Zak
Evelina
We wish Svetlana and Martine congratulations on the birth of their babies and the joys of being motherhood!
May20
Congratulations to both sisters on new babies!
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Mar23
23rd March Sisters of Frida’s conference and AGM (photos)
This gallery contains 11 photos.
Mar22
23rd March: Sisters of Frida conference and AGM
Sisters of Frida will be meeting at the Friend’s House in London on Saturday 23rd to have a mini conference and AGM. We will be discussing structures, future projects and working together.
We wish to thank Inclusion London for making it possible and Charlotte Gage of Women Resource Centre for helping to facilitate.
We will write more about it after the event.
Mar18
Why contributing to CEDAW and CRPD shadow reports is important
Sisters of Frida have been part of the CEDAW Working Group for the past few years. It is since the present Coalition Government that we are getting more and more stories of hardships and even deaths/suicides of disabled people under the draconian cuts imposed by the austerity drive. Disability hate crimes have risen and disabled people have been stigmatised as scroungers in the media and many are living in fear of losing their benefits, homes, and independent living.
We highlighted one just last week when one of our own Sisters of Frida’s members, Anne Pridmore, was at court with other 5 people on behalf of thousands of others - challenging the Government’s decision to scrap the Independent Living Fund from 2015 and devolve it to local authorities instead. With Anne’s story and those of other women affected by the closure of the Independent Living Fund, we can see how Article 19 of the CRPD is being violated in the UK.
This is what Anne has to say about it:
(From Channel 4 website)
And this is her story on the Disabled People Against Cuts website.
In addition there are the other issues such as domestic violence for disabled women – they would be even more vulnerable to abuse and less able to leave their family ‘carers’ without the funding. Benefits such as the Disability Living Allowance (DLA, soon to become Personal Independence Payment PIP), Employment Support Allowance (ESA) would no longer be eligible for many disabled people vigourously reassessed by Atos Healthcare. Disabled women who need it to help them with maintaining their independent living will be stranded at home and isolated from their communities. Sometimes these reassessments have even caused deaths. Disability rights fought for and by disabled men and women are seriously being eroded. We need to alert the rest of the world of the plight of disabled community in the UK by the government rescinding on its own obligations.
Sisters of Frida has submitted CRPD general discussion on women and girls with disabilities as part of the UK CEDAW working group. It is obvious that there is much intersection between CEDAW and CRPD and we should use both instruments and contribute as disabled women to the shadow reports.
Links:
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is critical to monitoring the implementation of the CRPD. All countries that have ratified the treaty must submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights protected in the CRPD are being implemented in their countries.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
The Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women members discusses the reports with the Government representatives and explore with them areas for further action by the specific country. The Committee also makes general recommendations to the States parties on matters concerning the elimination of discrimination against women.
Producing Shadow Reports to the CEDAW Committee:
A Procedural Guide
Explains how to write shadow reports that monitor and document the human rights situation in your country. This guide is focused on monitoring the CEDAW. However, it could be adapted by DPOs for use in producing their own shadow reports in monitoring implementation of the CRPD as well.
Mar17
Update on Anne Pridmore’s fight for the Independent Living Fund
Channel 4 news Katie Razzall had the piece all ready for broadcast that eventful evening on the 13th March where Anne was at court with the other 5 people on behalf of thousands of others - challenging the Government’s decision to scrap the Independent Living Fund from 2015 and devolve it to local authorities instead. However, in an ironic twist, news broke that a new Pope was chosen and all news coverage focused on that instead.
It was published online instead
Anne told Channel 4 News: “It’s like the sword of Damocles hanging over my shoulder because it’s always on your mind: what’s going to happen? Many of us feel the same way. If the local authority won’t take over the funding to pay for the bit the ILF have been paying, I see the only option is being put into an old people’s home. I’ve lived in this house for 47 years and didn’t expect to have to campaign to stay in my own home at my age.”
Mrs Pridmore has met representatives from her local council to ask what their plans are.
“I pressed them but they were very cagey, and talked about other ways of providing care which doesn’t involve “hands on” care. I believe they are probably referring to things like people having to use incontinence pads. They are not doing that yet in my local authority but I know that people who have to use these in other areas.”
