Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social @FionasWriting Twitter profile

Pinned Tweet

Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

2 years

I'm so excited to finally be able to share this with you all. It's a zine, with poetry and practical tips for newly sick and disabled people. Let me tell you about it! 1/ #NEISvoid #DisabilityCommunity #ChronicIllness #WritingCommunity #PoetryTwitter

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

When I was 17 and weird, I got a tub of angel confetti (see below). I kept some in my purse and gave them to strangers I met in clubs etc. A few years later, a guy came up to me and showed me a now scratched, worn angel - he'd kept it in his wallet as a reminder someone saw him.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

4 years

I genuinely don't understand how people who *just spent 6 months* using Netflix, the BBC, music, craft, art and more to get through a traumatising and isolating period can possibly say that the Arts are expendable.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

I hate having to go over 'identifies as a cat' again because it's genuinely one of the most upsetting debunks out there - yes, there are schools in the US which have cat litter in their classrooms and it's because they have to barricade themselves in rooms when shooters come.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

I haven't thought about it in decades but it just suddenly came back reading a thing about ordinary things imbued with meaning. I didn't see him again, but he'd wanted me to know it was important to him. Said he'd felt less alone. Such a tiny thing.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

I'm getting weirdly emotional remembering it. I can still see him - or at least, I can remember how excited he looked when he saw me and was digging out his wallet. It was in the wee clear photo bit and I think I cried a bit (may have been the rum or the smoke machine).

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

If I were Christopher Eccleston, I'd be taking legal action over this headline. His entire point is it's uncomfortable to not get the glut of opportunities people like him used to get, but *that's the right thing to be happening and he supports it*.

Jo Maugham

@JolyonMaugham

2 years

No surprise to see The Times graduate from pushing transphobia into pushing homophobia...

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

4 years

@vartian @DorianDuck97 Oh. My god. Oh Holy shit. I literally have an OCD hoarding thing in part because I think if I get rid of something that triggers a memory I'll never have that memory again.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

I am loving that #DisabilityTwitter is using 'are you helping or are you just buttering the cat' as a phrase for 'is this a useful accommodation'. And a friend recommended the Tamarian 'Jorts, his fur unbuttered' for 'this person's access needs have been met' @JortsTheCat

Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

. @JortsTheCat is beloved by all, but I wrote about how I was struck by how his skills are perfectly suited to his job and his workplace put in actually useful adaptations for him. If only the rest of our employers were so adaptable (minus the margarine)!

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

. @JortsTheCat is beloved by all, but I wrote about how I was struck by how his skills are perfectly suited to his job and his workplace put in actually useful adaptations for him. If only the rest of our employers were so adaptable (minus the margarine)!

Jean And Jorts: the extended metaphor for workplace accommodations nobody asked for

Jean the cat has been in touch to tell me my initial title was wrong, because people do need to hear it even if they don’t know it yet. As Jean is clearly a sensible cat, I have edited the ti…

graniteandsunlight.wordpress.com

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

CN: DWP I've talked about this before, but as this ad is activating trauma, I want to explain what disabled people live with. More than 15 years ago (yes, before the Tories), all my benefits suddenly stopped. When I called to ask why I was put through to the fraud office. 1/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

I got home from an event last night and cried because, more than any other, it cemented for me that part of my life is over. It was a lovely event - queer, left-wing, arty - and there were about 60 people in a small pub and I was the only one in a mask. 1/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

Once again, the 'death of twitter' jokes are fun but the disability community is filled with dread. Twitter fills a specific niche for so many of us which makes it the place we organise, support each other, develop theory and practice, and have social lives. 1/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

4 years

@RainicornMax I always use this panel of Colossus explaining it because they do it better than I do - (img desc text at end of this blog post: )

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

@bringonthesong @Chinchillazllla

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

@IBJIYONGI I get so angry about them - it's not just that they're dazzling, it's that the slightest unevenness on the road makes it look like they're flashing their high beams. I spend half the time trying to figure out if there's a danger I need to be aware of or it's just LEDs.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

In the UK there are typically three things being conflated: weirdly obsessive transphobic adults, small kids who occasionally have a few days of pretending to be a cat and teachers just getting on with it, and teenagers wearing cat ears because it's part of a subculture. 3/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

It's been comprehensively debunked on both sides of the Atlantic but is such a right-wing talking point it just keeps cropping up with people from their friend's daughter's friend's school stories. 2/

Cat litter box myths are suddenly a culture war flashpoint. Here's how that happened.

