September is the month when schools kick back into gear, seasons begin to change, and holidays get ready to come around the corner. For me, September was the month my two younger sisters were born, so it’s always been a big deal in my house. But it is also a month for different awareness campaigns and celebrations. As the month kicks off, here are five important observances to keep in mind.
- Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
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In 1968, clinical psychologist Edwin S. Shneidman, PhD, founded the American Association of Suicidology with the mission to promote the understanding and prevention of suicide and support those who have been affected by it. Then, in 1975, AAS began to campaign for ‘Suicide Awareness Week.’ Twenty-eight years later, on Sept. 10, 2003, the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the World Health Organization collaborated to launch World Suicide Prevention Day. These two important landmarks resulted in September being designated as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in 2008.
Suicide awareness is important because no matter your age, race, ethnicity, or sexual identity/orientation, suicide affects us all. According to the World Health Organization, risk factors for suicide can include experience of loss, loneliness, discrimination, relationship hardships, financial problems, chronic pain and illness, violence and abuse, and conflict or other humanitarian emergencies. All of which are problems that the average person in the United States and the globe struggles with, if not worse. The WHO also reports that suicide was the third leading cause of death among those ages 15 to 29 globally in 2021. Furthermore, the CDC reports that over 49,000 people lost their lives to suicide in 2023 alone: one death every eleven minutes.
Suicide and suicidal ideation are devastating, unimaginable pains that nobody should suffer or go through alone. If you or somebody you know is experiencing these thoughts, there are resources available.
- Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
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To many, a cancer diagnosis makes the world stop. Panic, fear, devastation, and grief all flow through patients within mere seconds. Unfortunately, children aren’t spared from this pain either. “Every 3 minutes, somewhere in the world, a family hears the devastating words that their child has been diagnosed with cancer,” the American Childhood Cancer Organization reports. Despite the overall survival rate for childhood cancer having increased from 10% to over 85%, approximately 1,600 children and adolescents still die of cancer each year in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute.
On Aug. 31, 2012, former President Barack Obama released a Presidential Proclamation deeming September 2012 as National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. He proceeded to release similar proclamations in 2015 and 2016, aiming to “pay tribute to the families, friends, professionals, and communities who lend their strength to children fighting pediatric cancer.” Since then, September has served as a reminder of the challenges children, families, friends, and doctors face every day when battling childhood cancer.
“Cancer is an incredibly difficult situation that cannot fully be explained, but it’s beatable and doesn’t have to take over your life in a negative way.”
Caliah Russell, UCF student.I had the opportunity to speak with Caliah Russell, a fellow UCF student and childhood cancer survivor, about her experience with leukemia. “I was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of three, and I was in remission within a month, but I still had to undergo a two and a half year chemotherapy treatment. While my experience with cancer was very short, the impacts were everlasting,” said Russell.
“I went through treatment during Pre-K, one of the most important developmental stages in a child’s life, and this altered my life incredibly. Due to my loss of hair and my frail appearance, I was often bullied by fellow classmates, and this even continued into fourth grade. I was even put in the lowest level kindergarten class with no testing because, according to my teacher, who had called my mother on the phone to discuss this, none of the other teachers wanted a child with cancer,” stated Russell.
When asked about the impact her leukemia had on her even now as an adult, Russell said, “I’ve had an extremely difficult academic and social journey through life, and I bring these lessons with me through adulthood as I look back on how I persevered through grade school and managed to get into the college of my dreams. I feel like I am finally thriving in life and happy with where I am in the world, despite occasional medical issues and memories of hard times. Cancer is an incredibly difficult situation that cannot fully be explained, but it’s beatable and doesn’t have to take over your life in a negative way.”
- National Blood Cancer/Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month
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Designated by the U.S. Congress in 2010, September serves as National Blood Cancer Awareness Month. The most common blood cancers, for those unaware, are leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). Approximately every nine minutes, someone in the U.S. dies from blood cancer — that’s about 157 people each day. Organizations like the Lymphoma Research Foundation and BloodCancerMonth.org aim to raise awareness of the signs, symptoms, and impact of blood cancer. By doing this, they hope to improve the chances of early diagnosis, encourage policymakers to prioritise the disease, and help everyone with blood cancer feel connected and heard.
Similarly, September is celebrated as Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month. Sickle cell disease, or sickle cell anemia, is a condition where the major protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells, hemoglobin, becomes misshapen — or sickled — and blocks proper blood flow throughout the body. The campaign for this month-long campaign began in 1975, gaining official recognition from the federal government in 1983. It was a way to increase public knowledge and understanding of SCD, promote advancements in treatment and care, and expand research into SCD and its related complications.
- Deaf Awareness Month
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Deaf Awareness Month lies near and dear to my heart. It originally began in 1958 as the International Day of the Deaf, Sept. 28, to celebrate and recognize the contributions and challenges of the Deaf community. This was then expanded to the International Week of the Deaf, in honor of the first World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf held in Rome in September 1951. Finally, as awareness and support grew, it eventually evolved into Deaf Awareness Month.
Deaf Awareness Month stands to raise awareness about the incredible diversity and breadth of the D/deaf community. From Deaf (culturally Deaf) to deaf (medically deaf) identities, to the middle-ground of the Deaf and hearing worlds that hard-of-hearing individuals must navigate.
It also shines a light on the significant challenges the D/deaf community has faced throughout history, such as social stigmas, limited education and employment opportunities, and communication barriers. In fact, did you know closed captions weren’t federally required until 1990? And before that, during the 19th to 20th centuries, the D/deaf community faced oralism, or teaching (forcing) deaf people to communicate with speech and lip-reading rather than sign language. Even now, almost 70% of deaf children struggle with language deprivation due to the belief that “using only spoken language will provide their child with accessible and adequate input.”
As I discussed in my ASL Day celebration article earlier this year, I’ve been learning about American Sign Language and Deaf culture since my junior year in high school. Now, as a junior in college, I’ve been able to fully immerse myself in Deaf culture within UCF’s ASL classes, becoming an ASL ULA, and participating in local Orlando Deaf events via ASL Deaf Chat. With all of this in mind, Deaf Awareness Month is an amazing time to educate ourselves on the history, diversity, and importance of accessibility to the D/deaf community.
- Hispanic Heritage Month
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Finally, one of the largest celebrations in September is Hispanic Heritage Month. Though it technically spans from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the first day of the month marks the anniversary of the early morning Grito de Dolores, the start of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain. Hispanic Heritage Month serves as an important period to understand the impact of Hispanic and Latino populations on the United States for generations. As a Colombian/Cuban woman from the South Florida area, I think this month is essential, especially in the current times we are facing.
Hispanic culture has shaped major sports like baseball and soccer, spread its most popular foods like croquetas, empanadas, tamales, pan con bistec, Colombian coffee, and horchata, and shared its cultural arts, music, dances, and celebrations. Hispanic and Latino populations are some of the hardest-working people in our country, and continue to fight every day to contribute their lives, labor, and love to do so.
Overall, September is a month of understanding, learning, growth, and reflection. I urge readers to educate themselves on awareness campaigns. Awareness and acknowledgement of others’ struggles are some of the kindest things we can do in our world right now.