When Safety Nets Disappear, So Do Lives: A Disabled Advocate’s Warning
When Safety Nets Disappear, So Do Lives: A Disabled Advocate’s Warning
Laughing is not a solution. It’s a temporary soundbite when what we need is action.
I work as an independent disability advocate. I see people fall through cracks every day — denied vital support, ignored by systems meant to protect them, re-traumatised by institutions that prefer convenient stories to inconvenient truths. I cannot sit back and watch the safety nets that protect us all be eroded while people smile and scroll on.
Disabled people are not a separate issue. We are your parents, your partners, your neighbours, your friends. Any one of us could become disabled tomorrow. When rights like access to meaningful welfare, fair assessments and legal protections are dismantled, the consequences ripple out. The assisted dying debate is part of that picture — without proper support and genuine safeguards, “choice” can become coercion.
You might laugh. You might call me difficult. That’s fine. I’ll keep being loud anyway. Because the stakes are literal: real people’s survival, dignity and safety. Think about the world you want a decade from now. Ask who benefits from policies framed as ‘efficiency’ or ‘reform’. Ask whose suffering is being normalised so profit or convenience can prosper.
If you want to help: listen to disabled people, pressure your representatives to protect rights not strip them, donate time or money to grassroots groups, and hold officials accountable when they prioritise spin over safety.
Take care. We’re in this together — not enemies, not statistics, but neighbours who deserve to be protected.
Love and solidarity.
Sarah Wingfield ❤️
Independent Disability Advocate
#HumanRights #ECHR #Safetynets #solidarity #support #Standwithyourneighbour #alliance #communityprotection #communitysupport
Alt text:
A cinematic split-screen image shows two contrasting scenes divided down the centre. On the left, a diverse group of people, including wheelchair users, sit together in warm orange light, looking determined and supported. On the right, the same individuals appear in cold blue-grey tones, sitting in wheelchairs in front of a landscape of destruction and rubble, looking distressed and abandoned. At the top left, bold text reads: “WHEN SAFETY NETS DISAPPEAR, SO DO LIVES: A DISABLED ADVOCATE’S WARNING.” In the bottom right corner is a small heart-shaped logo that says “Kawaii Doll Decora.”
