Disability History Month in the UK takes place from the 20th November to the 20th December. At Sisters of Frida, we look at the experiences of disabled women and gender diverse people, as our stories are usually overlooked in disability spaces, or feminist spaces.
We discuss topics people don’t always acknowledge: isolation, relationships, sexuality, and our safety as disabled women. There’s also the emotional and practical labour we do, as many disabled women are also mothers and/or carers.
This Disability History Month, we’re celebrating the solidarity of disabled women and gender diverse people. We hope that more people pay attention to understand the issues we face, and support the work that we’re doing.
As the year draws to a close, we want to celebrate the stories and creativity of disabled women and gender diverse people. Wishing you warmth, connection, and solidarity, from Sisters of Frida.
Welcoming our new Co-Director, Svetlana Kotova
We’re excited to announce our new Co-Director, Svetlana Kotova. A founding member of Sisters of Frida, Svetlana is a Disabled lawyer who has spent many years fighting for the rights of Disabled people. She has worked in a range of advice and policy roles, supporting Disabled people to advocate for their rights locally and internationally. Svetlana is passionate about ensuring Disabled people have equal rights and can use the law effectively to challenge discrimination and social injustice. She is also a coach and looks forward to supporting others in that role.
Alice Wong a pioneering writer and disability rights activist, passed away on Friday, 14th November, in San Francisco.
Wong became a powerful voice for disability justice, challenging systemic ableism through her writing, activism, and the Disability Visibility Project. Known for her sharp humour, she authored Year of the Tiger and edited collections such as Disability Visibility, earning a MacArthur “genius grant” in 2024.
In the days after her passing, a statement she had written for social media resonated widely, celebrating friendship, community, and storytelling while sharing her journey toward self-acceptance and calling for more stories from disabled people.
In her own words, “I’m honoured to be your ancestor and believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don’t let the bastards grind you down.” Her legacy of advocacy, courage, and wit will endure.
Why Changing Places are important for disabled people
The more we research into accessible venues, the more we realise how important it is to have Changing Places toilets in order to be inclusive.
For those who do not know what Changing Places toilets are, they are toilets with extra space and equipment such as hoists and an adult changing table for people who has less mobility and need extra help to access facilities. Standard size ‘accessible ‘ toilets are too small to accommodate helpers and do not have the equipment.
Equipment found in Changing Places includes:
A height adjustable adult-sized changing bench
A tracking hoist system, or mobile hoist
What makes Changing Places Accessible?
Enough space for a disabled person and two carers
A centrally places toilet with room both sides for a wheelchair to maneuver
A privacy screen or curtain
A wide tear-off paper roll to cover the adult changing bench
A large waste bin provided
Non-slip flooring
Without Changing Places toilets, many disabled people are restricted in being able to travel, attend events or work. When it comes to disabled people who menstruate, there is that added urgency.
At Sisters of Frida, we try to locate venues that has Changing Places toilets or have them nearby. We also need to ascertain that they are well maintained and functional.
We are delighted to share that the City Bridge Foundation has awarded Sisters of Frida a significant grant over two years through its Bridging Divides Programme. This generous support represents an important milestone for our organisation and will play a crucial role in advancing justice for disabled women and gender diverse people in London. The funding will strengthen community-based knowledge, enhance cross-sector collaboration, and ensure full participation and access support for all our members and wider contributors. It will also provide vital resources for consultancy work and the development of a pilot research project.
The Women’s Resource Centre will act as our host organisation on behalf of Sisters of Frida throughout this period. In addition, this grant enables us to expand our team. We are delighted to welcome Anahita Harding as our communications, outreach, and relationship management officer and Niku Gupta as our new administrator. They will be working on Tuesdays and Thursdays and can be contacted at admin@sisofrida.org and comms@sisofrida.org respectively.
We are deeply grateful for this invaluable support and look forward to the opportunities it will create for strengthening our work and amplifying the voices of disabled women and gender diverse people across London.
Are You Comfortable Yet? Disability Arts Online zine review
This review, written by Mike Layward for Disability Arts Online, explores Are You Comfortable Yet?, a zine created by our new comms team member, Anahita Harding. The piece examines how the zine engages with disability and performance, and how live performance can be translated into zine form.