At least 20 Republican politicians have claimed that schools are making accommodations for students who identify as cats. The school districts say these claims are untrue.

www.nbcnews.com

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

Some teenagers will even, and I'm sure this will shock you, be weird AF and act like cats because it makes their peers laugh. Like with all such behaviour, the general approach from teachers until this moral panic has been to just ignore them and get on with teaching. 4/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

This is what always aggravates me about the ~cancel culture~ narrative. In general, if you sincerely apologise for the harm you've done without trying to minimise it, people are happy with that and move on (and often celebrate you more for learning and growing).

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

I am so angry that there are very real, very serious actual threats to kids and to women and we keep having to waste our time talking about this utter nonsense which doesn't stand up to the barest scrutiny because journalists have completely abdicated their responsibilities. 6/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

Anyone who calls this anxiety will be blocked. It's not anxiety. It's an intimate knowledge of the cost of post-viral disability. I'm fully vaccinated so I'm not particularly worried about dying, but that is not and has never been the only risk of covid. 6/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

CN: DWP It's been more than 15 years, and still every time I'm outside - *every time* - I'm afraid. Sometimes it's just a background hum, sometimes it makes it hard to go out. I am aware *all the time* of how I look to a spy - am I smiling too much, moving too easily? 4/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

I am just writing about this year, but want to make special mention of @JortsTheCat for coming in at the last minute with a burst of glitter and joy. The cats are heroic and adorable, but the person behind the account is just as wonderful - they're kind, radical and supportive.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

No fiction editor in the world would accept a story where a pro-union rat called Scabby gets stabbed by a screaming employee of the place being picketed, which is called Staab Funeral Homes, and an orange pro-union cat steps in to help repair or replace the now-'flaccid' rat.

Risu 🍉

@ReallyRisu

2 years

Hey @JortsTheCat , this happened in my hometown; can we help this group of local union roofers get a new 15-foot-tall inflatable monster rat (valued at $5k) after theirs was brutally stabbed in the back 8 times by a screaming funeral home employee?

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

5 years

@Potatopolitics

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

Of course, now there's an entire global wild conspiracy theory about it driven by some of the most bitterly fixated people in the country, that means sometimes having to remind teachers that bullying kids isn't a good thing, however weird they're being. 5/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

CN: DWP This messaging from the DWP and, horrifically, from the Minister For Disabled People himself, is an act of material violence. It has catastrophic effects on people's lives and physical and mental wellbeing. It is unforgivable. 8/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

4 years

@ASovietOnion @MammothWhale This is what I'm angriest about. I *loved* that she wasn't of a bloodline. I loved the wee boy at the end making the pebbles float. I loved that the universe wasn't run by bloodline monarchies. And then jj ruined it.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

Masks are such a small thing. But when even the people who are not against them in principle, even the people who talk about accessibility and justice, won't wear them, I have no hope of this changing. I realised last night, things aren't going to change. 8/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

CN: DWP *I* know that's not how disability works, not least because to be part of society we often have to mask pain, depression, stims, etc. But I also know the DWP have denied people support for major depression because of a FB photo of them smiling. 5/

Warning - take care when posting to facebook - DPAC

Remember to be careful when putting things on your Facebook profile. We know that many of you put a brave face on and most photos don't tell the full story.

dpac.uk.net

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

CN: DWP Luckily, I had copies of my benefit application forms (always, always keep copies) so could prove I had told them my condition was variable and I had days when I had to just do stuff and pay the energy and pain cost later. My benefits were reinstated. 3/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

