Bringing disabled women together, mobilising
and sharing through lived experiences
Sisters of Frida at Brussels ENIL Freedom Drive
Some Sisters of Frida went to ENIL 2017 Freedom Drive, which brought together 300 Independent Living activists from 19 countries in Brussels.
Zara Todd, Lani Parker, Michelle Daley and Eleanor Lisney, and Rachel O’Brien (photo by Mladen Spremo)
It brought an an end to a week of promoting independent living, peer support, protest and celebration of disability rights. The Freedom Drive has brought together around 300 independent living activists from 19 countries, from as far East as Albania, to Norway in the North.
Among the main Freedom Drive demands were the end to institutionalisation of disabled people across Europe, access to personal assistance in all countries, full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the end to cuts to support services and benefits for disabled people.
Lani Parker and Michelle Daley said:
We also met some MEPs, Anthea McIntyre MEP, Keith Taylor MEP, Molly Scott-Cato MEP, Wajid Khan MEP, and Daniel Dalton MEP, among others to ask them questions on independent living, accessibility, inclusive education, disability rights after Brexit, freedom of labour as part of the EU among other issues.
with Wajid Khan MEP (Labour), Rebecca Farren, Lani Parker, Tara Flood and Michelle Daley (photo by Katai)
Tweet from Molly Scott Cato MEP with Michelle Daley, (Green Party) Keith Taylor MEP, Molly Scott Cato MEP, Tara Flood and Lani Parker
The night before the march we met up with other British attendees for dinner, including Sarah Rennie (Sisters of Frida, Steering Group member) , who had to leave before the march.
dinner with other British attendees of Freedom Drive (photo by Debbie)
dinner with other British attendees of Freedom Drive (2nd table) (photo by Debbie)
We were outside the European Parliament the next day to join the other ENIL Freedom marchers on the streets of Brussels.
Michelle Daley leading some of the way. (photo by Katai)
Thank you all for all who came with us. Thank you for ENIL to organising this and we wish Zara Todd, as incoming director, the best for the future.
More photos at Sisters of Frida Flickr account.
Sarah Rennie: Women’s Day Off?
Sarah Rennie on the WEP panel – photo by WEP Hackney&Islington
On Saturday, at Women of the World festival, I found myself on the panel for the planning meeting of ‘Women’s Day Off’. This is being organised by the Women’s Equality Party for 2017 to coincide with the centenary of the Representation of the People Act and calls all women to not perform any paid or unpaid work for one day to raise awareness of gender inequality.
In my two minutes, I raised the issues of inclusion and shame.
Disabled women must be included in the organisation of the day and there needs to be a range of channels through which we can participate. We are providing paid and unpaid work and being exploited too. In fact we’re hit harder:
- Disabled men experience a pay gap of 11% compared with non-disabled men, while the gap between disabled women and non-disabled women is double this at 22%.
- The pay gap between disabled men and women in employment is 14% [Footnote: Disability in the UK 2016: Facts and Figures, Papworth Trust (2016)]
So whichever way you slice it (by gender or disability) we are disproportionately impacted
Events must be inclusive and, in my view, those who spoke out agreed with this objective. But this has to follow through to the realities of the day. It requires organisers (formally and informally) to critique any buildings, spaces and materials, to carefully plan all events so that meetings and rallies are inclusive and to provide ‘virtual’ participation channels for those that cannot participate physically. This leads me to support needs. How will I participate if my support system breaks down for the day because my PA team have jumped on a coach to London and I’m lying in bed bursting for the loo?
Let’s face it, my PAs won’t leave me. So they won’t take the ‘day off’. This is a problem for the WEP campaign. My PAs are underpaid and undervalued by the State – they should be near the front of any rallies and marches but probably won’t be. Perhaps our solution will be that I inform my local authority that I have a credible belief my PAs will ‘strike’ that day and this will put them on notice that I will be in danger. A contingency plan will need to be put in place. Even if my PAs come to work that day, the time it will take to put this plan in place will cause disruption and inconvenience for local authorities and WEP’s objectives will be virtually met.
Now I turn to the second issue which concerns me: shame. The campaign organisers need to be very clear and firm with enthusiastic feminist activists to be careful about the language they use. Take, for example, the phrase “burden of care”. Firstly, I receive support, not care. Let’s not disempower disabled women. Secondly, we are not ‘a burden’ on the state or our support networks. Disabled women are twice as likely to experience domestic abuse. Campaigners who major on the ‘burden of care’ risk adding to the emotional abuse we are already experiencing.
It is important that the campaign keeps us included in the planning process in order to allow disabled women to amplify the messages and add our protest. But it must also take responsibility for preventing attacks on our safety and dignity; we cannot be collateral damage in this day of action.
