What’s In A Name?
The Disabled Feminist began from a joke made by a former columnist in later December 2022. A response to discussions at the time of bookshops not having a disability-specific section (some prefer ‘disease’ instead), as well as much moral panic over ‘gender studies’ in bookshops, the nickname somehow stuck.
Feminism has yet to consider disabled women; at times of crisis, disabled women are rarely platformed on the relevant issue. Women were told to ‘run for a bus’ in the aftermath of Sarah Everard’s murder by a serving police officer - but the point had to be made, what about the disabled women who use a wheelchair? They were the ones who would have had to front the disaster of the Welfare Reform Bill in stripping all disability support across the UK, while also being targeted disproportionately owing to their gender.
Isn’t it time we named the problem?
The Disabled Feminist is an irregular newsletter on the intersection between disability and fourth wave feminism. The Disabled Feminist newsletter has twice been a featured publication on Substack, including in 2024 - as chosen by the award winning novelist Elif Shafak.
What You Can Expect From This Newsletter
Regular essays across a wide range of themes at the intersection of disability and fourth wave feminism.
Interviews with interesting individuals such as author Katherine May.
And for paywall subscribers: each month there will be an extra email with reading recommendations to assist in becoming an anti ableist and ally to disabled individuals alike.
To sign up for all these benefits, click the button below:
About Lydia Wilkins
Hello 👋 My name is Lydia, I’m a twenty-something year old, award-winning freelance journalist and editor.
I’m the editor of Disability Review Magazine, the UK’s largest disability title. I’ve written for a range of titles, including The Independent, Happiful Magazine, GLAMOUR, Grazia, Service 95, The New World (formerly The New European), Women’s Health, Conde Nast Traveller, The Bookseller and others. I’ve also acted as a speaker / consultant, and have collaborated with organisations such as Naidex, Bath Spa University, SPA Journalism, The Women’s Podcast Festival, Crystal Eyes, and others.
My next book, titled Criminally Misunderstood, will be out in early 2027 through Footnote, an imprint of Bonnier Books. A polemic on the criminal justice system, the book deconstructs the concept of pathologisation and the corrosive legacy it leaves across the UK’s criminal justice system and beyond.
I, too, am disabled, and also consider myself a feminist. You can catch me writing this newsletter or on Instagram most days.