And if I insist, I'm the problem and people don't want to work with me. If I didn't know the cost so intimately, maybe I could pretend to myself that it'll be ok. But I've spent 22 years in the aftermath of a post-viral condition which took everything from me. 4/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

I arrived late because of a workshop, and ended up leaving early because I couldn't justify the risk anymore. Had a lovely night with friends at the weekend where we played board games and laughed for hours, and mostly masked. Looks like that's my social life from now on. 2/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

CN: DWP I'd been given no warning of this, no chance to answer. I just suddenly had no money. They told me they'd had people sitting outside my flat taking photos and 'caught' me carrying shopping (I think, it was some mundane action but so long ago). 2/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

I've spent decades building up the pieces of a life I can have between flares and crashes. I know what I'm risking. All of life is risk assessment, and while covid is still everywhere, and people are taking no precautions, that risk is foolish. 5/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

@ann_ellipsis @redford I also love this one:

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

CN: DWP It's affected my physical health, too - when physios recommend exercises using gym equipment or daily walks outside, I have to weigh the risk of complying because it might be used to take everything from me. Sometimes I've decided it's worth it, sometimes not. 7/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

If people were wearing masks, even though they're not 100% effective, I would typically judge the risk to reward of many events to be worth it. I would take the risk because I know from all my years how to balance isolation against risk. I would still be able to have a life. 7/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

I have to have a serious think about what I'm willing to risk for my career - I *love* performing poetry, it's one of few things in my life which gives me joy, but organisers willing to ask audiences to mask are vanishingly few, so every time I do it, it's taking a huge risk. 3/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

"here's how you can live without central heating too!" You'll be unsurprised to hear it involves "spend at least a couple of grand on a woodburner which the average person will definitely be allowed to install in their rented flat" 🙄

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

CN: DWP There are so many newly disabled people who don't yet know they should be afraid. Many thought there was a safety net, or we were exaggerating when we talked about how violent the system is. This messaging is the DWP letting all of them know exactly who they are. 9/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

My feed for the last year has been starkly split between abled people, and quite a few disabled-but-not-chronically-ill people, posting their photos of conferences, nights out, parties, all unmasked, and disabled people talking about the loss of hope and community. 9/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

This is also called 'the patriarchy'. It is not a feminist position.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

CN: DWP So I am aware all the time I'm outside of what it would look like to a photographer sent to 'catch me out'. Sometimes it's just a background hum, sometimes it makes it hard to go out. And it's not just my mental health which is affected by this. 6/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

And here is the actual risk to us all over the coming month. However you feel about the monarchy or propriety, the true crisis facing the country is now 'insignificant' to anyone in media and politics. We will hear 'now is not the time' again and again as people lose everything.

Michael Walsh

@thatbloodyMikey

2 years

Oh, Ok.. the announcement concerning everyones Energy Bills is 'Insignificant now'.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

4 years

@iamaroadtrip @JohnChivall This is extraordinarily brave - to do that actually in the room with them. People get furious when their idea of themselves as a good person is threatened. It always amazes me how they don't listen to themselves when they say shit like that.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

My heart is aching for the trans people who have had to sit and listen to the Scottish Parliament debating their existence in the most devastating and cruel language. The lies which have formed the foundation of the 'controversy' are a shameful episode in our history. 1/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

CN: DWP My heart has been racing since I saw this video this morning. Solidarity with everyone experiencing the same response. I wish I had an answer, but we've been fighting this for so long and here we still are. 10/

Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

>60% of the covid dead were disabled. Our lives are increasingly unlivable as costs far outstrip support. We can't easily access care, most work, social lives or marriage. We're still dying in our thousands. We're experiencing sky-high hate crime. Minister For Disabled People:

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

5 years

Cis is not a slur. It's a globally recognised neutral term used in health and social services and academic research. It's used by the UN, WHO, NHS, NIH, in feminism, academia and liberation politics.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

