Frances Ryan

@francesryan.bsky.social

29541 Followers 130 Following

Guardian columnist and journalist. Commentator of the Year 2024. Author of Who Wants Normal? (paperback out now) and Crippled. E: frances.ryan.freelance@guardian.co.uk

A smiling Ruth Madeley sits in a recording studio. She is wearing a light grey hoodie and ear phones and her wheelchair is parked behind her.
A copy of the book sits upright on three stacked copes. The cover is bright orange and yellow with a lilac stripe.
I know it’s a crime to type this as a Guardian columnist but - whisper it - FWIW I’m working class. I also receive Pip and had DLA since I was a child (when my family couldn’t afford a car if that wins working class points!). I also know the system from fifteen years of writing about it, including a book. That includes knowing fraud rate for disability benefits is barely 1%.
Farage says Reform UK has offered to cover cost of Clacton byelection Nigel Farage says Reform UK has offered to pay for the cost of the Clacton byelection. I have spoken to the CEO of Tendring District Council. Reform has offered to cover the cost of the by-election. I will be writing to Rachel Reeves later today with the same message. Given that we asked for this by-election in the first place, it’s only right that we pay for it.
“I have put my views across on a policy I’ve been working on for months (I have the receipts) in an Op Ed in the times. Give it a read, and let’s continue to discuss.” Above a picture of himself, he added: “I won’t be intimidated to drop my views. Stay classy! Oh and I’m at a wedding in San Francisco, but happy to talk more when I’m back (I promise that’s the Golden Gate Bridge hidden by the fog).”
Jeremy Corbyn smiles to the camera and holds a copy of Crippled.
A bookcase filled with copies of Crippled. The front cover - dark blue with white writing - is visible.
A photo of Anthony Head as Giles, the librarian in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, sitting next to Buffy with a very large book.
#1 best seller in living with disabilities biographies. Reviews: average 4.8 stars.
A screenshot of the Guardian homepage showing a comment piece by Gordon Brown next to mine.
In many European countries, meteorologists describe nights with temperature minimums above 20C as “tropical”, while in Spain, which is more familiar with extreme heat, they call nights above 25C “equatorial” or “torrid”. In recent years, they have informally introduced a new category for night-time temperatures above 30C: “hellish”.
A red cocker spaniel lays on a turmeric sofa and stares into the distance. Her head is on a cushion.
My week: why are cigarettes chic again, and why oh why do I support Leicester City?   Frances Ryan Frances Ryan I’m Frances Ryan, Guardian columnist, and this week I’ve been thinking about the scandal of disabled people being forced to live in hospital, progressives uniting to stop Reform UK in Makerfield, and why smoking is apparently cool again. Don’t worry: I’ve also found time to start the new series of Rivals.
According to Sky’s Beth Rigby, the mood at cabinet was not quite as supportive towards Keir Starmer as Jenny Chapman implied. (See 11.39am.) Rigby says: This coming from a government source. A less supportive assessment of cabinet meeting “Keir said in Cabinet that he wouldn’t discuss the elections or his leadership, and that he will only speak to cabinet ministers about that individually. Then after the meeting he refused to see Cabinet ministers individually”
A reader named Fromthespoons: “Quite a mean and spiteful piece I thought.”
A fan of lilac postcards with ‘Who wants normal anyway?’ in red and yellow on the front.
A photo of me, a white woman with long blonde hair who is wearing a black All Saints jumper with arm cut outs whilst sitting in an electric wheelchair. The Changes Interview with Frances Ryan - 6 Questions and Answers on Change.
“This book is beautiful, vital, and important. I loved it.” - Jack Thorne, writer of Adolescence.
A copy of Who Wants Normal? stands upright on top of three others face down. The cover has bright orange and yellow stripes as well as a lavender strip at the bottom.
In recent years, Ryan has become one of the most authoritative voices on representation and policy as they relate to disabled people in the UK, though she bridles at the fact that she is frequently described as the Guardian’s “disability columnist”, “despite this role not existing at the paper and my work focusing on politics”. As a wheelchair user from childhood, who now also lives with the effects of chronic illness, Ryan writes from a perspective still all-too-rare in mainstream publications – as she notes in her chapter on representation, “disabled women working in the media are essentially like Superman and Clark Kent: you never see them in a room at the same time”.
A photograph of the front cover of the book. It’s dark orange with yellow and lilac stripes. The title reads: Who Wants Normal? Life Lessons from Disabled Women. At the top of the book are three endorsements. British Vogue: “Exceptional.” Jameela Jamil: “We all need this book.” Rosie Jones: “I’ve never related to a book more.”
A photo of a double page spread in British Vogue. On the left side, there is a small photo of me (a blonde woman sitting in a wheelchair in the sun with sunglasses on her head and a glass of wine on the table). On the right side, there is a large illustration of a woman laying down in striped white and blue lounge clothes.
A photo of a double page spread in British Vogue. On the left side, there is a small photo of me (a blonde woman sitting in a wheelchair in the sun with sunglasses on her head and a glass of wine on the table). On the right side, there is a large illustration of a woman laying down in striped white and blue lounge clothes.
A photo of a double glass door. There’s a fence and black tarpaulin in the back garden.
A photo of a three door glass wall. In the garden that it looks out onto, there is a magnolia tree and a tarpaulin covering what used to be grass.