Eleanor Lisney. Photo taken from University of Greenwich
We are delighted to announce that our director, Eleanor Lisney, has been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Art by the University of Greenwich in recognition of her outstanding contribution to disability rights and culture. A globally respected campaigner and writer, Eleanor co-founded Culture Access and Sisters of Frida, has influenced national legislation, and has represented disabled communities on international platforms, including at the European Parliament.
Since 2018, she has played a pivotal role at Greenwich, pioneering the first Disability Culture Festival, contributing significant research, and leading a UKRI-funded project at the University centred on disabled people’s lived experiences. Her dedication to disability rights, her insistence on an intersectional framework, and her commitment to amplifying marginalised voices continue to inspire.
Disabled, Queer, and Broody
We’re grateful for this piece from our anonymous contributor. Thank you for your continued support:
Anon
“I don’t want kids. I can’t afford kids. I don’t have enough energy to take care of me, sometimes. I wouldn’t be a good parent. And I really don’t want to be pregnant, ever.
And yet, I got broody. Again. Every time I’m in a good relationship, I start to want to cuddle stuff, and start crying when I see anything I find adorable that I can’t cuddle if my hormones are a bit higher than average. Fluffy animals are a particularly high cry risk.
“Get cats!” or “Get IVF!” are what some of my friends have suggested. These options are both unaffordable in money and spoons.
I know there are more options, like being a step-parent, or fostering, or adoption. I know many disabled people make it work, but I don’t think I could do it; I wouldn’t be able to be the kind of 24/7 or consistent pattern parent that I would want to be.
I could be great as an only sometimes, but I don’t have siblings who need a niblet-sitter.
But I have energy that’s going to find somewhere to go, and my younger PAs are already getting smothered.
Trying to think what I realistically want is tricky. Anything I write sounds like a cheesy advert from the 90s:
Do you need encouragement to do something scary? Having a bad day? Got something to celebrate? Perfect, I will lean my head on your head and say supportive things, if you put your head on my shoulder. I can also make comforting noises and pasta! If you’re a grown human who needs some extra warm vibes just occasionally; this Disabled, Queer, and Broody might be for you! T-rex arms and positioning hairband included!
If I had the money, I’d build a queer-safe flat block for adults who need to get away or have been kicked out of their previous home.
Everyone has their own space and everything they need to live, but also knows that there is a friendly person just down the hall who has made extra potatoes, and will tell you that your new shoes look great, and ask how you’re doing and mean it! You need to know how to plait your hair or mend something?: just ask! Your home comes with a Disabled, Queer, and Broody neighbour! (Spoon levels not guaranteed).
At the moment, I have houseplants. They’re not very cuddly – particularly the cactus – but they’re well-fed, well-watered, and having babies of their own.
Plants included!
I haven’t found the solution. I don’t know what realistically that might be. There might not be one.
But right now, I think a lot of disabled people and a lot of queer people need some hugs, so just yell if that’s you and either I or someone else who feels like this will appear in a cloud of glitter and carbs.”
Thanks.
OpenOut
Photo courtesy of OpenOut.
A warm and merry Christmas from OpenOut (formerly Open Barbers) Hair. Many of us have been welcomed into their salon over the years, and they’ve generously offered home haircuts for disabled people when needed. E-cards can be bought in store, and merchandise from their online shop. All proceeds go toward helping low-income clients access affordable haircuts
ezine “We are Sisters of Frida” (8)
In this ezine, we have some artwork from Culture Access. They worked together as a group and individually. These have been in an exhibition and will be housed, hopefully, more permanently in an art gallery when it opens in the summer.
Culture Access
Culture Access CIC, a collective of Deaf and Disabled people, had an exhibition of their joint artwork at Woolwich Centre Library. It is a pan-disability group and Deaf, Blind and Visually impaired, neurodiverse people all worked together. Many of the group had not produced any artwork before and here are some of their graphic and tactile examples. They have an offer of a longer exhibition in a couple of months in south-east London, to be announced later.
