A dream:

 

I Advocate Because I Believe We Deserve Better:

I had a dream recently.

A bad one.

The kind that leaves a shadow on your chest when you wake up.

In it, something happened to me—something violent, something targeted.

And when I opened my eyes, heart pounding, I knew exactly why it had found me in my sleep.

Because I advocate.

Because I speak up.

Because I care.

And because, somehow, that makes me a threat.

In real life, I’ve been targeted for standing up—targeted for my disability, for using prescription cannabis legally, for being open and vocal about injustice. I’ve been censored, discredited, and quietly pushed out of spaces that once welcomed me. Not because I did harm. But because I dared to ask that we do better—that we create systems that include rather than erase, uplift rather than punish, protect rather than exclude.

I don’t advocate because it’s easy.

I advocate because I believe our systems could be better.

I advocate because too many people slip through the cracks.

Because too many disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, and marginalised people are treated like burdens instead of human beings.

Because "inclusion" still feels like a buzzword and not a practice.

Because I know what it feels like to be invisible—and I don’t want anyone else to feel that way.

I speak up because someone has to.

Because silence never protected us.

Because we are not disposable.

Because I still believe in a world that sees value in all of us, not just the ones who fit neatly into a system built without us in mind.

Sometimes, I dream of bad things happening to me because I fight for better.

But I also dream of the opposite—

Of a world where disabled people are heard, respected, supported.

Of councils that uphold the laws meant to protect us.

Of policies written with us, not just about us.

Of healing instead of harm.

Of a future where people like me don’t have to fear for speaking the truth.

Let’s hope that future becomes real.

Let’s hope the nightmare stays a dream.

And until then—

I will keep speaking.

I will keep showing up.

Because we all deserve more than just survival.

We deserve to be valued.

To be heard.

To be helped.

I will try my best to help my community and advocate for disabled people and the marginalised, until that’s the world we live in.

I truly hope nothing bad happens to me - but from personal experience - it's just too realistically likely after everything I've endured.

Sarah Wingfield 🌹