Most of the covid dead are disabled people. The people still likely to die are elderly or disabled. But anyone can get long covid. Disability is much less discriminating. While everyone gets on with their lives, ours have got smaller than ever. Cheers. 13/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

I don't think @JeremyVineOn5 even knows there's a line to cross anymore. 'If people are too sick to work, is it wrong for taxpayers to keep funding them indefinitely?' is the language of Nazis. It's the language which preceded Aktion T4. It's not 'just asking questions'.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

@JortsTheCat @Noobventor @queenveej This is one of the battlegrounds in left-wing anti-ableism circles - 'workers are subject to extreme and unfair working conditions' and 'people who rely on these services shouldn't have to accept bad service' are both true. 1/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

5 years

Andy Murray is not only the greatest Scottish sportsman, and a legend in tennis, he has also been an unflinching, unapologetic ally to women - he has used his platform to challenge misogyny in sports and reporting. The lad from Dunblane has made us all so very proud ❤️

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

Some brilliant holdouts are still keeping their spaces safer for us. Please support them when you see it. But for many of us, our worlds have shrunk to smaller than they were before covid. And few people want to engage with this because they know they don't want to change. 12/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

@pjnichols Ah yes, the Daily Mail, never known to lie about situations for their own outrage points.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

The rise of anti-LGBT+ movements across the world is not happening in isolated incidents. What we're seeing here in the UK is part of the same global shift. Solidarity with Polish LGBT+ people who are currently facing an extraordinary escalation of the threat against them.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

Thanks to the Baroness for again exposing the true heart of GC ideology. This is why human rights legislation exists: because people like her believe minorities and marginalised people are 'allowed' rights only with the permission of the majority. 1/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

Honestly, I'm a little surprised Alba went directly to 'gay people are paedophiles' this early - I thought they'd build up to it. When the anti-trans people started spreading this nonsense a wee while ago, I looked into it. Here's the reality:

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

If you're shocked about the Met today (arrests for carrying rape alarms, arresting protesters they'd negotiated with): In 2019 they confiscated @XRebellionUK protesters' wheelchairs and arrested people with accessible loos *after* allowing them in and showing them where to park.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

I have a poem about this which I occasionally consider performing as the only masked person in a whole venue, but I've not had the courage. I like still having friends, and know that any time I bring it up, they become less likely to include me. 10/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

Most venues and organisers have made the decision, without really trying 'we can't force you to wear masks but we are asking you to so our community/event includes disabled people', to choose 'people who won't come if they have to mask' over 'disabled people'. 11/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

As a blog post:

Spying On Disabled People Is Good Says The Minister For Disabled People

CN: DWP I’ve talked about this before, but as this ad is activating trauma, I want to explain what disabled people live with. More than 15 years ago (yes, before the Tories), all my benefits …

graniteandsunlight.wordpress.com

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

My snarky post yesterday about this aside, this is an excellent case study in why deplatforming is the only actually effective tool against alt-right tactics. Same with Milo et al. Logic, debates, sunlight-as-disinfectant (urgh) approaches don't work. Deplatforming does.

chris evans

@chris_notcapn

3 years

NEW: White supremacist Richard Spencer says his life is in shambles. His wife left him, he’s a social outcast, he goes on trial next month for his role in Charlottesville and cannot afford a lawyer.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

@hederahtweets @redditships They're never brutally honest about how lovely a person is or how much they enjoy blankets.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

CN: emergency medical A week ago, I had a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD). I was in hospital until late Friday night, and originally wasn't going to talk about it publicly, but this is important, especially for women and people with connective tissue disorders. 1/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

Just for reference, grassroots and normal football and boxing are Not Allowed but cricket, golf, tennis and Eton's football have been going ahead. Gosh, it's almost like there's a class structure at work here.

Sky News

@SkyNews

2 years

Two football teams who played the weekend after the Queen died are being investigated and will be "dealt with in the strongest possible terms"

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

Does... does this mean ... does this mean Memory from Cats is all that stood between us and annihilation? Did *Cats* save the world?

