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Bringing disabled women together, mobilising
and sharing through lived experiences

Zara Todd : Have you always been disabled?

If I had a pound for every time someone asked me this question or a less polite version such as what’s wrong with you? Have you always been like this? Were you born in a wheelchair? I would be a millionaire.

Now I know people are curious about disability (even if I don’t really get why) but do we really need a superhero like origin story can’t we just exist? While I generally humour the disability questions, providing people are politely I’m not going to lie it is irritating.

However recently Ive begun to realise all of these ‘origin’ questions are intensely personal and potentially traumatic. While seemingly most of the questions have yes or no answers in reality the conversation doesn’t stop there. For the majority of disabled people it’s either unclear when we acquired our impairments or the result of a traumatic experience. Meaning the answer to ‘have you always been disabled?’ becomes no or I don’t know. These answers invariably lead to more questions or an expectation of an explanation. I was trying to think of similarly personal question and the best I could come up with was why did you get divorced? Whilst some would ask the majority would let the affected party direct the conversation.

Despite having my impairments as long as I can remember and therefore the questions about my impairment for almost as long, until recently I didn’t really feel like I had any option but to answer. In part feeling compelled to answer questions about my impairment comes from growing up in systems which depend on that information to judge my eligibility for support combined with me being the first ‘severely’ disabled person in many of the environments I’ve accessed. However I now question how that information being disclosed to all and sundry has aided me. Yes as someone with support some people need to know what support I need but is do impairment labels or my history communicate my needs… Not fully.

I suspect it has taken longer for me to take ownership of my right not to disclose my ‘origin’ story because I’m a woman as often the refusal to disclose information is often seen as being aggressive regardless of how polite the denial.

I’m not against talking about impairment or disability in fact if we talked about them more maybe the novelty factor would wear off, however I believe that disabled people should have control over their own story and who they disclose it to.

Surely there are much more interesting conversations to be had.

——————————————————————————–

Zara ToddZara Todd has been involved in young peoples and disability rights since she was 12 and has worked both in the UK and internationally trying to increase the voice of young disabled people.
Zara is currently chair of Inclusion London, a Deaf and disabled peopleā€™s organisation supporting Deaf and Disabled peopleā€™s organisation in London. She is an active member of the European Network on Independent Living running several trainings for young disabled people from across Europe.
She can be contacted at @toddles23

Disabled women at Feminism in London 2015

We were asked to organise a disabled women’s panel at this year’sĀ Feminism in London ConferenceĀ in October.

A big thank you to Lisa-Marie Taylor, FIL’s organiser, for inviting us!

We did some publicity by having a stall and we ‘re grateful to Annabel, Zara, Jacqueline and Sophie for helping us with the stall!

(Click on photos to get a bigger photo)

Real Media came to do do a short video feature on it – many thanks!

transcript FIL SOF panel (Word doc)

Frances Ryan also wrote a piece for the Guardian on the event A Disabled Woman’s struggle is any woman’s struggle

Obi was kind enough to video the whole event – if you wish to follow it in its entirety

http://bambuser.com/v/5877942

great additions from Nidhi Goyal and Asha Hans Part 1

http://bambuser.com/v/5878073

with Q&A from audience

Individual videos

Asha Hans video

TRANSCRIPT Asha Hans (Word doc)

Nidhi Goyal’s video

TRANSCRIPT Nidhi Goyal (Word doc)

Frances Ryan’s video

TRANSCRIPT Frances RyanĀ (Word doc)

Becky Olaniyi s video

TRANSCRIPT Becky OlaniyiĀ  (Word doc)

Rebecca Bunce’s video

TRANSCRIPT Rebecca Bunce (Word doc)

Kirsten Hearn’s video

TRANSCRIPT Kirsten Hearn (Word doc)

Thank you all for having taken part in the event!

Disability is not our only identity: An interview with Becky Olaniyi

Becky Olaniyi

Becky Olaniyi

In anticipation of this yearā€™s Feminism In London conference (October 24-25), Alicen Grey talks with Becky Olaniyi about disability, feminism, and the challenges and lessons of being an activist at the intersection of identities.

See the rest of the interview at the Feminist Curent.

Becky is the youngest member of our steering group but she’s a brilliant speaker. Its not too late to get tickets for the workshop. And if you have difficulties paying, just let them know.

