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Videos from Disabled women’s voices from the Frontline

Here are the videos from the dayĀ Disabled Womenā€™s Voices from the Frontline Saturday 9th July, 11am ā€“ 4.30pmĀ 

Introduction by Annabel Crowley

Simone Aspis

Sophie Partridge and Penny Pepper

transcript

 

Kirsten Hearn

transcript

Miss Jacqui

transcript coming soon

Pauline Latchem

transcript

Guests speakers – Jagoda and Jasmina Risteska

transcript

notes from discussion

Many thanks to for funding this event

rosa fund logo

Photos from the Disabled Women’s Voices

Photos from the Disabled Women’s Voices from the Frontline event taken by Wasi Daniju are now available for viewing. See the full set at her Flickr album.

Here are some of them. Videos coming soon.

 

 

Simone Aspis with outstretched arms

Simone Aspis

 

Kirsten Hearn

Kirsten Hearn

 

Michelle Daley with Jagoda and Jusmina Risteska 3 wheelchair users

Michelle Daley with Jagoda and Jasmina Risteska

 

 

Annabel Crowley

Annabel Crowley

 

 

Becky Olaniyi and Miss jacqui

Becky Olaniyi and Miss Jacqui

 

Black and white photo of 4 women

Q&A Panel on Brexit and other questions

 

Eleanor Lisney

Eleanor Lisney

 

Sophie partridge and Penny Pepper, both wheelchair users reading their poetry

Sophie Partridge and Penny Pepper

 

participants - forefront 2 older women, one white and one Asian, smiling at each other

some of the participants

Pauline Latchem signing

Pauline Latchem

Many thanks to Rosa UK for enabling this event

rosa fund logo

Event: Disabled Women’s Voices from the Frontline Saturday 9th July, 11am – 4.30pm

Flyer for Voices event

 

A Sisters of Frida Event

Please register at Eventbrite

Ā­Ā­Ā­Venue: Blackfriars Settlement

1 Rushworth Street London, SE1 0RB

Date: Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  Saturday 9 July 2016

Time:Ā Ā  Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  Ā Ā  11.00am to 4.30pm

Lunch provided! BSL interpreters provided but please let us know your Access and dietary requirements by 20th June, please!

Disabled women spoke of the barriers in participating in events where organisers seem to think inclusion means that we get access to the event/ if we get access to the event. We need to increase skills, provide capacity so that disabled women will be credible to challenge intersectional inequality.

So come to hear disabled women who are great public speakers/performers

Ā 

SPEAKERS

kirsten hearn KIRSTEN HEARN is a long time blind lesbian feminist activist. Snarling at the patriarchy and agitating for Ā Ā inclusion since 1980,; she is founder member of Sisters Against Disablement; Womenā€™s tape over; Feminist audio Books, and an active member of Ā a raft of other disability, womenā€™s and LGBT rights campaigns.

She seeks to cast all she does in a feminist light, believing that womenā€™s struggle speaks to the experiences of all other marginalised groups.Ā  Liberation for one group must not come at the sacrifice of another discriminated against groupā€™s rights,. As best she can, she has applied these principles through singing, songs, writing and performance.

She has been a board member of Transport for London, the Metropolitan Police Authority; EHRC Disability Committee; the chair of Inclusion London and the vice chair of the Consortium of LGBT CVOs. Currently she bends her energies for change as a Haringey Labour Councillor; An Independent Member of the Parole Board; and as a member of the board of Stay Safe East, a pioneering disabled peopleā€™s organisation dedicated to campaigning against DV and hate crimes experienced by disabled people. She also speaks a lot.

simone aspisSIMONE ASPIS is a disabled woman with over 20 years experience of successful campaigning for disabled peoplesā€™ rights.Ā Ā  Her first taste of campaigning was leading People Firstā€™s campaign to secure civil rights and direct payments for people with learning difficulties in the Disability Discrimination and Direct Payments legislation.Ā Ā  Thereafter she has taken up campaigns roles with Disabled Peoples Direct Action NetworkI Decide Coalition, Disabled Peoples Equal Rights To Life, United Kingdomā€™s Disabled Peopleā€™s Council and Alliance for Inclusive Education working on many issues covering inclusive education, independent living and supported decision making, welfare reform and bioethics. She is a former Green Partyā€™s Disabled Peoples Spokesperson and have stood as Parliamentary Perspective Candidate and Greater LondonĀ  Authorityā€™s elections

Becky Olaniyi

BECKY OLANIYI isĀ  interested in acting, writing, psychology and neuroscience, but her main goal in doing this is to try to help young disabled women acknowledge and understand themselves as individuals, rather than simply being ā€˜that disabled girlā€™, as well as helping people in general to understand that disabled people are whole individuals whose limitations exist on a spectrum and are very different from one another because despite sharing one characteristic, we are all unique, with our own lives, perspectives and experiences.

