For the first time in its history, Long Beach will raise a flag next month signifying support, pride and acceptance for people with disabilities.
City Council members voted unanimously to fly the Disability Pride flag outside City Hall through July, which Long Beach began recognizing last year as Disability Pride Month.
Councilmember Mary Zendejas, who uses a wheelchair and has been a constant advocate for accessibility, made the motion to fly the flag.
“Symbolism and representation matters,” she said during Tuesday’s meeting.
The Disability Pride flag is relatively new. It was designed in 2019 by Ann Magill, a writer with cerebral palsy, according to the Weinberg Family Cerebral Palsy Center at Columbia University.

The five different colored stripes represent different segments of the disability community:
- Red for physical disabilities
- Gold for neurodiversity
- White for invisible disabilities or those that haven’t been diagnosed
- Blue for emotional and psychiatric disabilities including mental illness
- Green for sensory disabilities such as deafness, blindness and processing disorder
The background of the flag is a faded black that represents, “mourning and rage for victims of ableist violence and abuse,” according to the Weinberg Family Center.
“With this action of raising the disability flag during the whole month of July in our Civic Center courtyard, we reaffirm our commitment to equality and inclusion in the world,” Zendejas said.
Councilmember Joni Ricks-Oddie, who co-sponsored the council item, said that commitment must be accompanied by continuous action, with the city “moving forward with ways that we can continue to change and adapt and design our spaces to make sure that everyone’s included.”
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