All4Inclusion asked me ten questions, and posted them and my answers on its website as part of its Disability History Month celebrations
Ten questions for Disability History Month
1. Can I start by asking you to tell us a little about yourself?
I’m 58. I play walking football, build Lego models, perform poetry, and love music. I live in Kirby Muxloe in Leicestershire with my housemates, numerous cats and a dog, and I have a lovely partner; she lives in Bromsgrove. I have three grown-up sons. I’ve written some books.
2. Many disabled people do not consider themselves to be disabled; do you think or yourself or describe yourself as disabled?
Yes, I do. Applying the social model of disability, I recognise that I am disabled by various barriers in the society in which I live.
3. You are known as a disability campaigner, what inspired you or motivated you to become a campaigner?
In 2005, my right eye was blown out by a firework. A few years later, I was a member of the national executive of the rail, maritime and transport trade union RMT, and argued for the union to send a delegation to TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference for the first time. It was a small delegation, but it was a start. Disabled activists had campaigned alongside us to demand an accessible, publicly-owned railway, and I thought it was important for trade unions to play a strong role in the disabled people’s movement. I was also inspired by disabled socialists, such as Roy Webb.
4. What do you think are the biggest barriers facing disabled people and preventing them from reaching their full potential and fully participating in society?
In short, a capitalist system that puts profits before human need. So if the cost of removing a barrier (whether that is a physical, sensory, communication, attitudinal or other sort of barrier) would dent profits, then it doesn’t get done. Alongside this, capitalism sets up an ever-more-restrictive drive towards the ideal of a ‘normal’ person, leading to exclusion for those of us who do not meet that ideal.
5. Can you give any examples of barriers that you have faced? Did you overcome them? If so, how?
With my visual impairment, most of the barriers were removed by the care of the NHS, which saved my life, rebuilt my face and made me a prosthetic eye. I didn’t have too many problems at work, either, mainly because I was in a strongly unionised job (on London Underground) where the union had won 100% sick pay and was not about to allow the employer to discriminate against me.
It was a similar story when I had cancer in 2016: the NHS and the union made sure that I didn’t face the sort of barriers that I might have done in a country without an NHS or a workplace without a strong union.
However, I am also neurodivergent (autistic, ADHD, specific learning difficulties of a dyslexic type), and the barriers I face have been tougher to deal with. For starters, the barrier of societal ignorance meant that I didn’t even find out until I was 45. I have realised since then that I have experienced misunderstanding and exclusion throughout my life – the big majority of it not malicious but because of the difficulty our society has in including people who are unusual.
I’ve tried to tackle this, and now spend a lot of my time educating trade unionists and other about neurodiversity, and campaigning for change and against discrimination, but the barriers are real.
6. As a disabled person what is the biggest barrier either facing you or disabled people generally that you would like the new Government to take action on?
The crucial issue is empowering us to fight for our own liberation. So my answer is: repealing all laws that restrict effective trade unionism and the right to protest.
7. Do you think that the British media and the British public have an open and positive attitude towards disability and disabled people? If not, why not?
I’m answering this question the day after Children in Need. Despite it being supported by mostly well-meaning people, it is a fiesta of patronising, pity pleading. It lets the government off its responsibility to meet the needs of children, and casts disabled kids as tragic figures. Even if the money might benefit some disabled people, the image it perpetuates harms us all.
8. Have you heard of the ‘Social Model of Disability’ and do you agree with it?
Yes, I do. I incorporate it into all the training that I run, and have written about it, particularly about its application to neurodivergence.
9. At the moment the ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ is receiving a lot of coverage in the media. What is your opinion of the bill? Do you agree with it? Do you have any concerns? Is a private members bill the best way or the correct way to change the law on such an important issue?
I don’t agree with it. Most of the opposition has focused on the danger of the coercion of individuals, which is a fair point. But I think there would also be a wider, collective impact, disincentivising social provision for people who ae terminally ill (in the case of this Bill – it could, of course, then be extended to others).
10. Finally, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. Is there anything else you are happy to share about your life experiences as a disabled person?
I can’t think of anything, but people are welcome to contact me at [email protected]
