As I write, I wonder how many of you know that, by the time you read this piece, it will be UK Disability History Month (UKDHM – 14 Nov-20 Dec). It makes me, and other disabled activists, very sad, if not frustrated, that it is still so unknown and that we are so underrepresented as a marginalised group.

Yet I am pleased to announce that on 3 December, myself, friends and allies are running an event at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery (HMAG), to celebrate UKDHM and to coincide with the UN International Day of Disabled People, which takes place on the same date.

UKDHM has been around since 2010, under the guidance of leading international disability advocate Richard Rieser. We were near neighbours once, and he’s good friends with Jeremy Corbyn. Jeremy, of course, is a great advocate for disability equality, and one of the few politicians who understands the liberating Social Model of Disability (for more understanding of this check out my article Who the Hell are the Disabled? – my first column in Byline Times). This model takes inspiration from other marginalised groups that have fought for equality in the past – and present – campaigning for barriers to be removed and negative stereotypes challenged.

The theme of this year’s UKDHM is Disability Livelihood and Employment, looking at the many untruths that target us as scroungers and benefit cheats, while in fact throughout history, disabled people have always found ways to thrive and to beat those stereotypes. With this event, we hope to remind our non-disabled friends and allies that everyone has value outside of their economic productiveness. Needs and autonomy must come above perceived ideas of ‘ability’.

UKDHM brings focus to the many challenges we face, but it is also a month to celebrate our history in general. Our town is not short of great allies for its disabled people. We have fantastic organisations, such as Project Art Works (a collective of neurodiverse artists and activists, shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2021), Arts on Prescription (community engagement for mental wellbeing and social engagement) inclusive community dance group, Dance Hastings and the fabulous Eggtooth, ‘the South Coast’s leading creative wellbeing [mental health] service for children, young people, parents, and professionals’.

However, as I’ve said in previous columns, the town may struggle to reach decent levels of access and inclusivity for disabled people, but there is a growing willingness for this to change. The presence of disabled people within Hastings and St Leonards naturally goes back a long way – we have always been here. From Poor Law and census records detailing the ‘infirm and lame’ to the Victorian house in the street where I live, revealed as one of the first co-ed schools for disabled children in a 1921 census project. Better known are the chronically ill consumptives who came for the restorative seaside air in their thousands, with one friend discovering that a young man who once lived in her Victorian-era terraced house was an ‘invalid chair driver’.

The disability experience is everywhere – and we, along with others, believe we must all work together respectfully to improve the position of disabled people from all communities in our town.

Look out for more details of our HMAG event released soon across all social media platforms and beyond, to celebrate with us and raise the profile of our month, and our day.

I’ve lived in Hastings for 15-and-a-half years. I love my town, I love the diversity and the quirky, creative people, not to mention the incomparable sense of community.

But I cannot lie. It often lets disabled people down. There’s a vein of unintentional hypocrisy when it comes to access that shocks me every time I confront it. We are so community-minded, after all – what’s gone wrong when it comes to disabled people? After 15 years, I’ve heard all the arguments alongside joining initiatives and just meeting people – from those in the disabled community who struggle, to local politicians who seem unable to unravel this conundrum. Yes, we live with a hilly landscape, in properties built on multiple levels that would sometimes be comical if they were not so frustrating: but there are solutions.

Let me introduce you to the concept of A RAMP. I have my own, and a few years ago, a group of us formed a loosely defined collective, HAVE (Hastings Access to Venues and Events), to attempt a collaborative process to improve access. We have several ramps, now gathering dust in a friend’s office space. We also had a newsletter for a while, but, as is the way of these things, run entirely on a voluntary basis by those of us already facing barriers, the project has largely stalled.

A ramp is not one simple thing that resolves obstacles faced by some homogenised notion of a wheelchair user. There are many types, big and small. They remove barriers not only for wheelchair users, but also for those who have mobility impairments that may not be obvious; and they help visually impaired people to avoid trip hazards. Elderly citizens benefit by avoiding painful stairs, and parents don’t need the hazard of dragging up baby buggies. As always, this is about inclusion, rather than solving issues at an individual ‘special needs’ level.

