A vibrant new, inclusive online community has sprung up to fight back against the Labour Party government’s brutal Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) disability benefit cuts and the rampant ableism these plans have emboldened.
Filling a vital niche, Disability Rebellion is one disabled artist, writer, and activist’s answer to a rights movement that too often still, excludes chronically ill and disabled people unable to turn out to in-person demonstrations.
The Canary spoke to founder Atlanta about the new group, and its ambitions for taking on the impending cuts.
Disability Rebellion: ‘galvanised into action’ by ‘cruel DWP cuts’
After the Labour Party DWP boss Liz Kendall announced the government’s suite of regressive disability benefit cuts, Atlanta launched Disability Rebellion towards the end of March.
Currently, the group spans two social media sites. On X, it has a community that X users can request to join. Over on Facebook, there’s a landing page, alongside a similar private group to become a member.
In a nutshell, it describes itself as:
a feisty fightback against ableism + government cuts. A space free from ableists!
That is, in essence, the basic premise of the new group. It’s a welcoming online community and safe space for disabled people to organise. In that vein, Atlanta explained that:
There is a strong emphasis on being a supportive community where we disabled people can help each other, support each other and be there for each other. Such solidarity and support is needed at this difficult time for disabled people, where we are not only having to manage our disabilities and illnesses, but also having to fight for the healthcare we need, fight against hateful rhetoric and ableism, keep a roof over our heads and fight against the cuts. It is a lot to manage for anyone alone and I hope that as a community we can help each other get through this.
Significantly, Atlanta has expressed how she was “galvanised into action” by the government’s DWP Green Paper announcements. In her online blog, she confided how these impacted her and were the impetus for the new group:
The cruel government cuts to disability benefits felt like I had been dumped into an ice bath. After a decade of being trapped in the agonising, mind-numbing fugue of chronic migraine, I woke up to harsh reality; the anger and despair was immense. I could no longer sit there and watch as the government gutted disability benefits and continued the work started by the Tories.
This is when the Disability Rebellion was born.
Atlanta told the Canary that its aims are to:
put pressure on the government to abandon the cuts, to raise awareness of the ableism in our society, to fight back against anti-disabled hate, to challenge the harmful and hateful rhetoric coming from the government about disabled people, and to provide a supportive environment where rebels can network with each other for support and solidarity without the fear of abuse from trolls and ableists.
True inclusivity means breaking the mould on traditional methods of activism
Straight away, it’s evident that Atlanta’s own experience living with chronic health conditions has fed into the vision for the group. Notably, while the moment has called for concerted boots and wheels on the ground action, it shouldn’t mean bed-bound and house-bound disabled people are left out of forging the fight back.
In fact, chronically ill and disabled people at home are arguably some of the voices most needed. Notably, it’s this demographic who are more likely to be among those unable to work.
Of course, it’s also the case that DWP cuts will hit them the hardest. The government has justified these plans through hostility to those who can’t work. All the while, ‘disability confident’ work-from-home part-time positions are shamefully sparse, to virtually non-existent.
So, Atlanta told the Canary that:
We are creating a community where disabled people from all over the country can come together to oppose ableism and the cuts – in whichever way they can. The difficulty disabled people have is that we’re typically isolated in a largely inaccessible world – and so it can be difficult for us to be represented and to register our discontent and dissent using traditional methods. It can be difficult for many disabled activists to get to protests and so, disabled people from over the country are coming together in this online community to share ideas and work together in a supportive environment to find ways to effectively oppose ableism and the cuts to welfare.
Moreover, she articulated that she wants Disability Rebellion to embody inclusivity:
We recognise that disability is intersectional, affecting people from all backgrounds, and so Disability Rebellion is an inclusive movement that represents disabled people, regardless of who you are, where you are from, and regardless of sexuality, gender, sex, age, disability and religion. It has been amazing seeing people from all backgrounds coming together to fight back. There is strength in numbers. If we are united, we can stand up as one large community and tell society that “No, this is not how we are meant to treat disabled people and other marginalised groups.” It is easy to divide us – especially in a time where so many people (not just disabled people) are struggling to have their basic needs met – so we must resist that by working together and being inclusive.
In short, Disability Rebellion has thrown down the gauntlet in the disability rights movement. It’s posing a vital challenge to all groups fighting on the welfare cut front. This is: what good is a movement advocating for societal inclusivity, if it isn’t embedding this within its own work?
An ‘evolving and growing’ community with bold plans
Speaking to Atlanta, it’s clear the group has bold plans to boot for all this.
The group wants to “educate the public” about the lived realities of being disabled.
