My disability is a source of pride. I’ll confess it has taken time to unearth this personal truth and discard the enraging stigmas about disability that have tried to engulf me. But this optimistic outlook is still not reflected by the leaders of our country.
Mainstream politics has failed to understand or prioritise disability – which, as a result, has enabled vast inequality to breed in plain sight. People with disabilities are more than twice as likely to be unemployed, living in food poverty and experiencing domestic abuse than their non-disabled counterparts. With 16 million Disabled people in the UK, this is not a fringe issue.
My disillusionment with politicians, in part, became the catalyst for my memoir, See Me Rolling. Every day, as I sat down to write, I uncovered more and more about how society has allowed Disabled people to slip through the gaps. There is more at stake than ever. At a time when the UN has condemned our country for the “grave and systematic violations” of Disabled people’s rights, politicians must secure protections for the most vulnerable in society. People with disabilities have been the hardest hit by austerity, faced years of shielding in the Covid pandemic and, now, grapple with the cost of living crisis. In the same breath, social infrastructure – like housing, transport and welfare provision – consistently fails to meet Disabled people’s needs.
New polls have revealed that over half of people with disabilities think politicians don’t care about them. And it’s not hard to see why: we are two weeks into campaigning and, as I write, the UK’s political leaders are yet to explicitly mention Disabled people. I’ve heard more about Rishi’s switch to Adidas Sambas and Angela Rayner’s battle bus fridge than I have about how our political parties are going to tackle disability inequality.
For women with disabilities, in particular, sexual inequality is widening. As the world exposes the systemic rot of rape culture, blind spots are made clear: the realities of Disabled women are unjustly excluded from the Me Too movement. Shockingly, in 2021, rates of sexual violence against Disabled women more than doubled to 5.7 per cent in the past six years (compared to 3 per cent of non-disabled women). Meanwhile, hundreds of sexual violence allegations brought by Disabled women are “not going to court”, according to the campaign group Disabled Survivors Unite – with a survey revealing how survivors have been told they are “not attractive enough” to be sexually assaulted. At the same time, Disabled women are facing disproportionate barriers to sexual health services, such as cervical screening. I want political leaders to acknowledge the intersectional experiences of Disabled women – and listen to our perspective on matters like sex education, street safety and domestic abuse. While women with disabilities are infantilised and seen as powerless, they will remain prime targets.
The climate crisis, however, is set to become an election-defining issue. My generation of eco-warriors – roused by the likes of Greta Thunberg and repulsed by Trump’s rebranding of climate change as “mythical” – are aware that the changes we need to secure a greener future hang on a knife’s edge. The time to act was yesterday. Yet Disabled people like myself are often disempowered by the government’s environmental policies. Take, for instance, the romantic ideal of “20-minute cities”, where an iced matcha is always a mere Lime-ride away. In our enthusiasm for walkable neighbourhoods and pedestrian zones, we’ve curtailed car travel, making it harder and harder for people with mobility issues to leave their homes.
Likewise, the banning of plastic straws, confusing recycling systems, scheduled power cuts and inaccessible evacuation procedures (in the event of natural disasters), all threaten Disabled people’s dignity and independence. Put simply, these policies can be impractical – discriminatory even – for anyone with a body that doesn’t conform to “normal”. Like most young people, I believe that protecting the environment is crucial. After all, it’s Disabled individuals who will experience the impact of global warming more than any other group. But tackling eco-ableism must be a priority. Our next prime minister needs to reconsider how climate legislation is impacting the lives of Disabled people – and then make inclusive adjustments. It was Greta Thunberg herself who argued for the political insight of her neurological difference. “I see the world a bit different, from another perspective,” she explained to The New Yorker. In the race to net zero, MPs must prioritise Disabled voices and give us a key role in green policymaking – in all policymaking, for that matter.
Disability representation in parliament will prove essential. Naturally, politicians with lived experience of disability have a greater understanding of the trials of living in a world designed for the able-bodied. If Disabled people were represented in politics according to their proportion in the UK population, there would be 136 Disabled MPs. But, at the last election, there were only five – a shocking 0.7 per cent of the House of Commons.
I am hopeful that a more accessible future is out there waiting, but only if our next government is ready to engage with the Disabled electorate. Politicians must think of people with disabilities first – not as an appendix or afterthought. If we can open up society for Disabled people, we’ll make it more inclusive for everyone.