—
Sarah Rennie with friend, Natasha Hettihewa-Young
Sarah Rennie is a director of the Wisdom Factory CIC, a social enterprise in Birmingham. As 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. She is also vice-Chair of the city’s Access Committee. She is also on the Sisters of Frida Steering Group.
Sisters of Frida at #WOWLdn
This year is amazing! so many of us will be at the WoW festival this weekend! do go along and support -if you can get a ticket!
Coming out as disabled: Body Image, labels and denial of disability
One in five of us is disabled – so why do we try to hide it from our friends? How do we ‘come out’ as disabled women?
Zara Todd
Venue Level 4 Blue Bar at Royal Festival Hall
Time 11:15am – 12:15pm
Date Saturday 12 March 2016
One in five of us is disabled – so why do we try to hide it from our friends? How do we ‘come out’ as disabled women? Four women tell their stories. Speakers include Deborah Williams, Diversity Manager BFI; Dieuwertje Dyi Huijg, Visiting Lecturer, Sociology at University of Westminster and Rebecca Bunce, human rights researcher and campaigner.
Chaired by Zara Todd, disability rights campaigner and activist.
In partnership with Sisters of Frida.
Others
Sexism Makes Us Sick Examining Woman’s health
Annabel Crowley
Venue St Paul’s Roof Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall
Time3:45pm – 4:45pm
Date Saturday 12 March 2016
Examining women’s health Heart disease kills more women than men each year, fewer women than men survive a heart attack, so why do we hear so little about it? In mental health, women are more than twice likely than men to have depression and less likely to be taken seriously. How does gender affect physical and mental health care and what can we do to change the status quo? Speakers include Bridget Hargreaves, author of post natal depression memoir Fine Not Fine; Dr Victoria Showunmi, lecturer on migraines at the UCL Institute of Education.
Chaired by Annabel Crowley.
Toilets are a Feminist Issue
Sarah Rennie
Venue St Paul’s Roof Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall
Time2:15pm – 3:15pm
Date Saturday 12 March 2016
Come and find out why you should give a shit about toilets. From women always having to queue, to the lack of toilet facilities in the developing world having a devastating effect on women’s safety, what can toilet provision tell us about gender equality? Come and join the grand doyenne of public toilets Prof. Clara Greed; award winning writer and feminist Beatrix Campbell; Changing Places campaigner and disabled feminist Sarah Rennie and periods activist and founder of #periodpostive Chella Quint to discuss. Beware – there may be toilet humour.
Chaired by New Statesman Deputy Editor, Helen Lewis.
- Type of event
- Talks and debates
- Running Time
- 60 mins
Chores Wars and Domestic Lives
Pauline Latchem (photo from Eleanor Lisney)
Venue The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Time1:15pm – 2:15pm
Date Sunday 13 March 2016
Studies show that women still do twice as many chores as male partners, even when they work full-time. From housework to ‘emotional labour’, is this one of the last frontiers of normalised gender inequality? And how can we level the playing field? Speakers include counseller and lifelong feminist Pauline Latchem, and teacher and writer Lola Okolosie.
Chaired by Laura Bates, founder Everyday Sexism Project.
Black Feminisms/Black Women Pop Culture
Becky Olaniyi
Venue Level 3 Foyer (Green Side) at Royal Festival Hall
Time4:00pm – 5:00pm
Date Sunday 13 March 2016
What does the portrayal of black women in popular culture tell us about race, sex and power? Join journalist and campaigner Reni Eddo Lodge, visual sociologist Emma Dabiri, activist Becky Olaniyi and playwrite Adura Onashile as they discuss the joys and challenges of being a black feminist.
Chaired by Senior Programmer, Contemporary Culture and journalist Hannah Azieb Pool
Sisters of Frida Team
Eleanor Lisney is a campaigner, founder member, public speaker and director of Sisters of Frida. 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. Recently, Eleanor joined the TSIC Advisory Board and was working on a project with them for the London Funders. She was also on the Disability Arts Online Board. Presently she is on the Board of Directors of EVR ( End Violence and Racism Against ESEA Communities) and on the Liberty (Festival) Advisory Group.
She was born in Malaysia and has lived in Strasbourg, France and studied at Austin, Texas. She has two grown up children and a grandson. https://linktr.ee/eleanorlisney
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Tumu Johnson is a mental health worker and group facilitator with experience of working in front line support services, research and community organising. She is currently studying for a Masters in Mental Health Studies whilst working in the NHS and also provides freelance training around mental health and wellbeing.
Tumu is committed to making the world a more accessible place and fighting for the rights of disabled people. She is a feminist who takes an intersectional approach and hopes to draw on her experiences as a black disabled woman to contribute to achieving social justice.
