Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Calendar 2026

About

Did you know that International Pronouns Day is the third Wednesday of October each year or that December 3rd is the International Day of People with Disabilities? In the UK Black History Month is in October, Neurodiversity Celebration Week is in March together with International Women’s Day on the 8th. From 17 February to the 18 March 2026 members of the Muslim community worldwide will observe Ramadan and June is Pride Month. These are just some of the important dates around celebrating and raising awareness of important religious, cultural, international and health-related events. The OCA & the OCA Student Association believe in building an inclusive and respectful community and we want your help in putting together an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion calendar for 2026. 

The brief

We are looking for submissions of work to illustrate and highlight some of these events. We’ve included a comprehensive list below but feel free to research and highlight a date of your choice. Work can be in any medium including creative writing and music, you just tell us how your submission correlates with your chosen event in a sentence or two. Images must be JPG or PNG, 300DPI and original files if possible. Submissions need to be received by 15 December 2025. Please email them to blog@oca.ac.uk. We welcome contributions from across the OCA community including students, alumni, tutors and HQ staff.

Selection process

Work will be selected by members of our OCA EDI Group and if necessary we will be seeking student selectors to help out. Where possible we will include an image submission together with a writing/music submission for each month and submissions will be published on the OCA Student Association blog and Instagram. A digital copy will be made available across the OCA community. View the 2025 EDI Calendar here.

Suggested events to research

This list is not exhaustive and we encourage you to reflect on your own identity and cultural experiences whilst choosing a celebration or observance to base your submission on. There are likely to be many more that we have missed out in this list. Please feel free to research any dates that are more relevant to your life. Please be respectful and mindful of any community you may be portraying, seek permission/consent if necessary and check your bias before sending. We will not accept submissions which express prejudice and discrimination, and reserve the right to refuse submissions.

January

World Braille Day - 4th

World Religion Day - 18th

Martin Luther King Jr Day - 19th

Holocaust Memorial Day - 27th

February

LGBT History Month - UK only

International Day of Women and Girls in Science - 11th

Lunar New Year - 17th

World day of Social Justice - 20th

March

Women’s History Month

Zero Discrimination Day - 1st

Purim - 2nd - 3rd

International Women’s Day - 8th

Neurodiversity Celebration Week - 17th-23rd

Eid al-Fitr - 19th-20th

Trans Day of Visibility - 31st

April

Autism Acceptance Month

Passover - 1st- 9th

Lesbian Visibility Week - 20th-26th

Earth Day- 22nd

May

International Workers Day - 1st

Deaf Awareness Week - 4th- 10th

Mental Health Awareness Week - 11th-17th

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) - 17th

Global Accessibility Awareness Day - 21st

June

Pride Month - Celebrated worldwide

Autistic Pride Day - 18th

World Refugee Day- 20th

Windrush Day - 22nd

Stonewall Riot Anniversary - 28th

July

Disability Pride Month

Non-Binary People’s Day - 14th

South Asian Heritage Month - 18 Jul - 17th Aug

August

South Asian Heritage Month 18 Jul - 17th Aug

United Nations Indigenous Day - 9th

Bisexual Pride Day - 29th

September

Rosh Hashanah - 11th-13th

International Day of Democracy- 15th

Ganesh Chaturthi - 14th-15th

Yom Kippur - 20th- 21st

International Day of Peace - 21st

October

Black History Month - UK

ADHD Awareness Month

World Dyslexia Day - 8th

National Coming Out Day - 11th

International Pronouns Day - 21st

World Menopause Day - 18th

November

Diwali - 8th

Stress Awareness Day - 4th

Transgender Day of Remembrance - 20th

December

World AIDS Day - 1st

International Day of People with Disabilities - 3rd

Hanukkah - 4th-12th

Kwanzaa - 26th-1st Jan

Deadline

Submissions need to be received by 15 December 2025. Work can be in any medium including creative writing and music, you just tell us how your submission correlates with your chosen event in a sentence or two. Please email them to blog@oca.ac.uk.

Thank you!