In July 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law. This landmark piece of legislation worked towards creating equal opportunities and enshrining equal rights for the over 70 million Americans living with a disability.
Project SAFE resident Mirabelle* with her son at Project Grow.
To commemorate this historic moment, July is recognized as Disability Pride Month. This celebration promotes disability culture and visibility, celebrates the achievements of those in the disabled community, and recognizes the unique contributions that disabled people bring to American life.
At Adopt-A-Family, our Project SAFE is our housing program that serves families emerging from an episode of homelessness that have a head of household living with a mental or physical disability. These 32 housing units provide intensive case management and thorough support services to help residents regain and maintain stability. In the 2024 fiscal year, Project SAFE served 41 families, and 93% of households remained stably housed through the program for the whole year or exited to a stable housing solution within the community.
Success comes in many forms at Project SAFE. Sylvia* arrived at the program with her three daughters and was suffering from intense anxiety and depression due to trauma. Our in-house mental health therapist helped Sylvia develop healthy coping mechanisms, and our job coach helped her explore her career options. Today, Sylvia is employed and focused on parenting her three daughters.
The higher rates of homelessness among the disabled community shows that there is still a lot of work to do to ensure equal opportunities for this population. Additionally, people with physical and mental disabilities face greater barriers to achieving stability after experiencing homelessness. At Adopt-A-Family, we aim to give all families the tools they need to succeed.
The 2025 theme for Disability Pride Month is “We Belong Here, and We’re Here To Stay.” We are grateful for the contributions and perspectives of the disabled members of our AAF family. You will always have a place in our agency, and we appreciate the clients who choose to work with us to build a brighter future.
You can learn more about Disability Pride Month here.
*These names has been changed to protect client privacy.