Category Archives: Disability

27 June 2017 11:00 ~ Reproductive rights – what do they mean for disabled women? – BPAS & RCOG – London

Until 3pm Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, 27 Sussex Place, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4RG

 British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) are bringing together expert speakers and disabled women to discuss the challenges women face when trying to exercise reproductive choices in the UK. Decisions women make around sex, contraception, pregnancy and childbirth are routinely stigmatised and disabled women face a multitude of complex additional barriers. This event will provide an opportunity to hear more about these issues and for women themselves to share what reproductive rights mean to them.

The event will be chaired by Dr Frances Ryan from The Guardian

Speakers will include:

  • Claire de Than Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism at City University, London and Sexual Health and Disability Alliance
  • Sisters of Frida
  • Dr Jane Dickson, Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health
  • Melanie Davies, British Fertility Society

The event is free and lunch will be provided. BPAS and the RCOG are able to consider financial support to help disabled women to attend. The College is fully accessible. Please let us know on booking if you have any access or dietary requirements.

To register please use the following form: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reproductive-rights-what-do-they-mean-for-disabled-women-tickets-34567702930

For further information on support to attend or anything else please contact abigail.fitzgibbon@bpas.org / 020 7061 3379.

May 18, 2017

9 July 2016 11:00 ~ Disabled Women’s Voices from the Frontline – Sisters of Frida – London

A Sisters of Frida Event (Women only)

see http://www.sisofrida.org/event-disabled-womens-voices-from-the-frontline-saturday-9th-july-11am-4-30pm/ for more details

  • Venue: Blackfriars Settlement, 1 Rushworth Street London, SE1 0RB
  • Date: Saturday 9 July 2016
  • Time: 11.00am to 4.30pm

Lunch provided! BSL interpreters provided but please let us know your Access needs and dietary requirements asap.

Disabled women spoke of the barriers in participating in events where organisers seem to think inclusion means that we get access to the event/ if we get access to the event. We need to increase skills, provide capacity so that disabled women will be credible to challenge intersectional inequality.

So come to hear disabled women who are great public speakers/performers

Speakers

  • KIRSTEN HEARN, blind lesbian, long time feminist activist, snarling at patriarchy and agitating for inclusion since 1980 (‘she speaks a lot’)
  • SIMONE ASPIS, with over 20 years’ experience of successful campaigning for disabled peoples’ rights.
  • CHRISTIANE LINK, international traveller, passionate about technology, business, media, accessibility, equal rights, inclusion and equality
  • BECKY OLANIYI, 19-year-old student who speaks on being young, black and disabled – discussing and dismantling the social issues around disability

Performers

  • MISS JACQUI, Spoken Word Artist
  • SOPHIE PARTRIDGE and PENNY PEPPER (tbc), wonderful duo who speak on independent living, disability and sexuality etc

Funded by  Rosa Funding

any questions to hello@sisofrida.org

  • Saturday, 9 July 2016 from 11:00 to 16:30
  • Blackfriars Settlement – 1 Rushworth Street, London, SE1 0RB

Free – but register online at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/disabled-womens-voices-from-the-frontline-tickets-25930154791?utm

June 13, 2016

19 September 2015 13:00 ~ Disability & Sex/uality Workshop, Part 1 – Sisters of Frida a disabled women’s cooperative – London

Sisters of Frida invites you to the first Disability and Sex/uality workshop on 19 September 2015 at London Friend, 1-5pm. This workshop is for self-identified disabled women who want to create a space to talk about disability, sex and sexuality.

The workshop

As disabled women we have a wide range of experiences, positive and negative, around disability, sex and sexuality. Disabled women are sexy, sexual, passionate, loving, caring, desirable, hot, beautiful, strong and much more! Our experiences of sexuality are also affected by different kinds of oppressions as ableism, racism, sexism, heteronormativity, classism and age.

This workshop is the first meeting of the project Disability and Sex/uality we are developing. In this workshop we will explore the different themes around sex and sexuality that arise from our experiences. We will also look at what we want to explore more and what work needs to happen to develop this project.

The project

The idea for this project arose from a screening of the documentary AccSex, which showed how a group of disabled women in India experience their sexuality. This project is part of Sisters of Frida, a disabled women’s cooperative. We are setting up this project out of a need to create a space where we can safely discuss our sexuality in a supportive and empowering environment.

