Parade in the UK was held in Belfast in 2014 and Brighton was the first place in England to hold one in 2017.

Events are now held locally around the country in July.

It's a chance for people with disabilities to come together and celebrate being themselves, no matter their differences.

It's also a chance to raise awareness of the challenges they still face every day to be treated equally.