Healthcare
Raising awareness through the disability pride flag
Did you know there’s a disability pride flag? It features five color stripes—red, gold, white, blue, and green—each representing a range of disabilities. In honor of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, celebrated annually on Dec. 3, five ServiceNow employees share their personal stories related to the flag.
Red—physical disabilities
Carmen B., a staff product manager, identifies with the red stripe. After being diagnosed with thyroid cancer at 20 years old, she had her thyroid removed. Since then, she’s set out to prove nothing can hold her back from living her best life.
“One thing I want people to know about me and my disability is that it hasn’t stopped me from doing the things I love, and it doesn’t need to stop anyone else.” That attitude inspired her to complete a 500-mile bike ride in 2021.
Gold—neurodivergence
Senior Software Engineer Adarsh R. discovered he had a stutter when his classmates laughed at him while he read a poem to the class at age 6.
Although Adarsh tried to hide his stutter as a kid, he proudly accepts it as an adult and even uses it as a conversation starter. “Stuttering is a part of me, but it doesn’t define me,” he says.
White—invisible disabilities
Jessica Z., sales effectiveness enablement manager, is a champion for invisible disabilities such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She went undiagnosed for more than 10 years.
“The diagnosis for me made a lot of sense in my work and my personal life in terms of the hyper focus and what felt like the ability to lose focus really easily,” Jessica says. Today, she has open conversations about life with invisible disabilities.
Blue—psychiatric disabilities
Many people tend to associate post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with veterans. But PTSD is a psychiatric disability that presents in many forms.
Elena V., a senior tech support engineer, developed PTSD shortly after being held at gunpoint while in college nearly 15 years ago. To this day, nearly anything can be a trigger for her.
“It’s not weakness to have mental health issues,” she says. “For me, one thing that’s helped is talking about it.”
Green—sensory disabilities
Tony M., senior manager of customer engagement, was born visually impaired. He calls his disability his superpower, as it pushes him to strive to make life easier for anyone he can influence.
“Don’t be afraid to interact [with anyone with a disability], show empathy, and say hi, but don't ignore them,” Tony advises. “You might learn something really cool about someone that will make your day.”
Watch the video to hear more of these employees’ inspiring stories:
To create a more inclusive community, we’ve changed the name of our People with Disabilities at ServiceNow Belonging Group to TruAbility at ServiceNow. This new title better reflects our focus on celebrating the positive aspects and superpowers of persons with disabilities.
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