Registration

The topics we will discuss can be sensitive, for this reason, please contact us directly to register and discuss participation as this will be a closed meeting: sof.disabilitysexuality@gmail.com. Note that places are limited, please get in touch as soon as possible. Deadline for registration is 6 September.

Accessibility and needs

The venue is wheelchair accessible. There is an accessible toilet, but without a hoist. There is a small room that people can use for quiet-time. Please get in touch as soon as possible if you need BSL, transcription or if you have other access needs. If you have any concerns or queries about the nature of what might be discussed in the workshop and how it could relate to your experiences, please get in touch. This is a peer-support group, we cannot offer professional support.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Date: 19 September 2015
Time: 1pm – 5pm
Where: London Friend
Address: 86 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DN (close to King’s Cross)
Contact: sof.disabilitysexuality@gmail.com
Deadline for registration: 6 September 2015
Accessibility: Please get in touch to discuss your needs

Check for updates at http://us8.campaign-archive2.com/?u=118db84cfab669f3ce23d1dbb&id=25cfe66c10&e=9699b6098e

 

August 13, 2015

16 May 2015 13:00 ~ Disabled Women Sexuality and Solidarity – Sisters of Frida – London

Sisters of Frida is happy to host AccSex in London. Shweta Ghosh will be there to answer questions co chaired by Lucia Bellini and Becky Olaniyi from Sisters of Frida

View trailer here.

Within stifling dichotomies of normal and abnormal, lie millions of women, negotiating with their identities. Accsex explores notions of beauty, the ‘ideal body’ and sexuality through four storytellers; four women who happen to be persons with disability. Through the lives of Natasha, Sonali, Kanti and Abha, this film brings to fore questions of acceptance, confidence and resistance to the normative. As it turns out, these questions are not too removed from everyday realities of several others, deemed ‘imperfect’ and ‘monstrous’ for not fitting in.Accsex traces the journey of the storytellers as they reclaim agency and the right to unapologetic confidence, sexual expression and happiness.

The experience of minority genders with disability largely reflects double discrimination. In the Indian context, identities and stories are further layered by virtue of diversities in caste, class, ethnic and religious backgrounds. The issues of persons with disabilities are often seen through a welfare approach in laws, programmes and policies. A similar charity-tinted lens is employed by educational books and media texts and a basic reading of these shows how the mildest physical and psycho-social disabilities are viewed as ‘abnormal’.

Accsex has won a number of awards and been part of several festival selections. It has also been used as a strong advocacy and educational material by activists in the field of disability and gender rights. It has been incorporated into the CREA Disability and Sexuality Rights online institute in 2015.

Shweta Ghosh is a documentary filmmaker and researcher. A silver medalist from the School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (SMCS, TISS), Mumbai, she has explored her interest in disability, cuisine, travel and music through research and film projects.

Shweta’s debut documentary Accsex, a film exploring notions of beauty, body, sexuality and disability was awarded Special Mention at the 61st Indian National Film Awards 2014 and has been screened across India and abroad. The film has been appreciated for its rights-based approach to disability and sexuality and has been used widely as advocacy and training material by NGOs and academic institutions.

Lucia Bellini works for StaySafe East to tackle violence and abuse against disabled and Deaf people. She spoke for disabled women at Million Women Rise at Trafalgar Square this year.

Becki Olaniyi is a young disabled women. She was on a panel on disability, race and gender at the WOW Festival at the South Bank this year.

We will also be discussing setting up a disabled women group on sexuality, relationships and intimacy.

This event is a women only event intended as a safe space for women to discuss sexuality and disability issues.

Confirmed BSL for discussion!!

Until 16:30 @ Roots & Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, London SE11 6DN

Nearest Tube stations
Waterloo Station | Bakerloo, Jubilee, (accessible for wheelchair users)
Lambeth North Station | Bakerloo line
Kennington Station | Northern line
Elephant & Castle | Northern line
Northern, Waterloo & City lines

Buses
3, 59, 159, 360

Please register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/screening-accsex-disabled-women-sexuality-and-solidarity-tickets-16811051307 Details are on the eventbrite.

May 12, 2015