By Chloe Mills
Ordinary Lives, Multiple Identities, a panel at this year’s Feminism in London Conference on the challenges of being a disabled woman and feminist,aimed to raise awareness on intersectional identities.
A Word Doc is available at the bottom of this for download, this can be transcribed into audio for blind people, we are going to start doing this regularly and encourage others to do so.
The panel, organised by Eleanor Lisney, disabled feminist campaigner and member of Sisters of Frida, brought together disabled feminists from diverse backgrounds, of different ages and from a spectrum of disabilities, to challenge people’s often misguided ideals of what constitutes a disabled person, and to convey the heterogeneity of this group of feminists.
There was agreement between women on the panel that disabled feminists’ absence from previous conferences (FIL started in 2008) is linked to their lack of visibility, and the priorities of mainstream feminism, which has repeatedly failed to recognise the contributions made by this group to the feminist movement.
These women argue their fight for rights is primarily viewed as disabled activism, and ignored within mainstream feminist discourse.
Disabled feminists want to communicate that whilst they do experience unique issues, the issues that affect all women just as heavily impact them. These women want to bridge the gap between the disabled movement and the feminist movement, promoting solidarity between feminists and ending their exclusion.
ACCESS
One of the most basic, yet vital, issues emphasised by the panel was access. Access impedes the inclusion of disabled feminists within mainstream feminism. These women argue that the majority of their time and energy is spent fighting for access to events and meetings, obstructing their visibility within the wider feminist movement,
‘What kind of equality is it #womensEqualityParty if your London Launch is in an inaccessible venue? #NoExcuses’
@KirstenHearn, Oct 22, 2015.
The idea of access for the disabled seems simple, yet lack of access repeatedly excludes disabled women, preventing their voices from reaching mainstream feminist discourse.
With their multiple identities often unrecognised, disabled feminists find themselves lumped into one group or another. The panel stressed that the disabled woman’s struggle is every woman’s struggle,
‘Feminist and disability rights are born from a similar cloth. They are battles to acknowledge that oppression doesn’t come from a biological reality but a socially constructed inequality […] They fight the structures and powers that wish to control them: in sex, in work, in reproduction’,
Frances Ryan, ‘It’s not only the steps that keep us out’, New Statesman, 20 May 2014.
Disabled feminists are often accused segregating movements, but, as Kirsten Hearn argued, liberation of one group should not be at the expense of another, and there is a need to create an integrated space for solidarity and collaboration between disabled women and feminist groups.
SEX AND VIOLENCE
Disabled women’s sexuality is highly misunderstood and stereotypes of disabled women as A-sexual hinder their access to sexual and reproductive rights. In some societies disabled women suffer forced sterilisation, forced abortion and have children removed from their care.
Sexual abuse and gender-based violence are prevalent amongst disabled women, they are 2-5 times more likely to experience domestic violence and abuse compared to other women, and certain forms of DVA are only experienced by disabled women, such as withholding of medication and prevention of access to care.
Violence against disabled women is commonplace, cuts to welfare and public services have impacted this group more than any other. Kirsten Hearn argues political discourse permeating society blames disabled people for being expensive; hate crimes against disabled people have surged under austerity.
AUSTERITY
Under the government’s rhetoric they are branded ‘scroungers’, and services that previously made disabled people equal are now considered ‘perks’. Panellists stressed that cuts were an attack women and disabled people as a group, with 85% of government welfare cuts at the expense of women and disabled people hit 18 times harder than any other group.
Independence and dignity are viewed as a luxury, and their fight today is one for survival. Collaboration and solidarity between different groups of feminists is pivotal in their fight for their human rights, but first we need put them at the forefront of our minds, and get them through the door.
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Promoting education and advice surrounding disabled feminism is integral to keep the cause moving forward, to learn more about campaigns discussed in this article please see links below.
- Learn more or join Sisters of Frida here (http://sisofrida.org/)
-Sisters of Frida will also have a new website launching soon that will have a safe space for disabled women to find someone to talk to, and share their experiences with their peers.
- ICChange (http://icchange.co.uk/)
Sign the petition urging the government to make the Istanbul Convention Law and commit to criminalising all forms of violence against all women
(https://www.change.org/p/uk-government-get-serious-about-ending-violence-against-women)
- Follow Kirsten Hearn on Twitter @KirstenHearn
Learn more about Kirsten Hearn here (http://www.kirstenhearn.com/)
Read Kirsten’s blog here (https://kirstenhearn.wordpress.com/)
- Learn more about Dr. Frances Ryan here (http://differentprinciples.co.uk/)
Read more from Dr. Frances Ryan’s article ‘It’s not only the steps that keep us out: mainstream feminism must stop ignoring disabled women’ here (http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2014/05/its-not-only-steps-keep-us-out-mainstream-feminism-must-stop-ignoring-disabled-women)
- Learn more about sexuality and disability here (www.sexualityanddisability.org)
Stay Safe East (http://www.staysafe-east.org.uk/)
CREA (http://www.creaworld.org/our-impact/linking-sexuality-disability-and-rights)
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- UK, the Fawcett Society, (2015) Spring 2015 response to the Spring Budget) http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Fawcett-Society-response-to-the-spring-Budget-2015.pdf)
- Disabled women 2-5 times more likely to experience violence
- Scope, 2014, Priced out: ending the financial penalty of disability by 2020
- Rise in hate crime- (http://www.welfareweekly.com/disability-hate-crime-fuelled-by-propaganda/)
Disability hate crime network- (http://dhcn.info/dhcn/)
On the panel were Rebecca Bunce, human rights researcher and co-founder of ICChange, a campaign calling on the UK government to ratify and implement the Istanbul Convention on Violence Against Women and Girls and Domestic Violence. Becky Olaniyi, a 19-year-old campaigner for Sisters of Frida. Also speaking was Dr Frances Ryan, a political journalist who writes on issues of austerity, disability and feminism. Appearing by video link from India was Asha Hans, former professor in Political Science and Gender studies at Uktal University in India, and Nidhi Goyal, a disability, gender and sexual rights activist from India, who works in research, campaigning, writing and training and is a co-creator of www.sexualityanddisablility.org. Chairing the panel was Kirsten Hearn, a blind lesbian feminist activist, founder of Sisters Against Disablement, with a background in community action and public service.
Real Media- Multiple Identities- women and disabilities panel