Disabled Women’s Panel at FIL: sunday 25th 12.30-2pm Hilton Metropole Hotel, London

sun 25 oct  12.30 ā€“ 2pm   Feminism in London:  Sisters of Fridaā€™s Disabled Womenā€™s Panel  Multiple Identities: ordinary lives:  The challenges of being disabled and feminist  Disabled womenā€™s rights are human rights! Disability can be physical, mental, neurological, hidden or visible. This panel will look at activism through the prism of disability and feminism and seek to explore further the intersection and challenges of being between the two and the capacity of the two movements to work for change.

Too often are disabled women absent from the mainstream feminist discourse. We are often invisible. Here we will be speaking on a range of topics from the views of young disabled women from Becky, on politics and advisory roles from Kirsten, on violence against women and girls (Asha will be speaking from an international level and Rebecca on a UK/European level), the impact of austerity from FrancesRyan.Ā  And all of them will also speak from a personal level too.

venue – Hilton Metropole Hotel, 225 Edgware Rd, London W2 1JU

Asha Hans ( Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation Centre by video link)
Kirsten Hearn (Chair)
Becky Olaniyi (Sisters of Frida)
Nidhi Goyal (CREA: disability and sexuality by video link)
Rebecca Bunce (ICChange)
Frances Ryan (Guardian journalist)
http://www.feminisminlondon.co.uk/timetable/

We will also have a Sisters of Frida stall for information and merchandise.

soffil flyer MS word doc

soffil flyer PDF file

Feminism in London FIL website

Check out on accessible Tube at Transport of All

nearest tube to Hilton Metrople is Egdeware Rd station.

nearest accessible tube is at Green Park Underground station

train stations Paddington and Marylebone

The Hilton London Metropole is located to the North on the corner of Edgware Road and Harrow Road. The hotel is approximately half a mile north of Marble Arch, Oxford Street and Hyde Park and next to the A40(M), with easy access to M40, M1 and M25.

The car parking is located in Harbet Road, just at the back of the hotel. From the hotel entrance in Edgware Road continue north and turn left at the first corner into Harrow Road. Once in Harrow Road please turn left at the first corner again into Harbet Road. (parking Ā£5/hr)

Cynthia Kim: At the Intersection of Gender and Autism ā€“ Part I

thank you to Cynthia Kim for allowing us to repost this (posted originally on 19 Nov 2014) –

At five, I wanted to be a boy. I donā€™t know what I thought being a boy meant. Maybe I thought it meant playing outside in the summer, shirtless and barefoot. Maybe I thought it meant not wearing dresses.

Dresses were all scratchy lace trim and tight elastic sleeves. Stiff patent leather shoes pinched my sensitive feet. Perfume tickled my nose. Tights made my legs itch and had maddening seams at the toes.

Too young to understand sensory sensitivities, I followed my instincts. While other girls favored frilly clothes, I gravitated toward the soft comfort of cotton shirts and worn corduroys.

Somehow, comfort got mixed up with gender in my head. For decades, ā€œdressing like a girlā€ meant being uncomfortable. And so began a lifelong tension between being female and being autistic.

*

For a lengthy stretch of adulthood, I had an entire section of my closet that could best be described as aspirational. Pants suits. Dressy blouses. Pumps and sandals. Skirts, bought and worn once for a special occasion. Dresses, bought and worn never, before being spirited off to the thrift store.

I preferred ripped jeans and running shoes, hoodies and baggy t-shirts. Comfortable and comforting, just as they had been in childhood.

It wasnā€™t until after being diagnosed with Aspergerā€™s last year that I learned about sensory sensitivities. Suddenly my aversion to dressy clothes, perfume and makeup made sense. A huge weight lifted. Iā€™d spent decades wondering about my lack of femininity. Where other women seemed to revel in dressing up, I saw only itchy skin and painfully tight seams. Instead of making me feel glamorous, lipstick and eyeliner left me counting the minutes until I could wash my face.

Lacking the explanation that sensory sensitivities eventually provided, I spent decades feeling like I wasnā€™t a ā€œrealā€ woman.

Today I have four dresses hanging in my closet. Made of soft cottons and knits, theyā€™re as comfortable as my worn hoodies and jeans. Theyā€™re not aspirational like my dresses of the past. I wear them when my husband takes me out on date nights. No makeup. No nylons. No tight pinching shoes. Iā€™ve found a style that suits me, that makes me feel both beautiful and comfortable.

Iā€™ve learned how to shop in a way that accommodates my sensory needs and Iā€™ve learned that there is more than one way to be feminine.

*

There are many things Iā€™ve had to learn or relearn over the past year. Mostly Iā€™ve had to learn how to be autistic. That sounds like an odd thing to say. After all, Iā€™ve been autistic all my life. But being autistic and knowing that Iā€™m autistic are two vastly different things.

