Hello!
Welcome to The View From Down Here - a newsletter all about disability, ableism and how to be an ally - by me, Lucy Webster.
Every week I share a musing about my life as a young(ish) disabled woman that I think demystifies disability or challenges ableist assumptions.
Usually, I use something that’s happened to me or that I’ve been thinking about in my own life to illuminate a wider point. Occasionally I’ll explain an idea from disability theory, share a fascinating part of disability history, review a disability-focused cultural offering, comment on a political development that affects disabled people, or lay out some tips to being a better ally. Disabled life is rich and varied, so this newsletter is too!
Whatever I’m sharing, I am always as honest and open (and hopefully entertaining) as I can be, because I think that’s the only way to do anti-ableism work.
The aim is to equip you, whether you are disabled or not, with the insights to think differently about disability and take your first steps toward being a true anti-ableist ally.
This work is deeply personal and fervently political. Everything written here is underpinned by three core personal-political commitments:
The social model of disability, which asserts that disability is a sociopolitical designation used to marginalise and exclude
Intersectionality, which asserts the importance of understanding disability and ableism in the context of other identities and systems of oppression. E.g. my experience of disability and ableism is shaped by my experiences of being a woman and being gay, and I both can’t and shouldn’t separate those things
Disability justice, which asserts that it is not enough to simply include disabled people in nondisabled society, instead society must be reimagined to allow disabled people to truly thrive
Ready to join me? Subscribe now!
Why subscribe?
Perhaps you’ve been thinking about issues like diversity and equality and would like to include disability in your activism or work.
Perhaps you have a disabled person in your life and want to know more about the issues they face without burdening them with the need to explain.
Perhaps you love reading and want to diversify the voices you hear from (while enjoying some good writing!).
Perhaps you don’t see your own experiences reflected in the media and feel you might here.
Or perhaps you’d like to support me to keep writing about all this stuff - subscriptions are what make this newsletter happen.
All of these are perfect reasons to subscribe! Just click the button below.
Why become a paid subscriber?
Anti-ableism work is incredibly rewarding. I love the sense of purpose it gives me, I love seeing people’s understandings of disability change, and I really love the community I am building here.
But this work is also really hard, emotionally and physically, while also being difficult to make a living from.
There’s so much more I’d like to bring you with this newsletter (and everything else I do in this space), but I need your support to be able to do that.
For just £6/m or £70/y, you can ensure I can keep working for a better, anti-ableist future. See it as your first act of allyship!
This newsletter is entirely reader-funded. The more support I have, the more time I can dedicate to anti-ableism.
I am hugely grateful for all your support, messages and subscriptions. They really do make it possible for me to show up for my community and try to create change.
That means the world to me. Thank you.