On top of this, Atlanta envisages the group going for charity status. In particular, she wants to explore this option in order to raise funds for the group’s future activism.
She also hopes that the group can assist in funding legal cases that disabled people bring to oppose the DWP cuts. Specifically, she articulated that she’d like:
to see a mass class legal action against the government and I’m sure we could work with other disability movements and organisations to make this possible.
There’s no shortage of ideas. Atlanta mused that she also eventually intends for the group to:
have a team of advisors on board who can help disabled people advocate for their rights.
Overall, she noted that:
As this is an evolving and growing community, we are excited for the future and can’t wait to see where this takes us next.
However, as it says on the tin, it’s a ‘rebellion’ first and foremost – a focal point for a call to action. This is precisely what Atlanta wants to see the group become. In particular, she relayed to the Canary how Disability Rebellion is, in part, a response to the urgent need for direct action:
We want to make some noise – not just online – so we want to eventually organise direct actions (such as protests) that are accessible for disabled people. We would like to work with other disability movements, charities and organisations who align with our values. We recognise that we need training because this is new to most of us. We’d welcome all the help we can get!
Fighting ableism brings out all the bigots
The set up as private groups across the two platforms has enabled Atlanta and fellow admins Jessica and Matt to moderate the content. Atlanta lamented how necessary this has been. Unfortunately, but perhaps unsurprisingly on the cesspool of billionaire-owned social media that have allowed bigotry to fester, and at times actively fanned it, the group has faced the very “rampant ableism” Atlanta started the group to dismantle.
Needless to say then, Disability Rebellion has of course attracted a rancid panoply of far-right ableist detractors:
The only negative response has come from ableist trolls online and uniformed members of the public who believe the rhetoric against disabled people. Some of the abuse I’ve seen directed at myself, other members and members of the wider disabled community has been quite horrific, with some sinking to fascism and demanding that disabled people be eradicated from society because we are a drain on society, according to them.
However, Atlanta and team have only seen this as all the more reason for Disability Rebellion to press on:
every time we see comments like this, it provides further motivation to stand up and counter that violent narrative.
In short, the group won’t be cowed – the ecosystem of hate is exactly why it has sprung up – and it won’t be silenced.
What’s more, this has paled in comparison to the broad and spanning support Disability Rebellion has compelled. Atlanta said that:
We are totally blown away by the response to our growing movement – which has been mainly positive – with a lot of support and encouragement coming from disabled people, activists, welfare charities, writers, health professionals and other members of the public. It seems that there has been a need for something like this. It is a way to channel our anger and fear into something positive and proactive. Often we feel powerless and unable to fight back and I believe that Disability Rebellion provides that channel through which we can fight back and empower each other to do so.
Disabled people are ‘here’ and will be ‘seen and heard’ by the DWP
Under the surface, this has been a rebellion brewing for a long time. Ahead of the DWP announcement, the corporate media had been leaking and speculating over the government’s plans. This of course, as the Canary has been pointing out, was all about exploiting the uncertainty and disabled people’s fears for clicks and resulting ad revenue.
Amid this shitstorm of right-wing press and political maneuvering, Atlanta was already connecting with communities online. She detailed that:
I have spoken to many disabled people and carers over the last few months who are angry and afraid for their futures. People who join this movement are tired and frustrated. We’ve had enough of being treated as less than human, as if we don’t count because we’re not seen as productive because many of us are unable to work. Disabled people are subjected to so much abuse – especially online – no doubt driven by the government’s anti-disabled rhetoric which is magnified by mainstream media. After 14 years of hell for disabled people under the Tories, we are being forced to endure it for much longer under the Labour government. It feels like a betrayal, because the Labour Party is meant to represent the working class – which includes disabled people too. We feel like our lives don’t count because many of us aren’t “working people”. So we want to get together to rebel against the ableism, hate and benefits cuts.
Ultimately, Atlanta expressed that Disability Rebellion will be a force for amplifying chronically ill and disabled people:
All too often, disabled voices are being drowned out by a government and mainstream media hostile towards disabled people. We must fight this rising tide of hate.
We want to be heard, because it is difficult to be heard and seen by society. I often get that feeling the the government and some members of society would rather we were not seen and not heard. It feels like they want to pretend we do not exist. We want to say we’re here and we’re not going away, and we will be seen and heard.
While it’s early days, it’s clear Disability Rebellion plans to pull no punches, in punching up against the government, media, and far-right forces trying to destroy disabled communities in the UK. Needless to say, there could not be a more crucial time for an online community like this.
You can join Disability Rebellion on X here, or on Facebook here.
Featured image supplied
