Frances Ryan

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.

Frances Ryan

FRSL
OccupationAuthor
Alma materUniversity of Nottingham
SubjectDisability rights movement
Notable worksCrippled: Austerity and the Demonisation of Disabled People
Notable awardsFellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Early life and education

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]

Career

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]

Recognition

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]

Personal life

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]

References
  1. "A New Book Documents the Devastating Poverty Faced by People With Disabilities in Britain". Global Citizen (in German). 17 June 2019. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  2. "Former KGGS pupil named as fellow of Royal Literature Society". Grantham Journal. 31 July 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  3. "Frances Ryan". Shaw Trust Disability Power 100. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  4. Forward, Devon (August 2022). "Beyoncé Will Remove Lyric Following Backlash". Parade. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  5. "Top Ten". Shaw Trust Disability Power 100. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  6. Ryan, Frances (September 2020). Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People. Verso Books. ISBN 9781788739566.
  7. Ryan, Frances (10 July 2012). "Inaccessibility pushes disabled people further on to the edges". Guardian News & Media Limited. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  8. Delgado, Kasia (30 August 2021). "'Britain can do a whole lot better for disabled people, if it chooses'". inews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 July 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  9. Crippled. Verso Books. September 2020. ISBN 9781788739566. Archived from the original on 30 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  10. Marks, Olivia (4 September 2021). "Hen Night Shines A Light On Young Disabled Women – And The Assumptions We Make About The Reality Of Disabled Lives". Vogue. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  11. Webster, Lucy (29 August 2021). "The 18-month hangover: Hen Night's disabled trailblazers on making TV history". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  12. Cooper, Ben (14 May 2022). "The cost-of-living crisis will be a 'matter of survival' for disabled people". Nottingham Post. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  13. "School of Politics and International Relations". Nottingham. University of Nottingham. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  14. "Frances Ryan | The Orwell Foundation". www.orwellfoundation.com. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  15. "The Paul Foot Award | Private Eye Online". www.private-eye.co.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  16. Shaffi, Sarah; Knight, Lucy (12 July 2022). "Adjoa Andoh, Russell T Davies and Michaela Coel elected to Royal Society of Literature". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  17. "Dr Frances Ryan". Shaw Trust Disability Power 100. Archived from the original on 30 July 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  18. Ryan, Frances (4 September 2020). "Publishing must make room for disabled authors – for its own good". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
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