I recently encountered a situation where confusion over use of a ramp went horribly wrong. The ramp was in place for some time, and I was really pleased, as were many friends. Recently, returning to the venue, I entered the building unaware that the ramp had disappeared. Instead, there was a significant, and unexpected, drop down that almost led to me falling from my wheelchair and painfully shocking my bones. I was lucky, but truly believe others would have fallen.

I’m staggered – again – that very few people realise there are guidelines about such things, and legalities. While the Equality Act 2010 is weak on disability, it’s still covered and, intrinsically, it’s illegal to not offer disabled people an equal service. Technically, I can sue you if you don’t deliver that – another column, perhaps, on why that’s not straightforward.

I will end on a happy note that backs up my love of my hometown. Some small indie businesses have taken it upon themselves to simply buy a basic ramp, particularly after informal discussions with myself or HAVE. Naturally, the more stairs there are, the less likely this will work, and I also know venues can face uncooperative planning outcomes even when they’ve tried to find their own solutions.

I’d like to encourage readers to think about how you access our town. Small adaptations can result in big changes, please consider that – but also, do talk to us!

In the sunny weather, I often find myself wheeling down the road attempting a slalom approach around the vast gruesome potholes, expecting a Saxon arrow to pop up into my wheels, so deep do these monsters go.

Why do I go in the road? may be your question. I hear many disabled people responding. For those of us who use power chairs and scooters the challenge often concerns the outrageous state of pavements, whether they are tarmac or slabs. Tarmac surfaces are often pitted and uneven, while slabs are loose and wobbly. Neither is great for those of us with mobility, balance and visual impairments. I often feel herded by circumstance to use one inappropriate surface or another.

Not that the roads offer any reliability – as most residents in our town know. Here where I live, in central St Leonards, the potholes are deep enough to encourage ponds that would welcome new aquatic life. And this is also the reason I dread using my otherwise useful wheelchair accessible van. Sitting in your wheelchair strapped in, even with a head rest, gives you little comfort when up against these vicious cavities that cause the vehicle to bump and fling.

Don’t get me started on the abuse of dropped kerbs and tactile paving. How many readers, I wonder, know what this is, and why it’s there? How many have parked across a dropped kerb without a thought – not out of maliciousness, but innocent ignorance? 

The invention of tactile paving is attributed to Seiichi Miyake, a Japanese inventor who came up with the idea in order to help a visually impaired friend to navigate public spaces in the 1960s. The dropped kerb as we know it, was invented by Selwyn Goldsmith, also in the 1960s. Goldsmith, interested in design and architecture, had lived experience as a disabled person after contracting polio and becoming a wheelchair user. 

Such beneficial contributions towards equality for disabled people seem somewhat lost these days in the current confusing application of them both.

Researching this piece, it was hard to pin down which precise body is responsible for the placing and upkeep of dropped kerbs and tactile paving. In fact, the whole process is obscure. A visually impaired friend commented she didn’t understand all of the intentions the different surfaces and directions of tiles are meant to tell you!

It’s a shame people park over dropped kerbs and I would like to alert disabled people to the fact that a traffic warden can give a ticket to any offender. I have little compunction in reporting such blocked dropped kerbs as I spiral around the savage craters on our roads, unable to get up to even a dodgy pavement.

Potholes should be reported to East Sussex County Council (can be online at: live.eastsussexhighways.com/report-problem) who are also – at least to a basic level – responsible for repairs to pavements.And please remember, a dropped kerb with tactile paving is a beautiful access-helpful thing, for us all.

Penny Pepper is an award-winning author and poet whose stories explore the disability narrative through provocation, humour and wisdom. Her memoir, First in The World Somewhere, was published in 2017; her poetry collection, Come Home Alive, in 2019. Her stories are featured in Hemingway Shorts anthology 2021, as an award winner, Lumpen and Mslexia. Her genre-breaking novel, Nancy Jones and the Show of Wonders, awaits a brave publisher while she works on her next, The Widow of Rock-o-Nore. She lives in Hastings with her cat Pixie. 