Here are the artists’ comments on their artwork:
Anahita Harding: “this collage weaves together green fabric knots with a variety of colours and textures— inviting hands and eyes to explore.”
Eleanor Thoe: “Durian is a favourite fruit from East and South East Asia. It is a strong and pungent fruit and has a spiky exterior. But the delicious creaminess is unbeatable. It brings back memories and reminders of my heritage as an immigrant here.”
Kamila Miri: “Music has charms to soothe the savage beast and always brings people in peace and harmony.”
Sajida Shah: “I don’t need vision to see my artwork, I can feel it and it’s just as good.”
Sue Elsegood and Kate Brown: “When diverse threads weave together they become stronger & create something uniquely beautiful”
Commission on the Status of Women Parliamentary Briefing
Eleanor and Kym went to the briefing at Portcullis House for Sisters of Frida.
2025 is the 30th anniversary of the last UN World Conference on Women held in Beijing and the ‘Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action’ (BPfA) which stated commitments of participating countries. The BPfA remains a foundational document for advancing towards equality of women and men. 30 years on, the BPfA has not been fully implemented anywhere in the world.
Every year at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the annual UN event to monitor progress on the BPfA, participants fight to hold the line against a roll-back on the rights for women and girls globally.
This March, a sizeable UK NGO delegation participated in the 69th Session of the CSW and were active in all areas of the Commission. The UK Government endorsed and helped negotiate the CSW69 Political Declaration, which improved on the Political Declaration made 5 years ago. Yet it is not the robust document that women and girls need.
In the photo are Kym Oliver, Eleanor Lisney and Zarin Hainsworth (NAWO)
Green Paper ‘Pathways to Work’
Welfare Not Warfare
We are much concerned, as are other DDPOs and Disabled people, with the government’s Pathways to Work Green Paper. Some of us took part in the marches on 26th March.
Mass Lobby on 21st May
There is much happening to fight against the cuts.
The next big event is on 21st May, when there is a mass lobby in parliament. It’s a powerful opportunity to speak with one voice.
If you can make it, please come and meet with your MP, and tell them to vote against these harmful cuts.
There will be information provided on the day to support you, as well as volunteers from many Disabled-led organisations helping attendees.
You can also get funding to travel to Westminster and stay in a hotel if needed (see image below).
Sisters of Frida is working with the Women’s Budget Group to research the impact of cuts on Disabled women.
Many thanks to the generosity of those who responded to the questionnaire – we will keep you posted on the outcome of this research.
The questionnaire was described like this:
“The Women’s Budget Group (a feminist economics think tank) and Sisters of Frida (a Disabled women and non-binary people’s collective) are conducting analysis of how the changes to disability benefits and work support announced by the Government in March 2025 will affect Disabled women specifically. We will use the findings from this research to put pressure on MPs, politicians and policymakers, to reconsider these reforms and protect Disabled women, and Disabled people in general, from poverty and socio-economic hardship.
We are using national statistics to describe the impact these reforms will have on Disabled women. We are also doing interviews with women with lived experience of disability to better understand how these reforms will affect their lives, and the effects the announcement of cuts is already having on women’s health and wellbeing.
If you agree to take part, we will ask you to share your experiences of disability and state support by answering the questions below. Your participation is voluntary, and you do not need to answer any questions you don’t want to, and you can stop completing the survey at any point if you wish to.
Your responses will be used to illustrate how disability reforms are expected to impact Disabled women. We may use excerpts of your answers in our briefing. It will be anonymised so that the information cannot be linked to you.”
Our e zine “We are Sisters of Frida” (1)
We launched this e zine last year in October, 2021. We decided against calling it a newsletter because it’s not just about our news but the voices of disabled women and non binary people, showing opinions, reflections and creative pieces.
We had members who wanted the possibility of sharing some of individual pieces so we’ re posting here for easy retrieval later.
We are very grateful to Rachel Gadsden who created these three beautiful images specially for this issue of We are Sisters of Frida upon request. Rachel is a visual and performance artist working across mainstream and diverse art sectors in UK and internationally.
We need you here
From Fleur Perry Fleur is a law student and disabled people’s activist living in the South West. Her main interests are accessible housing and Equality Act breaches.
