Waking up to this news and utterly lost for words. Alice was amazing and will leave such a hole in the world. With love to all her friends and family. Such a legacy she has left for us xx

I’m heartbroken to hear of the death of Alice Wong. She was a powerhouse of the disability rights movement in the US and on a personal level, generously gave her time to me over the years. I know she will be missed immensely by those who knew her and those who felt her presence online.

This is a lie. There are many criticisms you might sensibly and truthfully make of the Sentencing Council and the Sentencing Guidelines. I’ve been making them for years. But this is an outright lie. Pure fabrication. A fraud on the public.

Strong MP turnout for @ianbyrnemp.bsky.social Westminster Hall debate on Hillsborough Law. The Govt must enact a full Hillsborough Law - with a legal duty of candour and equality of arms. It’s not a technicality - it’s a moral imperative. Watch the full debate www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/...

I think we can accept Judge Inman has been proven entirely correct on the lack of insight. www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/u...

People can feel sympathy for Lucy Connolly over the scale of sentence she got after pleading guilty. But the appeal found her evidence demonstrably not credible on what she knew/did not know about the sentence before her guilty plea. Her media interviews repeat those false claims

The trial is using the Taser 7 model, which the Scientific Advisory Committee have warned may induce more pain than previous models. INQUEST’s casework has repeatedly highlighted how the use of Taser can contribute towards death, including in the deaths of Marc Cole and Andrew Pimlott.

A week ago, the government authorised a trial for specialist officers to use Tasers in men’s prisons. Concerningly, the trial has no end date, as it will continue to run until 'enough data has been collected to determine if they should be more widely used.’ www.gov.uk/government/n...

incredible how few people understand that 'free speech' means freedom from state censorship, not freedom from being judged for being an arse

So lovely to see this spread on Who Wants Normal? in this month’s Disability Review Magazine. I chatted about writing 80,000 words on an iPhone, trying to make the British media more diverse, and why this book definitely has more jokes in it than my first.

One of my favourite spreads in our current issue ⬇️

You're not entitled to touch disabled people or their mobility aids. If you think someone needs assistance ask. It is absolutely not acceptable to pet & distract a working assistance (service) dog. There are probably signs all over the dog explaining it. You have no excuse. /7 #JustAskDontGrab

There’s so many nasty, awful details in that Janice Turner piece it’s hard to pick the worst. But this is so telling. Asylum seekers apparently don’t deserve to live in a place British people use or even have three meals a day. They’re not quite equal to us, are they?

Today, MP Blair McDougall introduced a Bill in Parliament to remove crown immunity from prisons. Following the deaths of Katie Allan and William Lindsay in HMYOI Polmont in Scotland, he calls for accountability. INQUEST backs the move to end legal impunity for prison failures.

Lovely to be in the latest issue of Disability Review mag chatting about Who Wants Normal? (and finding hope in a tough summer for many disabled people)

“The removal of an entire clause of the bill means there will be no immediate changes to Pip. The Timms review will be “co-produced” with disabled people, leaving open the possibility that they will never happen,” reports @pippacrerar.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

New issue of Disability Review Magazine has just landed, featuring people like Ade Adepitan, @francesryan.bsky.social, Patchwork Hub & more: issuu.com/sevenstarmed...

Photos from outside the welfare reform bill vote last night. A mini, impromptu ‘die in’ was threatened with potential eviction under counter terrorism laws inside the building (yes, really.) Disability Pride Month started with this, notably.

Every time one of these case emerges from the #SingleJusticeProcedure, it gives opponents of the BBC a stick to beat it with Yet, the Corporation is resisting a key reform to the system that may fix it It's baffling to me

Important one to watch ⬇️

The #PIP ‘U-turn’ is nothing of the sort. As I understand it, the reforms will still be applied to new claimants, eg someone who hasn’t become disabled yet or an already disabled person who isn’t 16 years old yet. How is that fair? Is this seriously the best we can do as a country?

In 'shock news' - disabled people aren't to blame for the state of the economy after all - can we get a new narrative for disability soon please? #DisabilitySky #WelfareNotWarfare #TakingThePIP www.disabilitynewsservice.com/government-c...

This speaks volumes.

