Photo of Sisters of Frida

Sisters of Frida co-directors, Tumu Johnson, Eleanor Lisney, and Bethany Young at Women of the Word Festival 2018. Courtesy Sisters of Frida.


Sisters of Frida (Caledonian Road)

Established 2013, London.



Sisters of Frida CIC is an experimental collective of disabled women, created to establish relationships, networks and provide support for disabled women.

“We are disabled women but that is not our only identity – we are also embracing the whole package of being women and disabled.”

Sisters of Frida*

The group began at a meeting near Caledonian Road between founders Eleanor Lisney FRSA, Michelle Daley, Eleanor Firman, Maria Zedda, Svetlana Kotova, Frieda Van De Poll and Martine Miel. At this meeting, there was a debate about creating a disabled women’s group, to challenge the notable absence of disabled women’s voices and create a series of different networks aimed at supporting and helping disabled women overcome the discriminations and barriers they face.

The founders of Sisters of Frida became the first steering group and since then, the steering group has been made up solely of disabled women and has three directors who are also disabled women. The group was named after Frida Kahlo. As an artist, Frida consistently included the image of the crippled body in her work and as an activist, Frida yearned for love in her life. The pain and experiences with mental health (particularly after suffering stillbirths) highlighted in Frida’s work were well understood by the Sisters of Frida, who, as a collective, intend to live full lives as Frida did. Sisters of Frida aims to shed light on important discriminations faced by disabled women, for example, massive disparities in pay, employment and domestic violence and abuse. The Sisters also desire to empower, celebrate and inform disabled women, providing an important platform and support group.

Shortly after their inception, the Sisters of Frida joined the convention by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in Geneva, to challenge the lack of visibility for other women’s groups. They also contributed to the UN Committee's report on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and to the Convention on the Status of Women (CSW). The Sisters have provided evidence (alongside the organisation Women Enabled International) to the UN Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights in the United Kingdom, focusing on disabled women and domestic abuse. They have also submitted to the UN Committee on the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) and the Human Rights Committee’s Review of the UK (in collaboration with Stay Safe East).

In 2014, The Sisters of Frida became a CIC and despite still being a small and largely unfunded group of volunteers, the group continues to organise workshops and programmes designed to encourage an inclusive society that recognises the experiences of disabled women. In 2016, the group received a Catalyst grant from the Royal Society of the Arts to support a series of workshops the group had created, focusing on underrepresented conversations about disabled women and sexuality. These workshops facilitated important conversations about self-image, consent and balancing dependence, independence, and interdependence. The Sisters wrote a tool kit for making events accessible to all and have led courses on peer-led skills development for disabled women and a workshop on disabled women's voices on the frontline.

The Sisters advocated for the treatment and voices of disabled women through the COVID pandemic, as disabled women were 'abandoned' and left feeling 'unworthy and disposable'. The group regularly participates in marches across the UK as well as significant conversations. They also released a paper called Voices of Disabled Women in the Pandemic seeking to redress the one-dimensional voice given to narratives on disabled women. In 2020, the Sisters of Frida were shortlisted for the Community Organisation Award for Gender at the National Diversity Awards.


Sources

Lisney, E. 'Sisters of Frida: Bringing disabled women together', RSA,  9th January 2018. Accessed 4 January 2022. https://www.thersa.org/blog/2018/01/sisters-of-frida-bringing-disabled-women-together 

Lisney E.  'When Gender, Race and Disability Collide', Shades of Noir (quoted from her speech at the WOW Festival). Accessed 4 January 2022. https://shadesofnoir.org.uk/journals/content/when-gender-race-and-disability-collide 

‘Member Spotlight: Sisters of Frida', NAWO website. Accessed 4 January 2022. https://nawo.org.uk/member-spotlight-sisters-of-frida/

Tonks, M. 'About: Sisters of Frida', Sisters of Frida. Accessed 4 January 2022. https://www.sisofrida.org/about/  *The quote above is taken from this source. 

'2020 Shortlist: Sisters of Frida CIC', National Diversity Awards. Accessed 4 January 2022. https://nationaldiversityawards.co.uk/sisters-of-frida-cic/ 




Haymarket Books logo TFL Logo UCL logo CASA logo