Ask UK

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Community for asking and answering any question related to the life, the people or anything related to the UK.

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New Disability UK Community (feddit.uk)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/25880686

If a federated community like this already exists, please point me to it. I'd rather not divide the effort any more than necessary.

I think it is clear to anyone in the UK. The disabled community is now under attack.

This community is an attempt to help pull people together and consider ideas for support and to enhance our voice.

I like many others in our community over the last 14 years. Have enough mental health issues. That I'd be grateful for other mod volunteers who will share the time managing the group. In the hope, we can keep the workload of off to few people.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago

I would subscribe. Not well enough to be a mod though. I just posted on this topic in another lemmy community. I don't want to repeat myself. I am new user - don't know how to link to my earlier posts. I guess if you search my comments from yesterday/earlier today you'll see it?

My interest is both practical, political/activist, and academic/theoretical so happy to connect with anyone who shares these various interests.

My disabilities are mental, sensory, and physical. Some are life-long, some developed as I aged. My sense of myself as 'disabled' has ebbed and flowed depending on how well I am coping/how others treat me. If you shook me awake from a deep sleep and asked me 'are you disabled?' I would probably say no. But every day I have serious health problems and get stumped by accessibility barriers so in reality I am disabled but I cannot see myself that way. It's weird. It's like my 'felt identity' does not match my actual life. I suspect 'internalised ableism' and I think I need 'woke disability' to fix this mismatch but buggered if I know how to do this. I get inspired by others' struggles e.g. people fighting racism or transphobia because I think there is a shared 'alienated from my own self' experience behind these struggles. And those attacking 'woke' and 'DEI' and 'human rights' are persecuting us all, dehumanising us all, and pushing whatever it is that is keeping us from being our authentic selves. Starmer cutting disability benefits as an 'easy target' is just weaponising this enforced inequality. It's a complex oppression so it needs sophisticated resistance - this will not go away by rattling cans/fund-raising to set up a community centre or whatever. Nor will a protest with placards outside Number 10 fix it. The problem is systemic so it requires systemic change. Sadly, it's not going to be a quick or easy fix!

My two-penn'oth. If that sounds like stuff you care about, that makes two of us, and we have the start of a community. Let's see if others come along too :-)