Lawyers for the six told us they are challenging the Government decision on two grounds.
They say the Government is breaching the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, to which it is a signatory and which includes promises to promote independent living.
They also argue the consultation process carried out before the scheme was axed was “unlawful” because it didn’t provide adequate information on the differences between the fund and the local authority assessment and provision. They also say there hasn’t been proper assessment of the impact of the change on disabled people’s ability to live and work indepdently.
Read the rest on the Channel 4 website.
Read also her story on the DPAC website.
Jan31
Feisty Disabled Women speak about what having adequate support means to Independent Living and how benefit cuts by the government will affect them
Please read Kate Belgrave’s
A nasty cut: people affected by the closure of the independent living fund
for her interviews with Sophie Partridge and Penny Pepper and how the government’s atrocious decision to close the Independent Living Fund (the ILF) will affect them.
Watch Sophie Partridge talking about the importance of funding people to live independently.
She says,
‘You know we can’t be cast as victims all the time. Its difficult we have to fight the good fight without appearing pathetic cripples, to be honest with you, its very hard to find the balance, actually, …because a lot of the stuff, the arguments against benefit cuts, they do use the word ‘vulnerable’ a hell of a lot…(written to David Cameron) its not my impairment which makes me vulnerable, it is your cuts, it is your policies..give us decent resources and we will add to your economy..we will play our part but we will have to have adequalte resources.
Video by Kate Belgrave
Penny Pepper tells what having Independent Living Fund means to her as a disabled woman and more…
Video by Kate Belgrave
Sep9
Rail travel made easy
We are proud to share this from one of our Sisters, Maria Zedda of Wideaware, this resource. This is very useful when planning your train travel.
Rail travel made easy
is produced by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) and is designed to help disabled passengers, and others who might encounter practical difficulties, make use of the help and resources available for planning a barrier-free train journey in Great Britain.
Our aim is to encourage as many disabled customers to use the railway as possible. As track and station operators are still working on removing as many barriers as possible, we hope that this website will help you to make informed choices about your travel plans, identify any potential barriers that might affect your journey, and find ways to avoid these difficulties.
May4
Presenting the european project team for the supporting disabled young people to become future leaders of the independent living movement programme
We are very pleased that Zara is part of the european project team for the supporting disabled young people to become future leaders of the independent living movement programme
The project will entail a weeklong study session at the Council of Europe with the purpose of encouraging and supporting disabled young people to advocate for human rights in their countries and at European level. Participants will have an opportunity to gain a better understanding of disability issues and acquire skills to promote the views of other disabled young people from their countries. The project team consists of 5 members who have the responsibility for choosing who will attend the study session at the Council of Europe.
Zara Todd – has a degree in psychology and a Masters in Central and Eastern European studies. She works for a Disabled Peoples Organisation called ALLFIE (the Alliance for Inclusive Education) supporting and training a group of disabled young people to become researchers. Before that, she has worked with a number of disabled children’s organisations working on participation and involvement. Zara has worked on policy and campaign work including advising government, since the age of 11 both in the UK and internationally. Currently she is setting up a website with a friend in New Zealand to help disabled activists under 30 connect and share knowledge internationally.
Read more at the ENIL website and facebook group.
Apr24
Being a torch bearer : mixed feelings and intersections
Charlotte of the Women’s Resource Centre asked me to 
write a blog about being a torch bearer for this year’s Olympics 2012. What does it mean to me? To be honest, I am not sure. It’s a great honour and I never expected to be chosen.
At the moment I am too busy to think about the event itself, but I think I can say I am curious by the fact that my nominee proclaimed me to be ‘humble and unassuming’, luckily she didnt say quiet. I do what I do because I am fired up by other people and a passion to highlight social injustice – such as domestic violence faced by disabled women and how it is more difficult for us to deal with it with the extra barriers and impairments with support needs. I spoke about this with my good friend, Michelle Daley at the Million Women Rise March in 2010 at Trafalgar Sq and as a member of the CEDAW working group at the Women’s Resource Centre.
