Analysis: Autistic People Are More Likely to Be Trans. So What?
Ell Folan
JK Rowling is right: autistic people are far more likely to be transgender. That doesn’t make them any less deserving of gender-affirming care.
Tag: disability
Opinion: Stop Using Disabled People As an Excuse Not to Ban Cars in Cities
Charlie Hertzog Young
Accessible solutions to car-free cities are out there. We just need to care enough about disabled people to implement them, writes Charlie Hertzog Young.
Opinion: Navigating Sex and Desire Is a Headfuck When You’re Black, Disabled and a Woman
The Triple Cripples
We develop our ideas about sex and relationships by observing the world around us. Things get tricky, then, when there's nobody you can relate to.
Opinion: To Solve Britain’s Mental Health Crisis, We Must Fundamentally Change Society
Mark Brown
Progressives still wishfully think that upping budgets will solve the problem. We need to think much, much bigger, writes mental health journalist Mark Brown.
Opinion: Deaf People Are Paying Thousands to Learn Their Own Language
Liam O'Dell
It’s 2021 and the UK still has no sign language GCSE. Deaf journalist Liam O'Dell asks: could the Tories care less about us?
Opinion: Sex Worker Rights Are Disability Rights
Sophie K Rosa
Tired debates about disability and sex work too often focus on the morality of a disabled man buying sex. Why aren’t we talking about disabled sex workers? Sophie K Rosa reports.
Downstream: Why Are All the Baddies Disabled?
From ancient myths through to the Batman trilogy, pop culture is littered with disabled people and those with facial differences being cast as villains. Why does disability feature so heavily in literary and cinematic traditions, and how has this hypervisiblity had the ironic effect of erasing the experiences of disabled people? Ash Sarkar is joined […]
Opinion: Disabled People Don’t Want the Right to Die – We Want the Right to Live
Penny Pepper
Assisted suicide bills like the one currently in parliament hinge on the idea of choice. But in our age of perma-austerity, we should question who gets to make what choices, writes disability rights activist Penny Pepper.
Opinion: Britain’s Inhumane Benefits System Is Giving People PTSD
Jay Watts
The psychological violence of welfare applications is destroying our mental health - and an increasingly two-tier benefits system won’t help, writes clinical psychologist Jay Watts.
Downstream: The Capitalist War Being Waged on Disabled People
Ellen Clifford speaks to Michael Walker about her book “The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of Human Catastrophe”, including an explanation of the Social Model of Disability, the history of the Disabled People’s Movement, and the disastrous consequences of austerity policies.
Opinion: Yes, Mental Health Counts As Disability
Micha Frazer-Carroll
Even people who live with mental distress are often reluctant to recognise it as disability, writes Micha Frazer-Carroll. But doing so could help us understand that many of our problems are caused by the way in which society is constructed - and to organise together to change it.
Opinion: So What’s the Problem With Peter Singer?
Lucy Burke
The work of utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer contributes to a culture in which the value of disabled peoples’ lives is viewed as a matter for debate rather than a given. A failure to recognise this reflects a broader failure to engage meaningfully with disability activism, writes Lucy Burke.
Report: Our Toxic Work Culture Isn’t Just Harming Disabled People – It’s Harming Everyone
Sophie K Rosa
Resisting exploitative workplaces is crucial, but we need to go further - by challenging the obligation to work at all. Disabled activists can show us how. Sophie K Rosa reports.
Opinion: Disability Politics Are Anticapitalist Politics
Ellen Clifford
Impairments aren’t what make us disabled, our profit-driven society is, writes disabled activist Ellen Clifford.
Opinion: The Government’s New Disability Strategy Proves It Doesn’t Give a Shit About Disabled People
Ellen Clifford
The government’s newly published National Disability Strategy is little more than a distraction from its plans to cut social security and further immiserate disabled people, writes Ellen Clifford.
Report: Jobcentre Staff Were Taught to Inflict ‘Psychological Harm’ on the Unemployed
Sophie K Rosa
A new report reveals how the coalition government pressured jobcentre staff to bully the unemployed out of claiming benefits. Sophie K Rosa reports.
Opinion: 25 Years on From the Disability Discrimination Act, Disabled People Still Face Oppression and Injustice
Ellen Clifford
It's no wonder disability rights legislation has failed, writes Ellen Clifford, when the very category of disability is essential to upholding capitalism. Disabled people will never be gifted full equality under a system that, in order to justify itself, needs them to have a worse experience of life than those better suited for exploitation.
Opinion: Shielders Have Been Abandoned During Lockdown – It Can’t Happen Again
Jamie Hale
The government has failed shielding people in this second lockdown, argues Jamie Hale. It must act quickly and decisively to ensure they get the support they need and deserve.