Knowing that Iā€™m autistic has helped me to reconcile so many confusing aspects of my life. Itā€™s as if Iā€™m slowly reassembling the pieces of myself.

There are few role models for autistic women. There is no Rain Woman, no popular stereotype that comes to mind when you hear the phrase autistic woman. Perhaps thatā€™s for the better. Stereotypes carry with them the burden of proving them wrong.

Still, we face hurdles when it comes to public perceptions of autistic adults. Again and again in my blogā€™s search terms I come across people searching for an answer to questions that surprise me.

Can aspie women marry? Can women with Aspergerā€™s have children? Do aspies say ā€˜I love youā€?

It seems weā€™re a mystery.

I hope that when people find my blog, they see that the answers to all of those things are yes. Iā€™m married. I have a child. I tell my husband and daughter that I love them.

Sadly, that wasnā€™t always the case.

*

Women are expected to be intuitively skilled at social interaction. We are the nurturers, the carers. To be born without natural social instincts can leave you questioning your innate womanhood.

The first hint of what was to come arrived long before Iā€™d given any thought to what being a woman would mean. At some point in sixth grade, many of the girls in my class became huggers. They hugged when they met each other and when they said goodbye. They hugged when they passed in the hallway. They hugged when they were happy or sad. They hugged and cried and squealed with excitement and I watched from a distance, perplexed. What did all this hugging mean? And more importantly, why wasnā€™t I suddenly feeling the need to hug someone every thirty seconds?

This was the first of many confusing conversations I was to have with myself.

I was a mother and wife for twenty-four years before I was diagnosed with Aspergerā€™s. Over and over during that time, I questioned not only my womanhood, but my humanity. I questioned why I didnā€™t respond the way other women did to their children. I watched the other mothers tear up as the bus pulled away on the first day of kindergarten and felt guilty at my relief. Finally, a few hours alone, was all that was running through my head.

Looking back, I bet the other moms walked back to their newly quiet homes and felt a similar relief. The thing is, I never knew for sure because I didnā€™t talk with any of them. Beyond a friendly good morning at the bus stop, I was at a loss for how adult women socialized. I hovered around the fringes of social groups, watching as other moms made dates for coffee or shopping. They seemed so at ease, as if theyā€™d all gotten the Mom Handbook while my copy had been lost in the mail.

I probably should have been envious but I was too busy being intimidated.

*

Unlike my difficulties with sensory sensitivities, Aspergerā€™s provided an explanation but little solution when it came to socializing. Iā€™ve had friends over the years, but not, it seems, in the way that other women do. Fortunately, Iā€™ve made one friend who has been a constant in my adult life: my husband Sang.

Again and again as I was researching Aspergerā€™s syndrome in adults, I came across bleak portraits of adult relationships. Broken marriages. Impossible-to-live-with autistic spouses.

Many of the challenges described in the literature were familiar. Our marriage certainly hasnā€™t been easy. But learning that Iā€™m autistic has given us a new framework for understanding our relationship. Everything from why I find social outings exhausting to why I need to eat the same thing for breakfast every day suddenly had an explanation.

That understanding alone is a tremendous gift. People often question why someone my age would bother getting diagnosed. Especially someone who has a job, a family, a mostly settled path in life.

The explanation that comes with a diagnosis makes all the difference. For years, I knew something was wrong with me but I had no idea what. Most of the possibilities that I came up with made me feel bad about myself. Cold. Unfeeling. Immature. Selfish. Short-tempered.

Defective.

Getting a diagnosis swept all of those aside. Not only did I get an explanation for how I experience life, I got a userā€™s guide to my brain. It wasnā€™t an endpoint in my journey, but a starting place.

*

To be continued in Part 2 . . .

Cynthia’s book

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51lW94xhLrL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Kirsten Hearn writes: Sick of Exclusion

Kirsten Hearn will be at Feminism in London Sunday 25th 12 30 -2pm

Multiple identities: Ordinary Lives – the challenges of being disabled and feminist

Disabled women’s rights are human rights! Disability can be physical, mental, neurological; hidden or visible. This panel will look at activism through the prism of disability and feminism and seek to explore further the intersection and challenges of being between the two and the capacity of the two movements to work together for change.

————————————————————————–

Kirsten Hearn

Kirsten Hearn

Iā€™m sick and tired of having to challenge inaccessible practices within the Labour Party (an in the rest of life too). Iā€™ve got better things to do than be tied up bashing down the doors, so I and others can participate. The discrimination spans all access issues, so all disabled people are targets.

