Frances Ryan | |
---|---|
Occupation | Author |
Alma mater | University of Nottingham |
Subject | Disability rights movement |
Notable works | Crippled: Austerity and the Demonisation of Disabled People |
Notable awards | Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature |
Frances Ryan FRSL is a British journalist, author, and activist for people with disabilities. In 2021 the Shaw Trust named her one of the UK's ten most influential disabilities activists. Global Citizen called her "a prominent voice for people with disabilities in the media". [1] She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Ryan grew up in Grantham, Lincolnshire, and attended Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School. [2] She has a PhD in politics from the University of Nottingham. [3]
Ryan is a journalist, author, and activist for people with disabilities. [4] [5] [1] She began writing about disability in 2012 [6] : x and has written the Hardworking Britain column for The Guardian . [3] She has worked as a political researcher at the University of Nottingham. [7]
Ryan's 2019 book Crippled: Austerity and the Demonisation of Disabled People explored the impacts of the UK austerity programme on people with disabilities. [8] The book was published by Verso in June 2019. [9] The book inspired the BBC drama Hen Night, which Ryan created with Vici Wreford-Sinnott. [8] [10] [11]
In 2022, she commented on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation on disabled people. She argued that many disabled people require extra electricity for medical equipment or extra heat. She said, "If you're chronically ill, you can't go round multiple shops for the cheapest deal." [12]
In 2015 Ryan was awarded the Politics Best Thesis Prize from the School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham. [13] Ryan won the Royal National Institute of Blind People media impact award in 2019. [3]
In 2019 she was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize [14] and in 2020 for the Paul Foot Award. [15]
In 2021 the Shaw Trust named her one of the UK's ten most influential disabilities activists. [5] Global Citizen called her "a prominent voice for people with disabilities in the media". [1] Ryan was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022, due in combination to her authorship of Crippled and her writing for The Guardian. [16]
Ryan has generalised muscle weakness and uses a wheelchair. [8] [17] Due to her disability, Ryan was unable to travel for a book tour, so she spoke at online events. For a television interview about her book, she declined a producer's suggestion that she be filmed performing tasks around her house, as she did not think this would have been asked were she not disabled. [18]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a United Kingdom government department of His Majesty's Government responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. As the UK's biggest public service department it administers the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers. It is the second largest governmental department in terms of employees, and the largest in terms of expenditure (£187bn).
Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People is a 2019 book by Frances Ryan about disability in the United Kingdom under the 2010s austerity programme. It explores the effects of welfare cuts, local council cuts, social care cuts, increased taxes for disabled people and means testing for remaining welfare provisions. Between research about the prevalence of each issue, Ryan interviews disabled people affected by the issue. She finds people who have died from having financial support withdrawn, people who cannot afford food, heating or prescriptions, and people unable to wash or get dressed due to removal of social care. Ryan researches into disabled people who live in inaccessible housing, who cannot afford visits to the hospital, who cannot leave violent partners for financial reasons and who rely on young children to look after them.
Judith Ellen Heumann was an American disability rights activist, known as the "Mother of the Disability Rights Movement". She was recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community. Heumann was a lifelong civil rights advocate for people with disabilities. Her work with governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-profits, and various other disability interest groups, produced significant contributions since the 1970s to the development of human rights legislation and policies benefiting children and adults with disabilities. Through her work in the World Bank and the State Department, Heumann led the mainstreaming of disability rights into international development. Her contributions extended the international reach of the independent living movement.
Liz Carr is an English actress, comedian, broadcaster and international disability rights activist.
Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School (KGGS) is a grammar school with academy status for girls in Grantham, Lincolnshire, established in 1910. It has over 1000 pupils ranging from ages 11 to 18, and has its own sixth form.
Jane Susan Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, is a British disability rights campaigner and a life peer in the House of Lords. She was Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and served as the Chair of the Disability Committee which led on to the EHRC Disability Programme. She was the former Chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). She was a Commissioner at the Disability Rights Commission (DRC).
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Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) is an organisation based in the United Kingdom for disabled people and allies to campaign against the impact of government spending cuts on the lives of disabled people. Formed on 3 October 2010 DPAC promotes full human rights and equality for all disabled people, and operates from the Social Model of Disability.
Me Before You is a 2016 romantic drama film directed by Thea Sharrock in her directorial debut and adapted by author Jojo Moyes from her 2012 novel of the same name. The film stars Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer, Charles Dance, and Brendan Coyle.
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Lorraine Susan Gradwell MBE was a British disability rights campaigner and sports person, feminist writer and poet.
The National Centre for Independent Living (NCIL) was a non-profit staffed organisation controlled by and run for disabled people active in social care issues to campaign for and support the independent living of disabled people in the community and using personal assistants, as opposed to living in institutions such as care homes and hospitals. It ceased its work in December 2011.
Stacey Park Milbern was a Korean-American disability rights activist. She helped create the disability justice movement and advocated for fair treatment of disabled people.
Shani Dhanda is a British disability activist. She was named to the BBC's 100 Women in 2020 and has been named to the Shaw Trust Power 100 on several occasions, earning the title of the UK's most influential disabled person in 2023. Dhanda founded the Asian Disability Network and helped organise the first-ever Asian Woman Festival in the UK.
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Then Barbara Met Alan is a 2022 British television drama film about Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, the founders of DAN, a disability activism group. It is written by Jack Thorne and Genevieve Barr and stars Ruth Madeley and Arthur Hughes. It broadcast on BBC Two on 21 March 2022.