Greg Bluestein

@bluestein

2 years

“When Trump descended into rage, his staff resorted to summoning an aide, nicknamed the Music Man, to play favorite show tunes they knew would soothe him, including ‘Memory’ from the Broadway musical ‘Cats.’”

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

5 years

*whispers* It's entirely possible to both vehemently oppose the concept of the monarchy and also to be angry on a human level at the way Meghan has been treated by our press. She's been targeted with relentless abhorrent misogyny and racism. That's not erased by her privilege.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

@Coyotespaw I also have these ❤️ I got a wee binding loop and keep meaning to turn them into a book!

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

I share this cartoon fairly often when assisted suicide and euthanasia are brought up. Today, despite tireless, desperate pleas of disabled people's organisations across Canada, #BillC7 passed. My heart shatters for my friends and colleagues there, and I'm scared for all of us.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

Behold, some abled people buttering a cat. (well, margarining rather than buttering, because buttering is neutral while margarining is harmful - requiring disabled people to buy an extra, very expensive, very unwieldy and heavy piece of kit to travel with)

Sarah Blahovec

@Sblahov

2 years

Just watched a video about airlines breaking wheelchairs and in the comments section, an abled said that a hard carrying case should be made for wheelchairs and a bunch of ableds were applauding and expanding upon this idea.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

Quick quide for journalists, KCs and commenters: Misogynist attack: a woman shouldn't be SNP leader because she's got a baby. Not misogynist attack: a woman shouldn't be leader of a socially progressive party if she doesn't support basic reproductive rights. 1/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

(fair warning: I'm going to block covid deniers)

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

I can't describe how worrying it is, as a disabled person who's been at the knife's edge of govt policies about disability categorisation, to see the Chair of the WM Committee on Human Rights liking a tweet which so blatantly misrepresents both current law and disability justice.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

5 months

@AuthorLMDavis What, in the name of god, would possess you to post this video with this statement? Has your worst enemy got hold of your account? That honestly seems like the only explanation for the stream of unhinged audacity you've been posting.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

As I wasn't particularly clear in my first tweet (apologies) - the cat litter is part of emergency supplies in individual classrooms because mass shooter lockdowns can last for hours and children will need some way to relieve themselves.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

Every feminist should be watching the US. This is part of a global assault on reproductive rights and the right wing, which has been trying to overturn Roe since the second it passed, is about to succeed. After that will come contraception, LGBTQ+ rights, children's rights. 1/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

@cerhendriks @the_tweedy That's something I've noticed about all the weird 'I'm going to interact with this person by trying to make them flinch and laughing about it' behaviour. Why would you want your friends not to be able to relax around you?

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

@Noobventor @queenveej It may be true that many people can't get in a car to go confront someone and it's not what I'd do, but removing the agency and responsibility of the workers themselves is what leads to disabled people not being able to get ubers anywhere. 2/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

@prettycritical I legit don't get how people can't see that, in this situation and others like it, the whiteness and privilege are part of the reinforcement of abuse - the standard 'you won't be believed' line has so much power if you know your family has power and influence in the community.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

@TelegraphLife We already did this. 'Doing your job' is not 'quitting'. Calling it quitting feeds the idea you are supposed to do work you're not being paid for. Working to contract is a standard trade union tactic. It is a up to employers to offer better conditions and pay if they want more.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

4 years

@iamaroadtrip @JohnChivall CN: rape But that's the other huge part of the problem of imagining rape is only strangers with weapons. It means the perpetrators don't get that your not thinking or caring about consent doesn't absolve you just because you didn't set out to consciously hunt and rape someone.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

@pervocracy The bizarre idea that sport has ever been a level playing field just seems to have weirdly taken over.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

@Noobventor @queenveej But this is where many disabled people don't feel part of left-wing organising spaces - if we are reliant on a service and it fails to deliver, we are not supposed to complain or try to get restitution? We have to find a way to balance these needs. 4/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

