Telegraph: Disability Didn’t Become “Cool” — Disabled People Became Visible:
Disability Didn’t Become “Cool” — Disabled People Became Visible
A recent Telegraph article titled “How having a disability became cool” describes young women with chronic illnesses and disabilities as “sickfluencers” and links rising diagnosis, social media visibility, SEND support and disability benefits with ideas around overdiagnosis, identity and economic inactivity. As someone who has advocated for disabled people for more than two decades, I find that framing deeply concerning.
There are valid conversations to be had about online misinformation, people selling questionable health advice, undisclosed advertising and the risks of self-diagnosis. Those things should absolutely be challenged. But that is very different from casting suspicion over disabled people as a whole. Women with POTS, autism, ADHD, chronic pain, ME/CFS, EDS and other less-visible conditions are repeatedly positioned as though increased awareness and diagnosis may itself be evidence that something has gone wrong. Yet increased diagnosis can also mean that people were previously missed, dismissed, misunderstood or simply did not have the language to explain what they were experiencing.
Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain, historically known as SPD, is a good example. Around one in four pregnant women are affected, yet many women have historically struggled to be taken seriously. Greater awareness did not create those symptoms; it helped people understand what was already happening to them. The same applies far beyond pregnancy. A person using a decorated walking stick is not less disabled because it is pink. An autistic woman is not less autistic because she communicates well. A wheelchair user does not have to look miserable to prove they need their chair, and a chronically ill person does not have to hide their diagnosis online in order for it to be legitimate.
Disabled people finding one another through social media is not automatically evidence of “social contagion”. Sometimes it is simply community, and that community matters. Disabled people often understand barriers that policymakers, journalists, employers, educators and healthcare professionals do not experience themselves. Our input is not an optional extra; it is essential.
This is especially important when systemic ableism can shape employment, education, welfare, healthcare, housing and access to public life. Accessibility should not be something designed for disabled people without disabled people being involved. Policies affecting disability should not be shaped around assumptions about us while excluding our voices, and discussions about the “cost” of disability must never forget the value disabled people bring to society.
Disabled people are workers, carers, parents, artists, advocates, professionals, volunteers, campaigners, educators, creators and community leaders. Some of us work full-time, some part-time, some differently, and some cannot work. None of those circumstances determine our human worth.
The answer to systemic ableism is not less recognition of disability. It is better access, better healthcare, better employment opportunities, better SEND provision, better reasonable adjustments and better understanding. Most importantly, it means disabled people having a genuine voice in the decisions that affect our lives.
We should challenge misinformation wherever it exists, but we must also challenge the much older and far more damaging idea that disabled people are exaggerating, attention-seeking, economically inconvenient or somehow responsible for the barriers society places in front of them.
Disability did not suddenly become “cool”. Disabled people became more visible, more informed, more connected and increasingly unwilling to stay silent about inaccessible systems. That is not something society should fear. It is something society should listen to.
Sarah Wingfield ❤️
Independent Disability Advocate
Founder, Support Pelvic Dysfunction
KawaiiDollDecora.uk
Actor • Author • Advocate
#DisabilityRights #DisabilityAdvocacy #DisabledVoices #SystemicAbleism #Ableism #Accessibility #Inclusion #ChronicIllness #InvisibleDisability #SEND #Autism #ADHD #POTS #ChronicPain #MedicalMisogyny #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs
Alt text: Colourful glitter-themed advocacy graphic featuring a screenshot of a Telegraph article titled “How having a disability became cool,” with a subheading referring to young women as “sickfluencers” and linking chronic illness with economic inactivity. Below the screenshot is Sarah Wingfield’s pink signature branding reading “Actress | Author | Advocate” and “KawaiiDollDecora.uk,” alongside a photograph of Sarah with bright pink hair and alternative makeup.