Rachel O’Brien is Community Organiser (Coordinators and Networks) at Amnesty International UK. Previously, she was 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.
Advisers
Sarah Rennie is 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.
She was a steering committee member of Sisters of Frida, a co director and has now taken on an advisory role to the organisation.
Kirsty Liddiard Kirsty Liddiard is a feminist disability studies scholar and disabled researcher whose co-produced research centres on lived experience, emotion and embodiment as core axes through which to understand the everyday lives of disabled people and their families. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education and iHuman at the University of Sheffield. She is the author of The Intimate Lives of Disabled People (2018, Routledge) and the co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook of Disabled Children’s Childhood Studies (2018, Palgrave). She is also co-editor of Being Human in Covid-19 (2022, Bristol University Press) and a co-author of Living Life to the Fullest: Youth, Disability and Voice (2022, Emerald). Her current project, Cripping Breath: Towards a new cultural politics of respiration, funded by a Wellcome Discovery Award, explores the lives of people who have had their lives saved or sustained by ventilatory medical technologies.
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Lani Parker (she/her) is a facilitator, trainer, consultant and coach with a background in providing advice, information and advocacy within disabled people’s organisations. She has also been involved with migrant solidarity and abolitionist movements. From 2015 to 2022, she was a steering committee member of Sisters of Frida, a co director and has now taken on an advisory role to the organisation. Examples of her work can be found at https://sidewaystimesblog.wordpress.com and www.bolderlives.co.uk. She is passionate about making connections and developing new ideas and visions that centre disabled people and other marginalised groups.
Disabled Beauty Pageants: Be Careful What You Wish For
This week I came across an interesting article exploring why we don’t hear about disabled beauty pageants in the UK. Having never heard of them before, I took to Google and quickly discovered Miss Wheelchair America, Miss Amazing and Miss You Can Do It, to name but a few.
Their missions vary from building confidence and encouraging inclusion to providing the opportunity to celebrate achievement. They do have one thing in common: they claim that their focus is not on ‘beauty’ alone. Perfectly admirable you might say. But I can’t help but wonder: if that’s the case, why have the pageant, frock and sparkly tiara at all? Surely, there is a more appropriate forum to celebrate achievements, skills and qualities than a beauty pageant?
One contest particularly celebrates young disabled girls. Many little girls (of which I was one) enjoy dressing up, so I can see the potential joy and fun on offer for these girls. Although my personal contempt for child beauty pageants applies irrespective of disability, I was more alarmed that the Telegraph summarised the disabled pageant as allowing the girls “to be seen as something other than disabled.” What a cruel message.
Turning to the adults, sexuality is a big part of this debate. Miss World began in 1951 as a bikini contest, but added intelligence, personality and talent elements during the 1980s under political pressure. The reason that pageants these days (disabled or otherwise) are at pains to stress that they celebrate stuff of more substance is because they know their days are numbered. If the beauty pageant industry is as progressive, inclusive and enlightened as it proclaims then why are there separate disabled pageants in the marketplace? According to the values of the mainstream pageants, disabled women should find themselves fairly represented as contestants and winners. I, for one, would love to see some data to check that’s the case.
In their niche pageants, I suspect that many of the female disabled contestants, by putting on some slap and parading around in front of the judges, seek to make a bold statement about themselves as sexual beings. Culture associates sex and sexuality with our vision of ‘perfect’ bodies. On that basis, I have to hand it to women with the gumption to literally present themselves for evaluation under the spotlight! However, in the fight to resist the pressure to suppress our sexuality, we must avoid unintentionally demanding to be equally objectified. Why on earth would disabled women demand access to an industry that women (and men) all over the world are calling for an end to?
Ironically, disabled women in the UK are in a privileged position by not being exposed to this old fashioned sexist codswallop. So, on this occasion, I personally will not be pushing for equality!
– by Sarah Rennie
Sarah, Sisters of Frida CIC steering group member, is a director at the Wisdom Factory CIC. As a former solicitor, her day-to-day research work is not to do with disability matters. However, Sarah acts as a consultant for select clients on internal equality working groups. She is based in Birmingham and is a Trustee of the city’s Access Committee.
Congratulations Sarah Rennie!
A bit late but we would like to congratulate Sarah on her new role!
Sarah Rennie, from the West Midlands, is the new President of the Access Association.
Having been a qualified property litigation solicitor, she founded a disability and access consultancy company, which provides access advice, training and disabled consumer feedback programmes for nationwide companies. At the moment she is pursuing an MSc in Accessibility and Inclusive Design.
We are in for an exciting year as in her statement of intention Sarah stated ‘ Now is the time to be bold. We have nothing to lose, much to claw back and an awful lot to gain.’
