PGP / SPD My story:

I Emailed the Prime Minister to Demand Action on Systemic Ableism I emailed our Prime Minister because I can already see disabled people being targeted. Our community deserves to be supported—not blamed, punished or harmed further. Disabled people face entrenched barriers in employment, higher living costs and persistent discrimination, yet public debate too often treats us as the problem. This is what I sent: " Dear Prime Minister, I am writing to urge your government to take meaningful action against systemic ableism and create stronger incentives for employers to recruit, retain and promote disabled people. Disabled people continue to encounter significant barriers to employment, including inaccessible recruitment processes, discrimination, inadequate workplace adjustments and assumptions about our abilities. Even when disabled people secure paid employment, many experience lower pay and fewer opportunities for progression. Disability also brings substantial additional living c...

Core Forms of Ableism 🌸 -Sarah Wingfield  Independent Disability Advocate  1. Individual Ableism Direct attitudes, beliefs, or actions from a person. Name-calling, mockery, slurs Assuming disabled people are “less capable” Speaking over or infantilising someone Ignoring access needs or boundaries 👉 This is the most visible form—but not the only one. 2. Interpersonal Ableism How ableism shows up in interactions between people. Dismissing someone’s lived experience Comparing disabilities (“others have it worse”) Gaslighting symptoms or needs Tokenism or performative support 👉 This often hides behind “opinions” or “debates” but causes real harm. 3. Institutional Ableism When systems, organisations, or policies disadvantage disabled people. Workplaces refusing reasonable adjustments Schools not supporting learning needs Healthcare dismissing symptoms Legal systems lacking accessibility 👉 This is where the Equality Act 2010 (UK) should protect—but often fails in practice. 4. St...

Disabled people are being failed again and again. Stop removing support from disabled constituents. Stop the hateful misinformation in the media. Stop ignoring systemic ableism. Many disabled people want to work and contribute, but accessible, fairly paid opportunities are still being denied to us. And even when disabled people do get into paid work, the UK disability pay gap was 12.7% in 2023 according to the ONS.  That is not fairness. That is discrimination built into the system. Some of us are already doing huge amounts of unpaid labour — advocacy, care, community work, creative work, emotional labour — while also managing the extra daily costs that come with disability. Those extra costs are real, and cutting support only pushes disabled people further into hardship. Around 5 million people were receiving either PIP or DLA under DWP policy ownership at February 2025, showing how many people rely on disability-related support.  Disabled people deserve dignity. We deserve a...

Meta Support Fails to Hold Their Own Misuse of Policies and Procedures to Account I have now reached the point where silence speaks louder than policy. After my account was demonetised by Meta over an image they classified as “sexual in nature,” (a chatGPT image falsely categorised as such) I followed the correct process. I asked for transparency. I asked for the legal basis. I asked for accountability. What I received instead was dismissal. Despite repeated, clearly written requests grounded in UK law, Meta support has refused to provide the most basic information required to justify an income-affecting enforcement decision. This is not a misunderstanding. This is not a disagreement over taste or content. This is a failure of governance. What I asked for (reasonably and lawfully) I formally requested: The specific policy provision relied upon to classify the content as sexual Confirmation of whether the demonetisation decision involved automated decision-making, human review, or a com...

 They call them “compliance officers” — the ones who investigate UC claimants. But with benefits comes no privacy, no autonomy. You can follow every rule, abide by every law, and still find yourself targeted because someone made you their hobby… someone decided to stir trouble just to watch the fallout. I am compliant. And yet here I am, facing an invasive UC interrogation anyway. Oh well. A waste of time for both of us, I suppose. People still think benefits are “easy.” They think disability support is some kind of luxury. They have no idea that the system is built on suspicion and ableism, not compassion. I hate this system. And I’ll keep calling it out — loudly. Sarah Wingfield Independent Disability Advocate #disabilityinclusion #strongertogether #disability #disabilityawareness #disabilitysupport #disabilityrights Alt text: A brightly coloured 3D avatar with long pink and purple pigtails wearing pink headphones. The avatar has bright makeup, a small nose piercing, and a lip pi...

  Today I signed and shared a petition forwarded to me from Sarah: Changing the Narrative, on Facebook. It was a real life acknowledgement of the systemic barriers regarding housing disabled individuals, and how most bungalows are 65+. I signed it, shared it and I sent the following email to my MP.  If you'd like to sign and share it, please use the link below and if you need to, you can use my email as a template for your own. Good luck 🤞🏻 we are going to need it to change this issue. 🙏🏻 ---- Subject: Support for Petition on Accessible Housing for Disabled People Dear Alan Strickland, Anita, I am writing to you as one of your constituents and as a disability advocate to ask for your support regarding an important petition I have signed:  https://petition.parliament.uk/signatures/159851268/signed The petition calls for the Government to require social housing providers to ensure that all disabled people, regardless of age, can access ground-floor or accessible housing...