I Don’t Owe You My History

Getting asked what's wrong with you or what happened to you can be an everyday hazard for someone with a physical disability. A few days ago it happened to me.  Again.  Actually it happened again again.  I've no idea how many times I've had this happen, but all I can tell you is that the snarky, scathing …

Election Special: My Government Radicalised Me

Somebody commented on my previous blog post that it was "interesting until it devolved into a left-wing rant".  Whilst I don't consider myself a particularly strident leftwinger, I will acknowledge that I am increasingly angry these days, with my response to political machinations veering between the incandescent to the apoplectic. By the end of today, it …

Every Mind Matters: 12 Questions

You may have seen this week that Public Health England has launched a new campaign entitled 'Every Mind Matters'.  It is, as ever, backed by a number of celebrities and public figures and is a promoted trend on UK twitter.  But what does it actually mean in practice?  Well, it would seem to be little …

Would You Date A Disabled Person?

Dear reader, you are going to be my bartender for the next thousand words or so...strap in, I'm seething... Do you ever have one of those moments where something happens and you think, "I could really have made use of this years ago..." Well, out of the blue one of those happened to me last night... …

Picking The Lock On Disordered Language

The following is the written transcript of a talk I gave at the launch of the book 'Drop the Disorder!' which I'm delighted to have contributed a chapter to.  I urge anyone interested in challenging the medicalised culture of diagnosis to check it out - and to join the 'Drop the Disorder' facebook group to …

Stop Telling People ‘It Gets Better’

September 10th is the annual World Suicide Prevention Day.  Indeed, in the US the entire month is designated suicide prevention month and as someone with an ever lengthening record of speaking openly on the topic of suicide as an attempt survivor, the whole premise of WSPD once again fills me with hope and disquiet... When I (very …

Dropping The Act

One of the things that has really changed in me since I started exploring my relationship to my disability, is first encountering, and then realising just how much, internalised ableism I had within me.  This is an ongoing process as I've unpacked various elements of self-loathing that come from the inherently ableist world around me.  …