Sarah Rennie – entrepreneur
I read this interview with Sarah by Liz at Libro and thought I must share it here. I got to know Sarah from the Access Association and before long I was in awe. She’s dynamite and is also extremely practical – just the right combination as a disabled business woman. Read on –
(reposted with kind permission from libroediting.com)
Welcome to Saturday Business chat. Today we meet Sarah Rennie from Rennie Consulting. I first met Sarah at the Birmingham Entrepreneurs meetup, when she was just setting up her business, and we both turn up at a number of other events in Birmingham. We’ve had some excellent chats and exchanged experiences as we’ve gone along our different paths – some things about running small businesses are surprisingly similar, whatever it is you actually do!
And what Sarah does is really important. After 3 years practising as a property litigation solicitor, Sarah left to set up her own disability and access consultancy company. She supports businesses and organisations who have a certain reputation to protect. By reviewing physical access, running workshops and implementing mystery shopping programmes, she checks her clients are offering services to disabled people in a dignified and commercial manner.
What’s your business called? When did you set it up?
Oh I was imaginative with that one … Rennie Consulting! I couldn’t think of a name that wasn’t either really naff (like ‘Access4U’) or broad enough to let me diversify. I set up in December 2010.
What made you decide to set up your own business?
I had confidence in myself, skills and business offering. Having no dependants and knowing that my initial overheads would be minimal, there was no sensible reason not to. Then I just dared myself into it!
What made you decide to go into this particular business area?
I was born with my particular disability and have been a wheelchair user all my life. At Uni and work, I was notorious for writing letters to customer services departments of big companies to tell them where they were either breaking the law, wasting money or offering inadequate levels of customer service to me and other disabled people. Being a qualified lawyer, I knew the law and being a discerning consumer, I knew what standards of service to expect! It seemed natural to go behind the scenes of these organisations and support them to offer the right services to disabled people in the right way.
Had you run your own business before?
Nope. One day I was at the bottom of the pecking order in an international law firm and the next day I made myself the boss!
How did you do it? Did you launch full-time, start off with a part-time or full-time job to keep you going … ?
Handed in my notice and then had a think. I wrote one of my ‘special letters’ to the managing director of a huge company telling him about my experience of their services as a disabled consumer. He called me in for a coffee and gave me a whopper of a contract! Best Christmas present ever. We became good mates, actually.
What do you wish someone had told you before you started?
From a freelance consultant’s perspective: don’t expect too much loyalty from people you know beforehand. However positive they seem about you, they may not actually have the decision-making power to give you work! Imagine starting out knowing ’0 people’ and ask yourself if you think you can get complete strangers to believe in you.
What would you go back and tell your newly entrepreneurial self?
“Sarah, don’t waste your money on ‘nice to haves’ (fancy websites and social media pages, etc.) too soon! Keep it lean and concentrate on strengthening your reputation.”
What do you wish you’d done differently?
Being so keen to network and prove my capabilities, I gave too much away for free. Several big companies were a bit naughty asking for my help, implementing my advice and then didn’t return the favour later on!
What are you glad you did?
It was right for me to concentrate on larger businesses rather than chasing lots of smaller contracts. Not only is this more efficient for me as a ‘one man band’, but it means that when clients implement my advice it has the potential to make a bigger difference to more disabled people like me. That pleases me greatly!
What’s your top business tip?
Get on Twitter. It’s free, keeps you connected to the world when you work alone and it may just win you work!
How has it gone since you started? Have you grown, diversified or stayed the same?
Grown and diversified. I started off concentrating on access audits (i.e., reviewing clients’ physical buildings for disabled access requirements). I then ran a disability ‘language and etiquette’ workshop for a client to help their staff feel more confident that they were saying and doing ‘the right thing’ around disabled people. These sessions have proved very popular since then. My current focus is really getting the mystery shopping side of the business off the ground – I’ve got a great bunch of talented and perceptive disabled people ready to offer my clients a great service.
Where do you see yourself and your business in a year’s time?
Still here and still happy. I wouldn’t mind being known as the wheelchair-user version of Mary Portas by that point!
The work Sarah does is so important. I grimly remember looking for venues for various events and finding companies that either didn’t seem to care about accessibility or tried to look like they cared but failed on the basic details. It’s not just relevant to disabled people themselves; anyone who organises any kind of event needs to take account of all sorts of accessibility needs, and I for one won’t look at a business that doesn’t take this seriously. Sarah’s actively improving life for hundreds of thousands of people who use the companies she works with, and I look forward to seeing her business grow and prosper. Although hopefully she won’t be as scary as Mary Portas!
You can find Sarah online at www.rennieconsulting.co.uk, email her or phone her on 0121 12234 606
