Rachel’s conversation with Laura Elliot about her new book Ramping up Rights, and her overall career and activism had the perfect combination of information, motivation for change, and some realistically tragic humour, which left me in a strange emotional state, appropriate for the severity of the topic being discussed.
Although previously aware, I learnt so much more about what certain organisations and institutions are actively doing to suppress the rights and voices of disabled people: not just preventing them from getting more support but removing the majority of the support that has already been in place for decades.
However, Rachel does point out some of the positives concerning community activism both in the present day with social media campaigns and local groups, and also through important historical moments and figures. Her personal favourite (and now one of mine too) was Rosa May Billinghurst, a suffragette (and a wheelchair user) who used her mobility aids to hide rocks and her crutches to lunge herself at MPs. Although not widely discussed, this showed that although there may be some hindrances, disabled people are just as capable of creating change, especially good change, but their legacies seem to be hidden. Although a figure from the past, Billinghurst’ s story acts as a sign that everyone can reclaim their rights, and it is in fact the government and institutions’ issues concerning legislation and action rather than anything “wrong” with disabled individuals.
Rachel’s insight on her own writing about disabled rights and issues really caught me off guard, especially the fact that her own pieces about government conferences and talks she attended were dismissed due to the issues discussed, and also that these publications didn’t seem to prioritise first hand research/writing, despite Rachel having a significant reputation in her field.
The fact that as an audience, we got to hear about the history of disability rights from someone who is actually disabled and has first hand testimony, rather than a politician reading off statistics, already encourages more understanding and accessibility to an audience, as well a sense of unity and solidarity. Especially with the friendly, interactive nature of the Q&A section at the end of this talk, this felt like a space to converse, share experiences and learn more about the variety of the disabled experience and what we can do to create change, rather than a basic lecture.
I learnt and understood more about disability rights from Rachel’s talk than I have in my 16+ years of education, revealing how easy it is to spread awareness and create change in an engaging, accessible and most importantly an honest way.