Fighting for your needs and your rights can be draining in every way. You push and push against a sea of eyebrows slightly raised in amused disbelief, or bent into a sharp frown of “How dare you?” or receive the same flat emails carefully constructed to make “Go away” sound like good business. If that seems familiar, you are not alone. You don’t need to fight this alone. Every member of the SoF community has met a barrier that needs smashing. As disabled women and non-binary disabled people, we know the impact it has, what it feels like, and have words for feels that non-disabled people have never had to know. We share those experiences, the bad and the good. We share knowledge and resources and music and poetry, building context and learning from each other. Judgement and shame, intrusive questions and gossip are for somewhere else – not here. Mutual solidarity, inclusion, and making space are key principles. We want you here. We want your opinions. We want your voice. Got something to say that no one’s ever said before? Say it here. Know something that you don’t think will make sense to anyone else? Try us! We want to understand. You will be heard. You will be believed. You will be valued. We think this is the first step to change. If we want to try to do something to make our world a better place to live, it has to work for everyone, and that’s means we need everyone. If we don’t have you, we’re missing out. I think the community is the most valuable part of SoF. The reports and opportunities to campaign on some of the biggest issues in the UK today are all built from the experiences of individuals, and the time and energy they each give to making sure that knowledge isn’t lost, but unleashed. What do you want to say?
“Disability justice is the art and the practice of honouring the body” An interview with Lydia X.Z. Brown
In this interview with Lani Parker of Sideways Times, Lydia X.Z Brown talks about disability justice as a praxis which honours the body and the whole person. Disability justice is a radical framework which requires understanding the interconnected nature of oppression and that we must tackle all forms of oppression in order to change the system we live in. We also talk about differences in language, tensions within disability movements and the importance of using a variety of tactics amongst other things…
Read or listen to it at Sideways Times. Thank you, Lani and Lydia for the podcast.
Sarahis a former solicitor, her day-to-day work is research and governance advice. However, Sarah delivers disability equality training nationwide and acts as a consultant for select clients on internal equality working groups.
I owe a great deal to Sisters of Frida.
Years ago, I was asked me to join the steering group and I experienced a major case of imposter syndrome. Looking back – I’m not going to lie – I did have a lot to learn. I was in my late 20s and feeling pretty unsure about my identity. In fact, I would sometimes feel uncomfortable around disabled people due to what I now realise is a classic case of internalised ableism. I was a feminist, a solicitor-turned-access-consultant, a feminist and had started attending disability rights protests. Sheepishly, alone and stood at the back.
Within Sisters of Frida, I saw myself as the boring but useful person who could help with governance and report writing. In a space with such incredible and talented disabled women, I was just in awe. I listened a lot and absorbed their ideas and critiques like a sponge. Whilst I battled my insecurities, I was made nothing but welcomed and treated as one of the gang.
After helping out where I could, one of the first projects I really got my teeth into was the Serious Crime Act and the defence to the crime of coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship. I represented Sisters of Frida at the UN in Geneva, along with other DDPOs, to present evidence of violations on disabled people’s rights to the UN Committee on the Rights of Disabled People. This was one of the greatest honours of my life.
Over the years, my confidence grew but so did my personal self-esteem. I finally felt comfortable in my own skin and proud to be a disabled woman. Whenever anyone asks why, I always credit the experiences I had and friendships I made through Sisters of Frida.
But my newfound confidence in activism was bitter sweet. In 2019, I was about to face a pretty tough challenge: the block of flats I live in is wrapped in cladding like that of Grenfell Tower and riddled with fire safety defects. I knew that disabled people were facing additional financial and safety issues, such as lack of savings or means of escape, so I co-founded Claddag, a disability action group, with another disabled woman. Sadly for me, I knew I couldn’t run the campaign and fulfil my commitment to Sisters of Frida so I had to resign from the latter. As expected, the team understood completely and have given me loads of emotional and practical help with Claddag.
If our fight for justice in the building safety crisis is successful, then my first task will be to knock on Sisters of Frida’s door and ask if they’ll take me back to support with the work. As they are a group of compassionate, inclusive, uplifting and strong warriors and I have no reason to think they won’t welcome me home.