 

PERFORMERS

miss jacquiMISS JACQUI came from a extremely creative family; She is fascinated by many different types of artforms. Theatre and music has always been a huge part of Miss Jacqui’s life.
Miss Jacquiā€™s love for theatre started a little later than most, and it was only when her mother signed Jacqui up to an inclusive drama group when she was 13 to get her out of her introverted shell; and she never looked back. Miss Jacquiā€™s love for music developed from recording the radio onto cassettes when she was really young, to wanting to know everything about how it all worked.
Miss Jacqui’s love for Spoken Word/Poetry only came to light in October 2011, when she joined ‘Poets Platform’ led by Kat Francois.Miss Jacqui honestly believe that creativity is a universal language.
Miss Jacqui is a Spoken Word Artist, Mix Engineer, Facilitator, and An Artist Manager.

sophieSOPHIE PARTRIDGEĀ is a creative practitioner living in London, who trained with Graeae Theatre Co. She has worked extensively since her training, including her performance as Coral in the award winning Graeae play Peeling. Other stage performance includes work with the David Glass Ensemble, TIE in Nottingham, Theatre Resource in Essex and Theatre Workshop, Edinburgh. Her Media work also includes photo modelling, corporate video and radio. Ā She is also a campaigner for the right of all Disabled People to live truly independently!

and –

 

Penny PepperPENNY PEPPERĀ wrote the taboo-breaking book Desires Reborn in 2012 and in 2013 she won a Creative Futures Literary Award. InĀ September 2014 her one-woman spoken word show, Lost in Spaces, premiered to strong reviews at Soho Theatre, andĀ toured the Midlands in 2015. Recently she launched the Quality Writing for All Campaign for The Literary Consultancy at The Free Word Centre to great reviews. As a performance poet, she has performed across the UK,including London, Edinburgh and further afield in New York.

 

AnnabelANNABEL CROWLEY will chair the day. Annabel grew up as a young carer, and started working in the field of disability at the age of 17. She has supported disabled students in FE and HE, and is currently employed by the Disability Service at University of the Arts London. Annabel has also worked in the charity sector, including several years coordinating a user-led, community-based social activities programme at Hammersmith and Fulham Mencap. With experience in designing and delivering training, advocacy work, project management and youth participation.

paulineGuest appearance!

PAULINE LATCHAM is a practicing Counsellor and relationship therapist. Pauline’s background is in community volunteering, particularly youth and mental health work, domestic violence and disability advocacy and activism. She was great speaking at the Wow Festival Chore Wars session as a Deaf woman for Sisters of Frida.

 

Funded by

rosa fund logo

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!

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

Disabled women in discussion

(from right) Rahel Gaffen, Michelle Daley, Zara Todd, Lucia Bellini, Kirsten Hearn, Eleanor Lisney and Ciara Doyle.

Filmed with thanks to Disability Action in Islington by Felix Gonzalez for the WOW party installation at the Southbank, London

Disabled and Proud Women

speakers : Michelle Daley, Zara Todd, Lucia Bellini, Kirsten Hearn, Eleanor Lisney and Ciara Doyle.

Filmed with thanks to Disability Action in Islington by Felix Gonzalez for the WOW party installation at the Southbank, London

Transcript

Michelle Daley

Ok my names Michelle Daley and Iā€™m a member of Sisters of Frida and Iā€™ve been involved in the Disabled Peopleā€™s movement since early 2000

I think itā€™s important for us to kind of think about why is it as disabled women we have to keep justifying our existence

Why do we have to justify who we are?

Why do we have to say make a statement about yes Iā€™m attractive?

I can be err attracted to others

Iā€™m a woman and Iā€™m the same as any other woman

I also think itā€™s important that we recognise the people that came before us err who fought for women rights

But also there are many important disabled women who fought for our rights as well

and I think thatā€™s what makes me proud of who I am as a disabled woman knowing that there was someone before me who started that journey

And I think itā€™s for me to continue that and to say yes I am proud to be a disabled black woman

Thank you!

Zara Todd

So Iā€™m Zara, Iā€™m 28 and a proud disabled young woman um yeah thatā€™s me!

Is that all youā€™d like to say about today?

Err my brains a bit frazzled!

I think that itā€™s really interesting bringing together a group of disabled women

because yes we have a lot of shared experiences but we also have a lot of things

that are very unique to us

And I think often itā€™s easy to get caught up in labels

And while we need spaces to explore our identity we donā€™t necessarily need to come

to the same conclusions

And what I think todayā€™s been quite good at

What I think the event will be quite good at is getting a space where we can

acknowledge who we are

All of who we are and just go yeah fine

Thanks!

