Silenced for Healing: When Advocacy Collides with Stigma:
Silenced for Healing: When Advocacy Collides with Stigma:
I am a disabled woman. I live with chronic pain and a body that rarely gives me a break. I fight every day to exist, to speak, to advocate—not just for myself, but for countless others like me. And yet, recently, my voice was deliberately muted. Not because I lied, harmed, or misrepresented myself, but because I dared to advocate openly about my legal use of prescription cannabis and share footage of me managing my pain with it.
Yes, cannabis. The plant that has offered me more relief than a pharmacy's worth of pills. The medicine that finally helped me eat again, sleep again, move again. The substance that, when prescribed and used responsibly, gave me back parts of my life that pain had stolen. The drug that is responsible for me staying alive.
Apparently, being honest and sharing that publicly is enough to get you blacklisted. Blacklisting is not something new to me - the world rarely makes space for me and I don't fit in any boxes.
A podcast appearance I was excited for? Cancelled last minute. A press opportunity that would’ve helped amplify disability rights and visibility? Withdrawn. And this time, there was no ambiguity. The explanation I received was blunt: “drug use on social media.”
That was it.
No conversations about it, no inquiries, my helping others totally and absolutely eradicated. All the effort and work I put into the podcast - stolen.
Not illegal activity. Not inappropriate behaviour. Just honesty. I don't shy away from fixing the world's problems and often the world prevents me from helping others because they see my prescription being cannabis - as a problem. It's also likely why I don't get hired.
Stigma has won and I’m done being silent about it.
We need full legalisation. Not grey-area loopholes. Not “medical if you beg hard enough” or “pay a fortune for it.”
We need systems that protect—not punish—those of us who already live in survival mode. Especially disabled people who are scrutinised for every decision we make just to function.
We ARE CONSTANTLY JUDGED!
We need a world where we can talk openly about our pain and our relief. Where disabled people aren’t treated as unprofessional for needing medication. Where “drug use” isn’t weaponised to erase credibility, while other medications—many far riskier—are completely normalised and harm plenty.
Cannabis is not the danger here. Stigma is. Respectability politics are. The idea that I’m only welcome to speak if I make myself small, palatable, and silent about the things that actually keep me alive—that’s the real harm.
This isn’t just about me. It’s about every disabled person who’s been shut out of conversations that affect us, simply because we dared to be visible and truthful. Our survival tools shouldn’t cost us our voices.
I will not shrink to make anyone comfortable - I'm exhausted of struggling to survive.
If my honesty about my medicine offends you more than my suffering ever did, you were never really listening in the first place.
If you’re an ally, speak up!
If you’re a policymaker, push for full legalisation without strings. And if you’re disabled and using cannabis to live—know this: your truth is valid. You are not alone. And we will not be silenced.
If they don't want to use me as a podcast ally or someone who can help the disability community because of my pain management - I won't wear that shame.
The world needs to change.
Sarah Wingfield
Independent Disability Advocate
#DisabilityAwareness #disabilityinclusion #disabilityrights #DisabilitySupport
Due to a recent breach in the malicious communications act to Durham County Council which has lead to this specific opportunity being allowed to be sabotaged - all content was protected prior to this declaration due to my tagged alias appearing on all content: I have now added a legal disclaimer to my pages:
Public Legal Notice (UK Jurisdiction)
As I remain the subject of ongoing ostracism and hate-related behaviour in my hometown, I am issuing this public legal notice to assert my rights under UK law.
All content shared, posted, or created by me on this platform is produced in a personal capacity and reflects my own views only. It does not represent the views or positions of any company, employer, organisation, or affiliate with which I may be associated.
Any unauthorised reproduction, distribution, screenshotting, or use of my content—whether in whole or in part—for the purpose of harassment, defamation, misrepresentation, or to cause reputational or professional harm, is strictly prohibited and may constitute a breach of privacy, data protection, and intellectual property rights under UK law.
Any individual or organisation found to be in receipt of, or actively using, unlawfully obtained content from my platform for malicious purposes may also be in breach of the law, including but not limited to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Malicious Communications Act 1988.
Any attempt to undermine my disability advocacy or community work through such means will be taken seriously. I reserve the right to take legal action against any person(s) or entity/ies involved.
Sarah Wingfield