As Hastings prepares for the final outcome of the General Election, I wonder how many readers know that July is Disability Pride Month? Official statistics state there are 14 million disabled people in the UK, so for my first piece for HIP, I am highlighting pride in a community I am proud to be part of – one that has grown and matured through my life, from my earliest activism as a first-generation punk.

Hastings has its own rich history of dissent and collectivism, descriptive words I’ve often heard alongside creative, quirky and dirty, so it’s a place that’s always a pleasure to belong to. Disability Pride Month is, as the BBC summarises, “an opportunity to raise awareness of disabilities, start positive conversations and celebrate the diversity and differences of the disabled community”. They go on to say: “Disability Pride Month has its origins in the US, where in 1990… the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed to prevent people with disabilities being discriminated against.”

The disability rights movement in the UK has been a global leader – something I’m proud to say has been part of my life since the ‘80s. Yet when the Disability Discrimination Act finally arrived in 1995, it was a diluted disappointment to many campaigners, who remain disenchanted with its replacement, the relatively (disability) weak Equality Act 2010. 

Yet I am proud to say every change that improves the lives of disabled people is predominantly led by disabled people themselves, whose stories are often overlooked or misappropriated. This happens in Hastings too, yet with my comrades, I remain staunchly committed to what we try to do.

It’s important to note that the last census showed that “20.3% of East Sussex residents were living with a long-term physical or mental health condition or impairment” and that “34.8% of households in East Sussex had at least one member identifying as disabled under the Equality Act in 2021”.

This is not a tiny number, and it saddens me that we remain last in the Hastings queue. I and other activists from the local group HAVE (Hastings Access to Venues and Events), formed in 2015, recently featured on BBC local news, highlighting the atrocious lack of accessible toilets in our town. A majority of the most loved music and arts venues are not truly accessible. With my colleagues, I’ve fought for improvement for as long as I’ve lived here, now over 10 years.

We are not a homogenised lump and come from diverse and intersectional communities. We crave the basics of equality: not pity, not magical cures, but the removal and moderation of barriers that affect us all, from the lack of toilets to the smallest step at a shop, and the absence of large print menus, etc. – which at least some local independent businesses have resolved without any fuss.

We are a force to celebrate – our strength, our unity and our refusal to ever give up. This Disability Pride Month, inclusion allies, please join us!

Learn more about Penny at pennypepper.co.uk

Like many people who end up in Hastings Penny felt a draw to the town, visiting for a fair few years before making the move. ‘I started visiting Hastings regularly in 2009 and was a part-timer for several years with a caravan at Beauport Park. There was just something about the town; I already knew several people who had made the move, so it felt right that this would become my home. About a year after I arrived, I went to a Heritage Open Day event and there met my now best friend Theresa and my partner Kev. We all instantly clicked and the more I was here the more I knew I wanted to be here.’

Hastings’ creativity has helped and influenced Penny’s ongoing work. ‘I’m principally a writer and my work covers many genres and includes poetry, fiction, and songwriting. In the 80s I had a music career and lived a bit of a rock-and-roll lifestyle. My writing now is focused on a monthly column for the Byline Times and several ongoing projects. One of these includes a novel The Widow of Rock-a-Nore, which will be my first work of fiction based in Hastings.’

Penny is also firmly rooted in the community and is involved in several projects across the town focused on disability activism. ‘As a disabled woman, I have never let anything stand in my way. I was born in a generation where activism was developed – the punk era – where more radical thoughts about disability as an equalities issue and rights issue became key. Throughout my life, I’ve been involved in many demonstrations and marches to stand up for the rights of disabled people and set up Hastings Access to Venues and Events with my best friend Theresa, who is visually impaired.

‘The aim of the group is to work with venues to make sure that disabled people from all impairment groups have access to great things going on across the town. We can advise on things like large print menus or which ramps would work at different venues. It’s never just about individual need but community need, there is always going to be someone who could benefit from simple adjustments. I have recently been supporting the campaign to fund a lift at the Clifton Centre in St Leonards to ensure that all events that are run there are accessible to all.’