Again, and again, and again, we give guidance on how to make docs accessible. ā€œWhat part of the words ā€œPDFs are inaccessible for people using text to speech assistive technology, so give us a word doc insteadā€, isnā€™t clear? Itā€™s hardly any different in impact from ā€œwhat part of the words, I havenā€™t got wings you know so how am I going to get into that riddled-with-steps venue you insist on having your meetings in?ā€; or ā€œWhat did you say?ā€ (when a sign language interpreter or an induction loop, isnā€™t present.
Iā€™ve just opened an email from the Labour Party re the womenā€™s conference tomorrow. Granted, it arrived yesterday evening, but I was chairing a scrutiny evidence session at that time and chose to go to bed afterwards, rather than download my emails. I chose also to do my day job today rather than read my home emails. As a consequence of this, I am only now dealing with yesterdayā€™s backlog. Oh and I have checked, thereā€™s nothing in todayā€™s bunch which provides the accessible document.
Arguing for inclusion within the Labour Party is definitely one of those part time unpaid jobs that I am forced to do if I want to participate in the party. I could use that time instead building a stronger party and working to deliver a Labour Government headed by Jeremy Corbin, in 2020. I donā€™t care that because of the leadership election and the shadow appointments process, itā€™s been hard to confirm speakers etc. How difficult is it to produce a word version of a conference agenda, which was initially created in word, anyway? I mean ā€¦. !
Providing inaccessible documents is at the very least laziness, but it could hardly be argued that the Labour Party is ignorant, since they have been told. Yes, if poked,, they will deal with access requests, but we shouldnā€™t have to keep reminding them. Itā€™s not like disabled people have only just been invented; or that we havnā€™t been campaigning for inclusion since the dawn of time. My question is, why are these mistakes still happening? I donā€™t know how disabled people can effectively influence party policy, raise the issues of concern to disabled people out there, in the party, if we canā€™t even get in the door, metaphorically or actually without kicking up a stink. So, not having enjoyed womenā€™s conference last year in Manchester, I thought I wouldnā€™t go to the womenā€™s conference this year; then when Jeremy was elected, I thought I would, in anticipation that the leader is going to address the womenā€™s conference. Now, thanks to not getting accessible info about the womenā€™s conference, Iā€™ve decided Iā€™m not going. So there will be one less stroppy disabled woman there tomorrow ā€¦. and I am sure that lack of clarity about access, belief that things wonā€™t be accessible, feelings that disabled women are not important, are also reasons why less disabled women than perhaps who want to be there, will go to womenā€™s conference tomorrow. And Iā€™ve no doubt that other members of disability labour will have to spent time and energy battling away at conference, trying to fire-fight on access when we could be doing something much more important, like effecting policy, talking about why the austerity agenda, whether heavy or light is the greatest attack on disabled people in our living memory and why labour must not only defend disabled peopleā€™s rights but actively promote a disability rights based agenda. Not that Iā€™m repeating myself, but I and others have been saying the above since exclusion first politicised us, in my case for 40 years. When will non-disabled people get it that they can remove disabling barriers if they want to.

Read the rest at Kirsten’s blog

Against the legalisation of Assisted Suicide: a right to independent living before a right to suicide

Sisters of Frida is a member of ROFA (Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance). In times of austerity, we see disabled and older women are likely to be coerced into assisted suicide from different pressures.

If the Assisted Dying Bill is passed, some Disabled and terminally ill peopleā€™s lives will be ended without their consent, through mistakes, subtle pressure and abuse.Ā  No safeguards have ever been enacted or proposed that can prevent this outcome ā€“ an outcome which can never be undone.

Read the story of Maud in the Guardian

If we structure society in such a way that many people have desperate, miserable lives, what sort of choice is it when people choose to kill themselves?
Maud lives round the corner from me in south London. She is 90 and on her own. She remembers a time when everyone knew everyone else, and when there was genuine community solidarity. Nowadays people come and go, she says, and young people canā€™t be bothered with the elderly. She is often lonely. ā€œEven the doctor came round to see me and asked me if I wanted to commit suicide,ā€ she says.

#notdeadyetuk

(photo of a NotDead Yet protest by Eleanor )

From Inclusion London

With two Assisted Dying bills currently before parliament, it is really important that Deaf and Disabled people and our organisations speak out loudly against the legalisation of assisted suicide and raise awareness of the threat this poses to disability equality.