It seems to me that it’s more important that I would be carrying the torch for honouring the organisations I am involved in locally and nationally. To represent disabled people/women play a part in the achievements of all that the Olympics stand for. According to my social networks at present, the Olympics is now morphed into a different event altogether as it looms closer with all the security measures and financial costs coming to light.
chinese calligraphy family name 'Tao'
I think a part of me want to celebrate the incongruity of me, an emigrant of immigrant parents, being a torch bearer here in the UK. My parents do not understand any of the campaigning work I do, but they know what the Olympics stand for. They are proud of me, their disabled daughter. And I am glad that I can give them that by doing this. I was never able to attend PE lessons when I was at school. Though I am not a Paralympian, I still can be a part of it somehow.
I’ve just had a little discussion tonight and a small throw away remark of not going for tokenism caught me on the quick. In everything I do, I am scrupulous about being inclusive and sometimes it means that you don’t belong truly to any specific group entirely. I put this question to the panel at the NUJ Black Members Council AGM last weekend: how do you interweave the different equality strands when they are present in your identity? It is difficult to present the complexity in having multiple identities. How do you represent each identity and identify yourself as such without losing the other? As a BME disabled woman, I want to carry the flame for the diversity in me.
I was told that being a torch bearer is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I hope my being one here in Coventry will enable disabled BME women to feel included in this event!
- Eleanor Thoe Lisney
Jan5
You’re Frightening Me
We would like to thank Philippa ( incurable hippie) for allowing us to repost this brilliant article.
————————————-
It started with a blog post, where David Gillon challenged 38 degrees about why, despite a disability benefit cuts campaign receiving lots of votes, it never reached the ‘call to action’ stage.
Then there was an article (now amended) which described an athlete’s move from Paralympic to Olympic competition as a “move up”.
I then read in Jezebel about a sex worker who is awesome because she works with disabled clients, which apparently makes her intriguing.
And I started to wonder, what do you think of us? Of me? In these three stages, the mainstream, and the left-wing, tell me that I am inferior, and I am other. So very, very other.
Then Lisa Egan wrote a post (trigger warning) about suicide, and her despair at the lack of support from even campaigning organisations, and I still, somehow, didn’t cry.
Then, finally, the article that did make me cry, in which I learned that 2/3 of people avoid disabled peoplebecause they don’t know how to act around us. In addition,
A third of those questioned demonstrated hardened negative attitudes towards the disabled. Reasons cited for this ranged from disabled people being seen as a burden on society (38%), ill feeling around the perceived extra support given to disabled people (28%), and the personal worries and sensitivities which rise to the fore during a recession (79%).
It went on,
Some 60% of Britons admit to staring at disabled people because they are different, with more than half of people (51%) admitting they feel uncomfortable when they meet a disabled person for the first time, with more men (54%) admitting to being uncomfortable compared to women (50%).
At a time when cuts are actually killing disabled people, we are also experiencing more negative attitudes, perceptions of being a burden, an additional cost, especially during a recession. How very inconsiderate of us to not wait to attain crippled status until the economy is fixed.
If you’re questioning whether this is a feminist issue, then the point is being missed. I am a woman who 38% of people polled consider to be a burden. I am a woman who 2/3 of people polled admit to avoiding for reasons of prejudice. I am a woman who 50% of women polled admitted to being uncomfortable to meet. I am a woman who is witnessing her friends become more and more afraid to leave the house, for fear of government- and Daily Mail-inspired abuse in the street. I’ve experienced it myself.
There are so many issues at the moment which are putting us all into a state of crisis. This is one of many: people are starting to frighten me. Is the person I’m talking to one of the 38%? Or the 50% Or the 65%?
Given that women are the hardest hit by spending cuts, and disabled people are the hardest hit by spending cuts, disabled women are being overlooked, avoided, resented, marginalised and othered. It takes non-disabled people, at this stage, to make some of the changes that need to happen.
(Originally posted on 4th Dec. 2011 Cross-posted at The F-Word and Where’s the Benefit?)
[The image is a photograph of handmade print next to one of the stencils. They read "FEAR MORE HOPE LESS". The photograph and artwork are by Ben Murphy and are used under a Creative Commons Licence]