To finish our chat Penny shared her favourite and least favourite things about the town. ‘The worst thing about living here is sadly the fact that the town is not particularly well set up for wheelchair users. For example, it would be great to be able to go on the beach – this could be done quite easily with further consultation about beach matting – but the council seems reluctant to do this. There are so many things which are great about the town and I really do think we have an encouraging community here. Although a lot of openness and friendliness stems from creatives, the edges are blurred and we have a thriving community made up of many different groups of people. Now my home is here I never want to leave!’

Find out more about Penny on her website: pennypepper.co.uk

East Sussex College, Hastings played host to a local Labour Roots Rally last Saturday as the party starts to mobilise its half-million membership to fight an expected upcoming general election. 

PICTURE: Julia Kotziamani

Labour Roots is described by organisers as “a rolling series of open events, bringing together activists and the public with Jeremy Corbyn and members of the shadow cabinet.” Organisers report reaching the 430 capacity attendance of the college, including book sellers, stalls, organisers, college staff and general public who were present for the climax: speeches made in the college atrium by Jeremy Corbyn, Barry Gardiner and Diane Abbott. 

Earlier, the event featured multiple workshops, titles including Winning the Green Industrial Revolution, Refugee Buddy Project, Persuasive Conversations, and Digital Army training. 

Winning the Green Industrial Revolution featured Mr Gardiner, shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, and local activists, who discussed what such a revolution would mean for Hastings. This included consideration of green unionised jobs, new green skills and education, and a cleaner community to live in “for the many – by the many”. Mr Gardiner spoke of the need for renewable solutions to energy needs and their efficiencies, quoting the ability of ground source heat pumps to reduce the annual heating bills of some households to just £13 and the great potential of coastal towns to generate tidal, wind and solar power. These industries are becoming increasingly efficient, offering renewable energy at approximately £48 per megawatt hour (MWh), as compared to nuclear energy from Hinkley Point where in 2012 the guaranteed price – known as the “strike price” – was set at £92.50 per MWh plus inflationary increases.

The Refugee Buddy Project discussed the biggest challenges for the refugee community and opportunities for residents in Hastings to organise solidarity and support for settled refugees.

Persuasive Conversations gave people a chance to practise talking, and listening to people’s concerns, about Labour policies; similarly, Digital Army training gave online activists advice on how best to spread news and policy online via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Jeremy Corbyn, in Hastings last Saturday, tells HIP:
“I believe in a welfare state”

Universal Credit 

Between the training sessions and speeches Mr Corbyn made time to talk to local Hastings newspapers. His central message was: “I believe in a welfare state.” 

He suggested that the problems of displaced communities, of frictions between wealthy incomers and existing communities, and of generating new industries in Hastings could be addressed by reversing changes to how benefits are paid under the Universal Credit system. The current system, he said, causes rent arrears: “The five week wait for money under Universal Credit has seen people unable to pay their rent on time and risk being made ‘voluntarily homeless’ by landlords who apply the letter of the rules.”

He criticised the ‘two child’ Universal Credit policy, which provides support for a maximum of only two children, and claimed that “getting rid of this alone will stop up to 300,000 more children being pushed into poverty.”

In addition, there should be more housing stock available to the local community for social housing.

Renewable Energies

Mr Corbyn echoed Mr Gardiner’s earlier suggestion of the great potential for Hastings to generate renewable energies which could be used to subsidise coastal communities “left behind” in terms of wages and growth; he quoted the statistic that earnings in coastal communities like Hastings were on average £1,600 lower annually than comparable inland towns. 

In the culminating speeches Ms Abbott promised to end the ‘hostile environment’ for migrants, including closure of the infamous Yarl’s Wood and Brook House detention centres. Mr Gardiner, Cllr Maya Evans, migrant champion Rossana Leal, and local poet and activist Penny Pepper also addressed the crowd. 

Mr Corbyn included a promise to build 37 new wind farms across the UK with 51% public ownership. From anticipated profits, 80% would be earmarked for decarbonising the economy and tackling climate change. The other 20% would be invested back into coastal communities like Hastings.