Jacob-Rees Mogg has admitted to the National Conservatism conference that Voter ID was a form of ‘gerrymandering’, designed to scupper Labour voters (you can count in that a presumed big slug of younger people and Disabled people) which ended up scuppering Conservative voters (a massive amount of older people, also, often, Disabled people). “We found the people who didn’t have ID were elderly and they by and large voted Conservative, so we made it hard for our own voters and we upset a system that worked perfectly well,” he said.
Disability is, contrary to popular belief, a broad church. While many activists rail against Conservative policies which have seen the erosion of rights and benefits, there are, as Rees-Mogg points out, many Disabled people who do still vote Tory. So all sides lost us as crucial potential voters. It is appalling that the nuts and bolts of democracy were manipulated like this. Without fair systems that allow all the people to vote in any of the ways, we are on a slippery slope.
I’m surprised at his honesty, if not what he actually said. Given the unfairness of voter ID for so many Disabled and disenfranchised potential voters, I wonder if the Tories will now consider reeling it back in again?
Locking on? Or locking up?
I’m still fretting about the Public Order Act after writing about it last week. Shami Chakrabarti, former Head of Liberty and former Shadow Attorney General has noted that the new offence of ‘locking on’ is so vague that it could be applied to peaceful protesters linking arms in public.
As a Disabled person who frequently does this for both moral and physical support, and because I’m basically a snuggle bug with crutches, I’m a little antsy about it. I can’t help worrying about my friends with cerebral palsy too. The condition involves muscle spasming. The police could, and may, mistake spasmed grip for wilful criminal obstinance, which gets you six months and an unlimited fine.
Just how are we supposed to protest now? When we’re looking at the levels of injustice and inequality, systemic inequality, Disabled people endure, one thing is for sure: protest isn’t going anywhere, no matter how hard the Government tries to create criminality around it. As long as we are ill served by the systems which are meant to support us and enable us to thrive, we will be speaking up, protesting, and refusing to go quietly.
A couple of mountains
I’m still on a Eurovision high. But I’m in two minds about the half time performance by Sam Ryder. It’s hard (ok, impossible!) not to love a man with That voice, glitter jumpsuits and all the positivity. But the Disabled drum band he brought on felt dangerously close to inspo porn when coupled with the lyrics of his latest song Mountain, about “all that I’ve overcome”.
Disabled people have a daily struggle to get people to see us simply as human beings. While for many of us, we do overcome, or need to overcome, mountains of obstacles – be they medical or social constructs, and as much as many of us want to (and have the right to) tell our individual stories, when it is the predominant way we are represented in the media, and on such high profile stages, it reinforces the message that we are ‘so inspirational’. That we are heroes, tropes, and there for the emotional gratification of those who aren’t Disabled. That said, it was nice to see some prosthetics that were a nice colour for a change. Because why shouldn’t we be able to mix and match our legs to our outfits or stage sets? More of that at least, please.
Speaking of mountains, my gym mate Hari Budha Magar, who is a double above-the-knee amputee, is busy climbing a real mountain. Everest, to be precise. He’s currently at camp 3, and aims to summit in the next few days. You can follow his progress on his website. I hate myself for saying it, but he really is inspirational to me. Mainly because I can barely make it to the end of a driveway without falling over knackered, and there he is hanging off the edge of crevices on crampons. But also because he never has a go at me when he needs his legs after his swim and I’m hogging the Disabled changing room where they’re sitting in the corner. He’s a brilliant bloke on all the levels.
Oh my stars!
There has been an accessibility sea change at BAFTA this year, as they rolled out the red carpet and made sure that us lot could roll along it too. Wheelchair users, fountains of talent and general all round glittering goddesses Ruth Madeley and Sophie Morgan both presented awards, with Ruth noting on her Instagram account that when she was last there, there were no ramps, but this time, the Awards were “fully accessible”. Fabulous to see Lenny Rush bringing the house down with his acceptance speech for Best Male Performance for his role in Am I Being Unreasonable too. Heartfelt, beautiful, hilarious, and completely well deserved. These are Disabled people at the top of their game. They deserve the visibility for their talent. And they deserve the access because we all deserve the access, all of the time. I’ll say it again: Disabled people make up a fifth of the population. A fifth. There is no excuse whatsoever for not accommodating us. Golden gong to BAFTA itself this year. Long may this sort of thing continue there.
And – I’ve got Segway envy. Lenny’s speedy bad boy is a hell of a mobility aid. So good to see ones that don’t look like they were designed under Brutalism. NHS, NRS and wheelchair services – and other providers of mobility aids – take note.
Off the Hook?
Kudos also goes to Disney for casting Noah Matthews Matofsky in the role of Slightly, the leader of the Lost Boys, in its new film Peter Pan & Wendy (now streaming on Disney Plus). Noah has Down’s Syndrome, and is the first (of many, hopefully) actors with a visible disability to be cast by Disney in a leading role. Captain Hook on the other hand (no pun intended, well maybe a little bit), is being played by Jude Law, who last time I checked, did not have a limb difference...
