Take a look at our cultural backdrop, and you’ll see it; while in recent years coverage of disability issues and the disability rights movement has improved, there are huge gaps. Meanwhile, disabled women are so often forgotten during times of crisis; when it came to the murder of Sarah Everard, the Metropolitan Police advised women to run away from a suspicious police officer, and then flag down a bus. How can a disabled woman do that? This was just one key example of a cognitive dissonance that has only grown more noticeable as time goes on.
The Disabled Feminist is a newsletter to collect the writing of freelance journalist and author Lydia Wilkins. It considers the intersection of fourth wave feminism and the disability rights movement, drawing out common themes between the two - such as when it comes to accessing healthcare, reviewing inclusive feminist texts, interviews, and more.
Since beginning, The Disabled Feminist has been featured on Substack’s home page, as well as in the Substack Reads guest edit in May 2024.
The Disabled Feminist was a nickname given to her in December 2022 by former Daily Mirror columnist Rachel Charlton Dailey over a typical Wattsapp voice note; it stuck, and has been in place ever since.
Why You Should Join The Paywall & Benefits
Words have worth. And yet, we so often do not value them as much as we should do - but Substack has become a home to many writers and their writing.
A paywall enables this disabled writer to keep creating - and you also receive benefits in return:
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About Lydia Wilkins
Lydia Wilkins is an award winning freelance journalist and editor who specialises in disability and social inequality issues. Her work has appeared in multiple outlets including The Metro, Insider, The Daily Mail, The Independent, Refinery 29, PosAbility Magazine, The Brighton Seagull, Women’s Health, The Mid Sussex Times, and others. She is also the editor in chief of Disability Review Magazine, the UK’s largest disability media title.
Her first book, The Autism Friendly Cookbook, won two international Gourmand Awards; it was extracted in national and international media, went viral on TikTok, and was turned into a pilot course, which she co-taught, in Lewes, Sussex.
Lydia is also a speaker/lecturer, and has worked with organisations such as Naidex, Suffolk University, Lava Elastic, Bath Spa University, the Publishing For Everyone conference, and others.
In her spare time she writes a Substack newsletter called The Disabled Feminist, and is also an ambassador for AccessAble, the UK’s largest provider of disability related access information.