Our message is that we want support to live not die. At a time when essential support is being taken away from us, when the challenges we face are exponentially growing as a direct result of adverse government policy, it is more dangerous than ever to introduce legislation which encourages suicide as a solution to the barriers Disabled people face.

We say: give Disabled people a right to independent living before a right to suicide.

Below are different ways that Disabled campaigners and our supporters can take action and get involved. We realise that not everyone has the time to do everything but anything you are able to contribute to the campaign would be valued.

1) Sign up the Reclaiming Our Futures statement. Itā€™s quick and easy to do: just email your name to ellen.clifford@inclusionlondon.org.uk with ā€˜AS statementā€™ in the subject line. We are asking organisations, campaigns and individuals to sign up before the end of August. Itā€™s really important we can show there is wide support for the case against legalisation.

Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance Statement

We are opposed to legalisation of assisted suicide. It will remove equality and choice from disabled people and further contribute to our oppression. If the Assisted Dying Bill is passed, some Disabled and terminally ill peopleā€™s lives will be ended without their consent, through mistakes, subtle pressure and abuse.Ā  No safeguards have ever been enacted or proposed that can prevent this outcome ā€“ an outcome which can never be undone.

[Reclaiming Our Futures or ROFA is a network of grassroots Disabled people led campaigns and organisations across England. For more information see: http://www.rofa.org.uk/]

2) Write to or arrange to meet your local MP (even over the Summer they will be receiving and responding to mail). You can download a template letter here.Ā  Some MPs are organising public meetings to canvass the views of their constituents ā€“ check their websites to see if your MP is one of these. Please send us copies of any responses you receive.
3) Help publicise the facts about assisted suicide, for example send a letter to your local paper. Download the Assisted Suicide Open Template Letter for Media here.
4) If you have a personal story about this subject which informs your view on it and which you are willing to share please let us know. We are also looking for Disabled people who are happy to speak to the media about why we oppose legalisation of assisted suicide.
5) Join us at the Not Dead Yet UK/DPAC Protest on 11th September. Gather outside Parliament to show our opposition to Marrisā€™ bill while it is being debated inside. Meet Old Palace Yard (opposite the House of Lordā€™s) from 9am. Further details to be confirmed.
6) Check if your MP is one of the named supporters of Marrisā€™ bill? DPAC is encouraging campaign groups to organise protests outside the constituency offices of those MPs who have put their name to Marrisā€™ Assisted Dying bill. If you would like support to organise a local protest or for more information contact Mail@dpac.uk.net(SeeĀ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmhansrd/cm150624/debtext/150624-0001.htm#15062462000011 to check if your MP is named)

Here is a good Assisted Dying Bill Information_Easy Read version explaining the Assisted Dying Bill for everybody from ROFA (MS Word document)

empty wheelchairs and shoes with notes on them

photo from Not Dead Yet campaign

Feminism in London: Disabled Women’s panel, London 25th October

flyerFeminism in London panel on 25th Oct sunday 12.30 Hilton Metropole London

Multiple Identities: ordinary lives: The challenges of being disabled and feminist

Disabled womenā€™s rights are human rights! Disability can be physical, mental, neurological, hidden or visible. This panel will look at activism through the prism of disability and feminism and seek to explore further the intersection and challenges of being between the two and the capacity of the two movements to work for change.

speakers
Kirsten Hearn (Chair)
Becky Olaniyi (Sisters of Frida)
Rebecca Bunce (ICChange)
Asha Hans ( Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation Centre. &. Women with Disabilities India by video link)
Frances Ryan (Guardian journalist)
Nidhi Goyal (CREA: disability and sexuality by video link)

Tickets available now

The conference address: Hilton Metropole conference suite at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, 225 Edgware Road, London W2 1JU. It is very close to Edgware Road tube station. It’s fully accessible.
it is on Sunday 25th at 12:30-2pm, except for speakers – you need to buy a ticket.
http://www.feminisminlondon.co.uk/timetable/

Sisters of Frida at : Woman Up! London, in association with Conway Hall Ethical Society (Saturday 29th Auguest)

Eleanor, Rebecca and Zara

Eleanor, Rebecca and Zara

Sisters of Frida were at the Woman Up event August bank holiday weekend. 29th/30th August
Conway Hall
25 Red Lion Square
WC1R 4RL London
United Kingdom

Saturday

Panel: The politics of womenā€™s bodies: sexuality, porn and nudity
Collette Nolan – Doodle Your Down There
Jane Fae – Journalist and campaigner
Zara Todd – Sisters of Frida
Rebecca Ryce – Sexpression
Chella Quint – Period Positive
Pandora Blake – feminist porn maker

(see transcript below)

Sunday
Panel – Preventing violence against women and girls, and supporting survivors
Rebecca Bunce – ICchange
Chris Green – White Ribbon campaign
Tamara-Jade Kaz – feminist campaigner

Full progamme at From Woman Up eventbrite

transcript of video clip

Zara:

ā€¦.seen as innocent vessels (?) that are then corrupted by the world.. And yes, there are some horrific stats about disabled womensā€™ experience.