A unique voice: why Sisters of Frida Matters
by Bethany Young
Bethany is actively involved in with Third Sector organisations, promoting equality and advocating for disability rights. She is a SOF steering group member.
People often ask me why I joined Sisters of Frida. Why do you need it? In the past, I have asked the same question.. For years, I had soaked up the idea that my barriers came from having Cerebral Palsy. It was my job to overcome these. My experience of being both Disabled and a girl, then a woman, led to more isolation, and more hurdles that others didn’t see. If I could not clear them or ignore them myself I was a failure. It was all my fault.
Looking back, these beliefs I was taught about myself made no sense. I was putting loads of effort and skill into every area of my life – from employment and Independent Living to family relationships and managing my CP. Nothing changed, in fact the barriers got worse. After reaching out for help, I asked myself – maybe the problem isn’t me? I realised that so many of my experiences came from the strings attached to me. My CP is mine. My body and my mind are mine. These barriers are not. I felt relieved because my struggles made sense without shame or guilt. Everything I thought I knew about Disability shattered. Such a big realisation gave me a sense of hope and freedom, but also fear. I was starting again. Now I had asked the right questions, I needed answers.
I looked for mentors in the Disabled community to get peer support and find out more. I wanted an active community working for social change. Before long, I found Sisters of Frida – a disability organisation truly led by diverse Disabled women. Their inclusive vision and values, creativity and collaborative way of working all made me want to get involved.
Since joining Sisters of Frida, I have worked on lots of wonderful opportunities. I’ve written quotes for press releases, helped plan events, write reports and advocate for Independent Living. Planning for our future is exciting. We are unique because we recognise people don’t exist in clinical, clear-cut tick boxes. Real life diversity is social, human and multi-layered. This idea drives Sisters of Frida’s work and partnerships. We build relationships to connect with other women’s organisations. We bring our lived experience, and knowledge to new audiences. I have amplified the voices of diverse Disabled women on current struggles, like Social Care or Covid-19. Our perspectives don’t need to stay in an isolated bubble. Together, as Sisters of Frida, we spark better, bolder conversations to create change.
I am proud of all I have learned and achieved so far whilst working with everyone in Sisters of Frida. I am a better communicator, collaborator and activist. Working with these women shifted how I saw myself. I know my worth. I found my voice by listening to them. I found answers by learning from them. I am not alone, because together we are Sisters of Frida.
Event We Are Sisters of Frida Saturday 25th September 12 noon – Join us!
It’s been sometime since we have had meetings – since the lockdown but as disabled people, we are still not confident about having face to face meetings and travelling on public transport.
At Sisters of Frida we decided to have a zoom meeting on Saturday 25th September at noon. It will be an event with a stimulating roundtable discussion with our international disabled sisters from around the world and then breakout sessions among you to discuss where you think SOF should be heading.
Virginia Ossana is disability and gender justice advocate. She is originally from Argentina and is currently based in Warwickshire, UK.
She works as a Communications and Programs Advisor at Women Enabled International, where she participates on a variety of projects to advance the rights of women and marginalized genders with disabilities around the world.
Carmen Yau won Spirit of Hong Kong in 2013 and few more awards afterwards as a recognition of her work for disabled people and the community. Carmen devotes herself to enhance social and workplace inclusion for disabled people by providing seminars and corporate training on disability confidence.
As a registered social worker, Carmen’s work varied from workplace inclusion to sexuality and LGBTQ disabled community. Besides lobbying more job opportunities for disabled people, Carmen is dedicated to enhancing professional development and leadership of disabled people. Carmen is the current Chairperson of Association of Women with Disabilities in Hong Kong.
Mali Hermans is a young Wiradjuri writer, organiser and community worker living on Ngunnawal and Ngambri land in Canberra, Australia. As a disabled woman, Mali is deeply invested in disability justice work, committed to challenging ableism and its intersections with colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy and class. She has organising experience within grassroots community groups, feminist spaces and the union movement. Mali is a current Policy and Projects Officer at Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA), having previously worked in gender-based violence prevention.