@GailSimone This scene in Avengers: Infinity War, in a cinema in Aberdeen. The most Scottish thing they could have used. Forget the castle, forget Waverley. "We'll deep fry your kebab" :wild cheers: #MovieCheers

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

People not in Scotland - That Author is doing her thing again, please don't be taken in by the performative decontextualising of a perfectly reasonable statement in Parliament. This is one of the Scottish anti-trans brigade's primary tools and leads to violent abuse.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

If a person's views are transphobic, they are lawfully allowed to hold them but other people are also lawfully allowed to say they're transphobic. They are also only allowed to *hold* the beliefs - acting on them in a way which harms people is not protected.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

11 months

Every single thing about this article is horrifying. One of the UK's papers of record is violently misrepresenting Gillick Competence - a foundational feminist victory and central to the safety of all children, but especially girls. Thread: Gillick, disability and feminism. 1/

Generic English Teacher

@TabitaSurge

11 months

To repeat: The Times is casually calling Gillick Competence 'a loophole.' I don't care how gender critical your feminism is, this should stop you in your tracks from reading the rest of the story. Five alarm fire alert for an open attack on the bodily autonomy of women and girls

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

@StormCaywood @hroethgar @BBolander @Asher_Wolf We got banned from playing D&D and Magic: the Gathering in the student union during Freshers Week in case it scared off the students who'd think we were summoning devils. In Scotland, in 1999.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

I made this meme a while back about my executive dysfunction.

Dr. Wonder Cripple ♿️🏳️‍🌈

@wonder_cripple

3 years

Fellow disabled people, describe executive dysfunction. I’ll start. It’s like the alarm in your brain that tells you to do things is permanently stuck on snooze and you can’t fix it. #DisabilityTwitter #NEISVoid

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

@Noobventor @queenveej It sucks that there aren't more reliable services we can use, and we want the people providing those services to be well compensated in safe working conditions. We don't have many alternatives if we want to maintain independent living. 3/

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

@dchungyalpa @lindstorian I always come back to this:

Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

4 years

@RainicornMax I always use this panel of Colossus explaining it because they do it better than I do - (img desc text at end of this blog post: )

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

3 years

@adamndsmith @DPJHodges It's baffling. Taking a knee is pretty much the least offensive, least inconvenient type of protest possible and it's still not 'acceptable'. It's *almost* like there's no way to point out racism which will be acceptable to racists and get them on board 🙄

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

1 year

This is why we talk about accurate language. Aside from the fact Nat's said "If I wasn't with Katherine, I could easily be with a man or a woman", the point of the headline is they're the first couple from any of the letters. "The first lesbians" would miss the wider milestone.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

4 years

@notcolloquial @lilririah So similar to what happened in 2015/16 (which @knguyen summed up well here)

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

Genuinely fascinated by 'feminists' who insist that a 31-year-old woman should just shut her pretty little mouth, compromise her principles and be grateful to the person she made a ton of money for.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

People currently wailing about how "we never knew our teachers' sexuality": Did you ever, at any point in school, refer to a teacher with the title 'Mrs'? Then yes you did. Ever hear an anecdote about or see a desk photo of their spouse or kids? Then yes you did.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

So let's take a look at performative decontextualisation - what does it mean, why is it used, what does it look like? It's one of the most common tactics used by anti-trans activists and is a form of propaganda which can have devastating results. 1/

Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

People not in Scotland - That Author is doing her thing again, please don't be taken in by the performative decontextualising of a perfectly reasonable statement in Parliament. This is one of the Scottish anti-trans brigade's primary tools and leads to violent abuse.

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Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

To be clear: the EHRC are also undermining other key areas, including rejecting the notion of systemic racism, having a board member who thinks 'misogynist' and 'homophobe' are 'propaganda terms' and refusing to investigate the link between disabled people's deaths and the DWP.

Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social

@FionasWriting

2 years

It was always a mistake to have the leadership of the body overseeing human rights enforcement to be political appointees, and once a government explicitly dedicated to dismantling human rights took office, this was a matter of time. Absolutely horrifying news.

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