We are 4 times more likely to be the victims of domestic abuse and violence. The sexual exploitation of disabled children is massive.

But for me I canā€™t help but question whether those stats in part, are partly because we de-sexualise disabled women.

Because if by de-sexualising them it means that if they do go to the police and say that theyā€™ve had an experience they can be disbelieved because disabled people donā€™t have sex.

What is really strange to me is that, despite the de-sexualisation of disabled people and disabled women, it is seen as perfectly acceptable for a stranger to approach me and ask how I have sex, or do I have sex. And they are questions that non-disabled women donā€™t get asked very often.

And I think that to me is where disabled women need to be represented in discussions in Feminism, about sexuality, about porn because a lot of disabled women have hidden impairments and actually a lot of the women that are being exploited and are experiencing sexual violence are probably disabled women. They might not realise it, you might not realise it, but that doesnā€™t mean that they arenā€™t experiencing those kinds of barriers. So itā€™s really important that weā€™re being open and honest about disabled women and how they fit into this kind of environment.

Now Iā€™ve been a Disability rights activist for quite a long time, probably longer than some of the panel members have been alive! – in that I started being involved in Disability rights at the age of 10.

I didnā€™t get involved in the Feminist movement until my mid-20s. The reason for that was that I didnā€™t feel like I belonged in the feminist movement. I have spent a large proportion of my life trying to be seen as a sexual entity, as a sexual being, whereas a lot of the messages that Iā€™ve received from the Feminist movement over that same period of time have been telling me that I donā€™t want to be ā€˜objectified. Actually, as a disabled woman who is told that I donā€™t have a sexuality, repeatedly by society, the idea of being sexualised and objectified ā€“ sounds pretty good to me!

Anyway, on that note Iā€™ll hand overā€¦

END 3:07

Sisters of Frida: Disability & Sex/uality Workshop, Part 1

Disability & Sex/uality

Workshop, Part 1Ā Ā 

Sisters of Frida invites you to the first Disability and Sex/uality workshop on 19 September 2015 at Unity Church Hall, 1-5pm. This workshop is for self-identified disabled women who want to create a space to talk about disability, sex and sexuality.

TheĀ workshop

As disabled women we have a wide range of experiences, positive and negative, around disability, sex and sexuality. Disabled women are sexy, sexual, passionate, loving, caring, desirable, hot, beautiful, strong and much more! Our experiences of sexuality are also affected by different kinds of oppressions as ableism, racism, sexism, heteronormativity, classism and age.

This workshop is the first meeting of the project Disability and Sex/uality we are developing. In this workshop we will explore the different themes around sex and sexuality that arise from our experiences. We will also look at what we want to explore more and what work needs to happen to develop this project.

The project

The idea for this project arose from a screening of the documentary AccSex, which showed how a group of disabled women in India experience their sexuality. This project is part of Sisters of Frida. We are setting up this project out of a need to create a space where we can safely discuss our sexuality in a supportive and empowering environment.

Registration

The topics we will discuss can be sensitive, for this reason, please contact us directly to register and discuss participation as this will be a closed meeting:Ā sof.disabilitysexuality@gmail.com. Note that places are limited, please get in touch as soon as possible. Deadline for registration is 6 September.

Accessibility and needs

The venue is wheelchair accessible. There is an accessible toilet, but without a hoist. There is a small room that people can use for quiet-time. Please get in touch as soon as possible if you need BSL, transcription or if you have other access needs. If you have any concerns or queries about the nature of what might be discussed in the workshop and how it could relate to your experiences, please get in touch. This is a peer-support group, we cannot offer professional support.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Date: 19 September 2015

Time: 1pm – 5pm

Where: New Unity Unitarians

Address: 277A Upper Street, Islington, London N1 2TZ

Contact:Ā sof.disabilitysexuality@gmail.com

Deadline for registration: 6 September 2015

Accessibility: Please get in touch to discuss your needs