What is UK Disability History Month?
With the support of 24 unions, charities and disability coalitions, Richard Rieser founded UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) in 2010. Every year, it dedicates a month to celebrating disabled people and the work of disabled activists over the years. It is also an opportunity to discuss ableism, disableism and achieving true equality. Another element commemorates the historical atrocities disabled people were victim to.
Photo by Daniel Ali on Unsplash: A brick wall painted with colours of white, dark blue, violet, white, peachy orange, yellow, greens and greys. The wall is run-down with cracks and places where it has crumbled or been eroded. There is a scratched sign that says, accessible entry, with a sign of a wheelchair in the bottom left-hand corner, and it says ‘Chicago Park District’ on the right.
Why do we need a disability history month?
The UKDHM was launched the same year the Conservative party returned to power after 13 years of New Labour. Reiser talks about how they foresaw the erosion of rights disabled activists had fought to achieve over the years. Iain Duncan Smith, then Secretary for Work and Pensions, set the tone, suggesting a high percentage of disabled people’s benefit claims were fraudulent. British tabloids subsequently ran libellous stories claiming that up to 75% of disabled claims were false. When examined, the government’s own figures revealed the number of fraudulent claims accounted for 0.3% of spending.
It is concerning that these claims, peddled by government ministers, are partially if not wholly responsible for enduring prejudices against disabled people. People on benefits are labelled, ‘scroungers’, and disability hate crimes are reportedly on the rise. Even more dangerous, is the fact that disableism is still prevalent in the social and care system. A damning parliamentary inquiry about the handling of the coronavirus crisis, published in October 2021, reveals disproportionately high mortality rates in people with learning disabilities and autistic people. Even more troubling, is the fact that many of these deaths were avoidable.
In our social model, disability tends to be regarded as an individual ‘problem’ rather than a societal responsibility. This is noticeable in the language used for the Equality Act 2010. It states that ‘reasonable adjustments’ be made in settings like hospitals and schools, but when it comes to employment and housing, the adjustments must be petitioned for by the disabled individual. Therefore, reasonable adjustment isn’t enforced as a matter of state policy but is implemented depending on how much labour and input a disabled person has capacity to give.
When we leave disabled people to advocate for themselves without support, it is also easier to stigmatise disability. As the onus is on disabled people to ask for accommodations, they are viewed negatively, as a deviation from the ‘norm’. Furthermore, it undermines collective responsibility to re-evaluate accessibility or change structural barriers.
This is even more problematic when we consider hidden disabilities, one of the themes addressed by UKDHM this year, along with sex and relationships.
Hidden Disabilities and Sex Education
More than half of the 13.5 million people currently identified as disabled in the UK have hidden impairments. UKDHM wants to highlight the fact that many with hidden disabilities don’t disclose that they are disabled, because of the stigma attached to it. As a result, it makes it harder for those with hidden disabilities to advocate for themselves and request reasonable adjustment.
The other topic on the agenda is the fact that disabled people are still mostly left out of the conversation when it comes to sex. Research has shown that this can cause low self-esteem and vulnerability to consent issues and abuse.
We can see changes slowly happening in popular culture. For example, the aptly named series, Sex Education, was praised for its sensitive portrayal of the sex scene between disabled character, Isaac and non-disabled character, Maeve. Influencers on Instagram, such as Alex Dacy (wheelchair_rapunzel) post regularly about sexuality, empowerment, and autonomy in the disabled body, provoking meaningful discussions inside and outside the online disabled community.
What can we do beyond UKDHM?
We still have a long way to go. UKDHM is campaigning for a future where decisions will be made for disabled people by disabled people. Yet for this to happen, we must fund more disabled-led organisations. More disabled people must receive training to become advocates. We must stop segregating disabled and non-disabled people. We must demand that the mainstream adapt, so that disability does not become a personal battle. We must stop looking at disability as individual, as a choice, as negative or as separate.