From the Sisters of Frida team
Rachel O’Brien is the Independent Living Campaigns Officer at Inclusion London after working at the National Union of Students as the Disabled Students’ Officer where she did work on movement building and political education, and campaigns around stopping the privatisation of the NHS and stopping and scrapping Universal Credit.
She is a director and a member of the SOF Steering Group.
Eleanor Lisney is a campaigner, founder member, public speaker. She is a director and a member of the SOF Steering Group.
She is an access advisor, an aspiring creative practitioner and co founder of Culture Access CIC, which is about supporting access, bringing an inclusive edge intersectionally.
Agenda for the event
12:00 (noon) Start with introduction to Sisters of Frida and speakers
12:05 Roundtable with guest speakers
12:25 Discussion and questions for panel
12:35 Questions from participants
12:40 Conclusions and thank you to guest speakers
12:45 Break (15 minutes)
13:00 Breakout rooms
Questions
What struck you about the roundtable discussion?
How does this connect with your involvement (current or future) with Sisters of Frida?
13:45 Comfort break (15 minutes)
14:00 Feedback and what next?
14:30 End
BSL interpreters from Signalise and live captioning will be available.
Music in the interval from Miss Jacqui with thanks for permission.
Thank you to Campaign Bootcamp who generously provided funding that allowed us to make this event accessible.
Useful information
Sisters of Frida wants you to get involved! SoF has been working to build our capacity by working to make our processes more transparent and to help streamlined so build up disabled women’s voices in all our magnificence. In order to do this we need to expand our steering group. Would you like to help steer the direction of Sisters of Frida? You will meet new people, learn and share new skill. If so, please send an email to sisofrida@gmail.com and we will send you more information.
The steering group is not the only way you can get involved. You can now join working groups and work on specific projects. If you are interested please get in touch at sisofrida@gmail.com
For International Women’s Month: Disabled Women’s digital quilt
This is a pilot project which was filmed / videoed pre pandemic in 2019 first presented by Culture Access at the Disabled and Proud Festival in Woolwich showcasing disability art and culture – a project in progress.
Building on the strong history of women’s activism, disabled women took taking photos of themselves/ or with help using smart phones to (re)create identities of themselves with selfies. Natasha Hirst took part and documented the women’s process and we created self-explanatory videos relating to their identities – as artists, as trade unionists, as activists, activists and journalists etc.
This is also a creative process that is inspired by Frida Kahlo’s work in her portrayal of impairment in identity.
Pilot project by Natasha Hirst and Eleanor Lisney .
Sister Stories: Sisters of Frida submission call-out
We’re excited to announce a call-out for the new Sisters of Frida blog series, and we need your help! This ongoing blog project is for you and will be shaped by you, the Sisters of Frida community. It will be an online space to share your experiences, stories and creativity, and help us to create a digital sisterhood and archive of disabled women’s voices.
We want to showcase work by writers and artists living with chronic illness, mental illness, and disability. Your work doesn’t need to be about those experiences exclusively, but we welcome and encourage submissions along those lines.
We’re looking for contributions of things that inspire you, this can include non-fiction, fiction, poems, illustrations, photographs, essays, reviews, etc.
Here are some quotes we like:
“At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.” – Frida Kahlo
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” – Audre Lorde
“Hard things are put in our way, not to stop us, but to call out our courage and strength.” – Unknown
If you’d like to contribute:
Send all submissions with the subject SISTER STORIES: *TITLE OF PIECE* to sisofrida@gmail.com
Please include a short third-person bio and your pronouns, but if you’d like to remain anonymous, that’s fine! Just let us know. If you also want to include a brief background about the piece, please feel free to do so.
Attach submissions to your email in an accessible format.
Non-fiction, essays, reviews should be no longer than 1,000 words.
Poetry/Artwork – Please submit no more than 5 individual pieces.
Languages: We welcome submissions in any language but please provide a translation if possible.
The blog will be updated monthly, so expect a calendar’s worth of stories! The frequency may increase depending on the number of submissions.