Colour me shocked that the police and IOPC took five years to dismiss the officers that stripped search a 15 year old child on her period bc she “smelled like weed” and found that race did not play a factor in her search or being treated like an adult. BULLSHIT

Important one ⬇️

And because I have to laugh sometimes, I wrote down a list of some of the most unhinged things that have been said - most in the newsroom & on assignment. lydiawilkins.substack.com/p/im-bored

New by me on #StopTakingThePip in the middle of publishing’s collapse: freelancingforjournalists.substack.com/p/ffj-guest-...

Good to see today’s Guardian Editorial mention my story that women will lose out under the new PIP rules. If a system leaves women sitting in her bloodied underwear because she can no longer pay the care worker that used to help her get to the toilet, it is one no MP should be backing.

My frustration in a nut shell - media diversity champions should care and be proactive for this reason ⬇️

📢 Disabled People Against Cuts Protest ‪@dis-ppl-protest.bsky.social‬ are protesting the UK government's proposed welfare reform on 30 June - and a vigil & rally on 1 July. #WelfareNotWarfare Keep checking this page!

The government’s disability cuts could breach equality law due to their “devastating” impact on women’s dignity, experts warn.  The new rules won’t take into account menstruation or some women’s extra toilet needs.  My story in tomorrow’s paper: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

If we cared about violence against women and girls, we would not embed inequality like this into our society. It speaks volumes that this would impact women and girls disproportionately.

What a way to start Disability Pride Month. Shall be in attendance on the day ⬇️

UPDATE - Day of action is 1 July not 3rd. More info: dpac.uk.net/2025/06/abou...

The “welfare reform bill” is out and let’s be clear: this is not reform - it is devastating cuts. Disabled people will be made poorer, sicker, and more isolated as a result. That it is a Labour government causing this misery will be a mark of shame on the party for years to come.

I want to see non-disabled people shouting about the disability benefit cuts. If you spoke out about trans rights, abortion rights, or migrant rights in recent weeks? Good on you! If you aren’t doing the same for disabled people, ask yourself why.

It’s been a while since I have seen something so utterly, utterly grotesque. I’m also so beyond disgusted by the total collapse of accurate reporting on this; you don’t know who in the newsroom receives this help. We see you, we are listening, the alienation is a disgrace.

Yes. I am right. I am seeing how Chat GPT is ruining students critical thinking and writing skills in real time. It is not the future. It is a tool designed to render the populace helpless, to make people doubt their innate intelligence, and to foster overreliance on technology.

“The evidence is clear: these cuts will deepen inequality and force people further into crisis. We urge the government to listen to those most affected and change course immediately.” www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

We need a National Oversight Mechanism, an “independent public body responsible for collating, analysing and following-up on recommendations arising from inquests, inquiries, official reviews and investigations into state-related deaths" @inquest-org.bsky.social www.inquest.org.uk/no-more-deat...

It’s been a while… I’m going to continue being very quiet while I prepare the first draft of the manuscript for my next book, which details the dysfunction at the heart of the criminal justice system. Here’s what I’ve been doing while living offline meanwhile ⬇️

Our letter before claim, sent to the Secretary of State for Justice, challenges her decision to make PAVA available for use in prisons holding children. The letter asks the Secretary of State to withdraw her decision. Our press release: t.co/y1At628oTA

This says it all from the wonderful @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social youtu.be/ih0Wdvc296c?...

“This report lays bare many of the concerns INQUEST has had for decades around the standards of care afforded to detainees in police custody. The reality of this, denying people medication that is life-protecting, does hold the risk of death & serious harm.” - @debcoles13.bsky.social

This is why I find the autistic savant such an incredibly unhelpful image. “Isn’t it amazing they’re disabled but they can do THIS” is inspo porn that infantilizes autistics and reinforces the eugenicist idea that we must bring value to earn support.

Major new #spycops resource! The Undercover Research Group have launched their new site: spycopsresearch.info It's not for beginners, more for those wanting to take a deeper dive into the public inquiry & all the docs it's published. Huge amount of material & a lot more to come!

Once again, the demonisation continues. The powers of the Department for Work & Pensions is enough as it already is, in all of the unfettered access afforded.

The families of Katie Allan and William Lindsay spoke to @channel4news.bsky.social about crown immunity for prisons and why it must be lifted. www.channel4.com/news/reasona...