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This video will feature
slowly decreasing lighting
as the daylight outside my window
gradually fades
so, sorry about that
This video also comes with a
TRIGGER WARNING
for discussions of ableism, *** assault,
***, domestic violence and abuse.
This week we're talking about feminism and ableism
so I'm going to talk about
some of the ways in which disabled women
are specifically affected by sexism
in ways that temporarily able women aren't
or aren't to the same extent.
Many disabled women even in
so called 'developed' countries like the UK
are at risk of forced or coerced sterilisation
as a result of medical professionals
or relatives who don't believe that they
would be capable of raising a child.
This is something Holly talked about in her video
the week we did reproductive rights
and I'll put a link to her video down below
because if we are going to talk about reproductive rights
and birth control and abortion
that equally needs to include
a discussion of sterilisation
because that is part of a woman's right to choose
whether she has a child or not.
Taking that right away is as terrible
as forcing a woman to have a child against her will.
And disabled women who do have children
often face accusations that they're a bad mother
because of the ways in which their disability
changes the way they interact with their child
or if the disability is hereditary
because people don't think that they should have
had a child in the first place.
For a variety of reasons having a disability
can increase your dependence on others.
You may need a carer's assistance
to get around the home
and perform day-to-day activities
you may need someone to drive you just from A to B
and even if your mobility isn't impaired
your disability may make it difficult
to find sustainable well paying work
meaning that in the absence of government benefits
you may be financially dependent
on your partner or other relatives.
All of which increases the vulnerability of disabled women
and puts them at a greater risk
of *** assault or domestic abuse.
If you're physically or financially dependent
on your partner and they turn abusive
what do you do?
How can you report someone when you rely on them
to help you complete day-to-day activities
or to get out of the house
or to help pay for food, and bills, and rent
for you or maybe even for your children?
The majority of *** assaults are commited
by someone the victim knows,
not by strangers in dark alleyways.
And a physical disability may make it more difficult
for you to resist an attacker
while a mental illness such as depression
may increase the likelihood
that you'll end up blaming yourself
explaining away abuse as something you caused
or maybe even deserved
for being such a terrible burden.
If you do attempt to report someone
any disability that affects your communication
either physically or mentally may make it harder
for you to fully articulate what happened to you
to the extent required to gain an arrest and conviction.
And finally even if you get past that barrier
will anyone believe you?
Our society strips disabled people of
their *** autonomy and sexuality
so we're shocked if a disabled person is openly ***
or if a temporarily able person shows *** attraction
towards a disabled person.
And because of the way our society
conflates *** and *** attraction
the message creeps in that if you're not considered
sexually attractive according to society's norms
for example if you're disabled
then you can't be *** because
why would anyone want to try to have sex with you?
As feminists we need to check our able privilege
and ensure that we're discussing these issues
that affect disabled women.
And as with all intersectionalities
this is not something that we can just
focus on in discrete chunks.
We can't say, "okay we're going to listen
to the disabled feminists this week
but then after that
we're just going to go back
to what matters to the rest of us."
This needs to be part of our everyday feminism
in the same way that race issues
need to be part of our everyday feminism
in the same way that that trans issues
need to be part of our everyday feminism
the same way that class issues
need to be part of our everyday feminism
the same way that *** issues
need to be part of our everyday feminism
all of which brings me onto my final point
which is about making feminist spaces more accessible.
Because not only do disabled women face oppressions
that temporarily able women don't
it can also be much harder for them to access
generic feminist spaces if we're not checking our privilege
and making those spaces accessible.
And we could all very easily find ourselves
in the same situation.
I've said throughout this video "temporarily able privilege"
because it is only temporary.
We're all only one accident or illness
away from finding that that feminist group
that we used to attend
is no longer accessible to us
because they meet in the upstairs back room of a pub
and there's no lift access
or because there's no disabled toilets
or because the literature that's distributed
isn't available in a format that we're able to read.
And this is something that I'm shamefully aware
that we need to get better at on Those Pesky Dames
a handful of our videos have captions
for anyone who's deaf of hearing impaired
most of them don't.
And we've had this raised a few times
where people have asked for captions or transcripts
and honestly it is something that we're aware of
[stuttering] it's a matter of time and resources
so if you'd like to help us fix this
then please look in the description
there's some information there about how you can help us
to make captions for all of our backlog of videos
I think we're going on over 100 now.
so please if you can help us that would be amazing.
This week also sees the start of
the London 2012 Paralympics
one of the sponsors for which is
somewhat unbelievably ATOS.
For those unaware ATOS is the company
contracted by the government to basically
kick as many disabled people as they can off benefits
putting them at a greater risk of
all the issues that I mentioned earlier in the video
and causing widespread suffering
and in many cases suicide.
In response campaigning group
Disabled People Against the Cuts
are running a week of actions that started yesterday
called the ATOS Games
so please look in the description for links
to more information about that as well
to see if there are any events
that you can get involved in.
If I've missed anything
if I've got anything wrong
please say in the comments
and if any disabled women or feminists
would like to make a guest video
about their experiences of feminism and tell their story
then please get in touch
again more information in the description
we would absolutely love you to do that.
And yeah, hopefully I'll see you next Monday.
Bye.