If you have an idea but need a bit of direction, let us know! We can work through it together, and help to guide whatever it is you’re creating. Just email sisofrida@gmail.com
* Sisters of Frida is an inclusive safe space for all self-identifying and non-binary disabled women. We do not tolerate sexism, homophobia, racism, transphobia or other forms of discrimination based on sexuality, age, gender expression, religion, education or socio-economic status.
Jennifer Brough is the curator of this set of stories/blog.
Sister Stories
Jennifer Brough @Jennifer_Brough
Jennifer is a writer and editor who lives with fibromyalgia and endometriosis. She is involved in projects at the Feminist Library and seeks to amplify the voices and experiences of self-identifying women. She is learning Spanish and dreaming of visiting Frida’s house in Mexico, so is very happy to be part of the Sisters of Frida community.
The Impact of COVID 19 on Disabled Women from Sisters of Frida
Voices of Disabled women in the pandemic
About this paper
This paper started as a brief but we sent the first version in response to the Women and Equalities Unequal impact: Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the impact on people with protected characteristics. We know that the experiences of Disabled women are not visible in the wider response to COVID-19.
The need to add the narratives focused on Disabled women is the reason for this paper. We feel that the narrative about Disabled women, when available, is very one dimensional. There is no consideration that Disabled women occupy multiple roles, we are diverse and any considerations have to be viewed through an intersectional lens. We are strongly aware that new measures under the Coronavirus COVID-19 2020 Act threaten rights-based protections and reduce our independent living and in some cases our lives.[2]
We were asked to join a coalition of women’s organisations[ calling on the government to take on certain actions, and to contribute evidence from the perspectives from disabled women under the impact of COVID-19. We put out a call for evidence, asking disabled women to share their experiences of COVID-19 and its specific impact for intersecting identities. We want to ensure the voices of Disabled women are visible as they are often omitted as examples of multiple protected characteristics.
We are
working with Inclusion London and ROFA (Reclaiming
Our Future Alliance) on the rights of disabled people under the Care Act 2014
where these are being eroded, the urgency of access to food and services for
disabled people, and access to PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for their
Personal Assistants (PAs) and themselves.
Disabled
women’s needs under COVID-19 measures are no less significant than those of the
rest of the disabled community, but disabled women face specific issues.
We are looking in particular at those issues that are impacting rights at the intersection of gender and disability during this crisis.
Sisters of Frida displayed at Rawthmells, RSA’s new coffeehouse
We are proud to be one of the first to be displayed at the new Rawthmells, the RSA’s 21st century enlightenment coffeehouse. it is an honour!
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce is a London-based, British organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges, with a Fellowship that is a global network of 29,000 people supporting the RSA’s mission to enrich society through ideas and action.
Rawthmells, the RSA’s 21st century enlightenment coffeehouse, is a place where Fellows and members of the public can encounter new and inspiring ideas.
(There is a separate entrance for level access entry – ring the doorbell to gain entry.)
Through a system of changing displays, coffeehouse guests will be exposed to the best new ideas from our Fellowship, stories from the archive, briefs and designs from the Student Design Awards, and the work of the Royal Designers for Industry appointed each year.
Changing displays in the Gerard Room, the first room as you enter the coffeehouse, place a spotlight on the innovative and interesting work of Fellows around the world including that of Sisters of Frida’s.
With the SOF Banner outside no 10 downing street for Processions 10th June celebration for women getting the vote (photo with the display)
First photos and some videos from the celebratory event on 4th May
Our celebratory event was a great success – thank you very much for those who did make it and thank you too for those who sent messages / videos because they couldn’t make it.
Sisters of Frida celebatory event 4th May 2018 Greenwich Yacht Club. Filmed by Lucy Fyson and edited by Leonore Schick. Music from TRG Banks – Milton Milton.
photos taken by Wasi Daniju at the event are at the SOF flickr account but to give you an idea….
Networking
Michelle Daley’s magical smile
Laki Kaur being interviewed
Zara Todd chairing the speeches
Vivienne Hayes from WRC
Tara Flood from ROFA/ALLFIE
in wrapt attention
Sorena Frances on her project
Magda speaking about the Polish situation
Michelle Baharier
J first time meeting SoF
Dennis Queen
At Greenwich Yacht Club photo by Ruth Gardiner, Chocolate Films