Lucia Bellini

My nameā€™s Lucia Bellini and Iā€™m part of Sisters of Frida

Iā€™m really happy to be able to say that Iā€™m a disabled woman

That Iā€™m very proud to be a disabled woman

Iā€™m independent, I work, I am able to challenge stereotypes

Um and Iā€™m able to fight for equality of opportunity in society for disabled people in

general

Iā€™m um I think that there needs to be a lot more publicity or disabled women need to be portrayed in a much more positive light in the media

Um we were talking earlier about disabled women doing the catwalk but made to look non disabled

And I think we should be proud of our identities, we should be proud to look different if we choose to

Err if we want to conform and wear make-up and err and we should also be allowed to choose to do that too

Err err Iā€™m a bit fed up of people telling me asking me why I want to wear make-up

Why Iā€™m interested in how I look if Iā€™m blind

Err I also think that itā€™s time disabled women are seen as women and not different err

you know we heard about the fact that err women donā€™t understand that we want to go out on dates just like everybody else

That we can also have children if we choose to

That we can be in a relationship if we choose to

That weā€™re no different because weā€™re disabled

That we just have the extra challenges that we have to overcome

You have to overcome extra discrimination, discrimination because weā€™re female and

discrimination because weā€™re disabled as well as all the additional barriers we have and in physical access

So I think that um more that it would be really good if more women, disabled women, would be proud of being who they are

Of coming out as a disabled woman and um being angry enough to challenge the discrimination that they receive in our society

Kirsten Hearn

My nameā€™s Kirsten

Um I wrote a song about the plight of disabled women and Iā€™d like to share the lyrics

with you

ā€œThink of a mag, yes any old mag

Whatā€™s on the cover?

What do you see?

Pretty young women posing and grinning

Slender and sexy but nothing like me

Indoctrination, objectification

Is this the way itā€™s supposed to be?

No one with blubber gets on the cover

No one who hasnā€™t got symmetry

SAS Sisters against Symmetry

SAS Sisters against Body Bigotry

They say that prosthetics donā€™t make good aesthetics

Our surgical corset should never be seen

With bits of us missing thereā€™s no good us wishing

To grace the front cover of Vogue magazine

Indoctrination, objectification this is the way it has always been

Youā€™ve got to be bold break out of the mould

We shape our image letā€™s learn to be mean

SAS Sisters against Symmetry

SAS Sisters against Body Bigotry

Cherish those humps, those nodules and bumps

Those wrinkles and bulges and bubbly bits

Nurture your spots, your baggy old bots, your stretch marks and scars and saggy old

Indoctrination, objectification

Symmetricality is the pits

Take it or leave it we donā€™t care one bit

Our bodies are ours including our clits!

SAS Sisters against Body Bigotry

SAS Sisters against Symmetryā€

Ok right thatā€™s better!

Um the key thing that I need to say about being a disabled woman and my

experience in the world is itā€™s a joyous thing

Itā€™s an absolutely joyous thing to be a disabled woman

I am different in many ways

I have different ways of appreciating the world

And Iā€™m not being Polyandrous about it

It actually is true that we live in a world that assumes that everybody is non-disabled

That everybody can hear, see, speak, walk, talk all the whole lot

And our world is designed in such a way just to allow those to be members of that

privileged club

And I feel really strongly that if we want a diverse community we have to embrace

and celebrate, support and glorify all those people who are different in that kind of

way

And so I do a lot of writing, a lot of speaking about the difference that is me as a disabled woman

And by celebrating those things that other people might find ugly or frightening and at the end of the day thatā€™s where I want us to be as disabled women

But I donā€™t want us to lose the feeling of anger

We can embrace our pride

We can embrace our anger

And send it outwards to make changes in the world and at the end of the day

I believe that sanity comes to us in terms of being able to cope with the world if we

can also hope that what we do makes a difference

And I really hope that what weā€™re doing today is making that difference

Eleanor Lisney

Iā€™m Eleanor Lisney

Iā€™m a disabled woman and Iā€™m proud of it

It took me a long time err to come out as a disabled woman even though Iā€™ve had my impairment for a long time

I think for most of my youth I was in denial err about it and I wanted to be a normal person just like everybody else

However I am very happy to be with other women who

I find joy in having found other disabled women

Err itā€™s a sort of relief and a joy and um celebration to be able to talk with other

women about things that Iā€™ve thought of for a long time and have been quiet about

And now itā€™s no longer time, itā€™s no longer time to be quiet

Itā€™s time to um have a voice

Ciara Doyle

Iā€™m Ciara, I am an academic and err a mother, a career woman and a disabled woman

Err I think today was really really powerful and important

Err the err the reason sorry Iā€™m completely frazzled!

Ok err I think that today was extremely important err

I think that it doesnā€™t happen nearly enough

And needs to happen much more

That the feminist agenda comes to disability politics

And that disability politics is brought to the feminist agenda

Because I really think they need to work far more closely together

And I think that there are areas within feminism or disability where disabled women need to be in the lead

I think that we as women in particular in this society

We are judged very very much within our bodies and how our bodies function

Err within quite strictly set gender norms

And I think that disabled women in particular are living on the knife edge of this

because itā€™s not just men the Patriarchal system in general

But the Patriarchal system through the medical profession as its Police Force

That chooses to pathologies or identify when womenā€™s bodies, emotions or minds

are working within what are perceived to be acceptable levels of normality

Or outside of those acceptable levels of normality which are then pathologised

Which then creates disability because women are told that they are abnormal

And must either accept a victimhood status

Or work hard to normalise themselves

Instead of being able to celebrate who we are and what we are

And so this why I believe these are very much gender issues as well as being very very much disabled issues

And it is of no surprise that the majority of people who develop disabilities are women

Err and that it is two issues that need to come together and spend far more time and

dialogue with each other

Which is exactly what we were doing today

Making a start on that

Thank you!