A photograph of the front cover of the book. It’s dark orange with yellow and lilac stripes. The title reads: Who Wants Normal? Life Lessons from Disabled Women. At the top of the book are three endorsements. British Vogue: “Exceptional.” Jameela Jamil: “We all need this book.” Rosie Jones: “I’ve never related to a book more.”
A red show cocker spaniel lays upside down on a tumeric coloured sofa, her head on a cushion. One of her eyes is staring at the camera and her legs and paws are spread out.
The paperback of Who Wants Normal? sits in an opened cardboard box. The cover is bright orange, yellow, and lilac. There are a dozen copies underneath.
A beautiful red show cocker spaniel lays on her side, her head on her upturned paw. Her eyes, nose, and inner paw are dark in contrast to her red and blonde hair.
Hi, I’m Frances Ryan, Guardian columnist and author of Who Wants Normal? Life Lessons from Disabled Women. This week, I’ve been thinking about the paradox that young men as a group are statistically more sexist than their fathers and grandfathers, Access to Work cuts and internet blackouts in the Middle East war. I’ve been finding light relief by listening to the Good Hang podcast – or should that be watching? I’m T
As a child I went to a mainstream school that had a significant number of children with disabilities. It wasn't until I was adult that I found out that it was a pilot by the local authority to see what level of staffing/funding was required to get disabled children into mainstream school (this was in the 80s and 90s and I think the school was chosen as it was accessible without adaptation). To me it's strange to look at the school photos of my friends and family (including my own children) and not see wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, ear defenders and children with visual impairment. Children going off to have physio or learn Braille was a normal part of school life. The disabled children in my school were just my friends.
Waking up on my 66th birthday in July — my first as a halfling and a pensioner — you’d think my spirits would have been low. But my mind moved on to a list of other people I was grateful not to be; what passes for my morning meditation. I know this sounds bitchy but a lot of them are my friends. I’m aware that they feel pity for me but it’s a two-way street. I feel pity, for example, for people who call themselves writers but have about as much ear for language as a deaf parrot. For people who can’t get over the result of the Brexit referendum and will take their grievance to their grave. For people who are ruled by their emotions, boo-hooing like babies at the slightest thing, even though they are closer to dying than to being born. The list goes on. I might be in a wheelchair, but at least I’m not Rachel Reeves.
It says: The Unwin Award shortlist 2026. An image of me, a white blonde wheelchair user, and my book: Who Wants Normal?
A red show cocker spaniel lays on a mustard cushion and cream sheet. She’s looking into the camera and has her front paws curled up next to a monkey toy.
A photo of the hardback book and a yellow wellbeing journal that came with (and a sticker set, for fun).
Reform UK has also criticised the Tories for their comment about Suella Braverman’s mental health. A Reform source said: It’s a gross affront to millions of people in this country’s; it’s also not true. Whether you like Suella or not, she is a Cambridge-educated barrister who has served in a series of extraordinarily senior positions in this country. It goes without saying that she has never been diagnosd with a mental health condition.
Later, it emerged that Jenrick had been delayed because he had got lost in the corridors of Millbank Tower, getting stuck one floor below the press conference location after failing to find his way up the stairs. He will be hoping to now navigate Reform’s labyrinthine politics with greater success.
Robert Jenrick shakes the hand of Nigel Farage. They are grinning to the camera.
A Mr Burns meme: Hello, my name is Mr Snrub and I come from someplace far away. Yes, that’ll do.
The Sun: Cat Deeley slammed by disability advocates over ‘inappropriate’ words during Jesy Nelson interview
The Mirror: Cat Deeley under fire for 'inappropriate' choice of words talking about Jesy Nelson's twins
Donald Trump Trump says US will be ‘very strongly involved’ in Venezuela’s oil indus
Three formats of Who Wants Normal? sit next to each other: Kindle, hardback, audiobook.
Merely paying the extra for a luxury car does cost the taxpayer more unlike the author claims. Once in the motability system higher costs for servicing a large vehicle, bigger tyres to replace when worn etc.etc. are all funded by the scheme or so I'm told by someone who regularly takes his on holiday on the continent, where of course he drives for hundreds of miles.
The front cover of the book. It has white, black and orange geometric pattern.
“Illuminated and spirited. Such a necessary book” - Marina Hyde.
A copy of Who Wants Normal? (with its orange and yellow striped cover) stands upright on a small table. Next to it is a small snow globe with a Santa inside.
An advent calendar called Lily’s Kitchen. Mabel is standing next to it looking beautiful but generally baffled.
An illustration of Kemi Badenoch shouting at a scared child: “If you can’t afford to live then why did you decide to be born?”
There’s plenty out there you can read on why giving the working class vouchers rather than money is paternalistic classism. But in sum: there is a reason social security is seen as the only way for a civilised society to function. The myth that children are in poverty not because of high rents or low wages but because their parents spend their cash on booze and fags is as old as it is deceitful. Being poor doesn’t mean you’re a bad parent. It just means you’re poor.
Rising immigration, particularly of people who have moved to the UK from outside the EU, may be a contributing factor behind both the number of households with three or more children and relative child poverty rates. In 2022, the Children’s Commissioner reported that only 14 per cent of White British families had three or more children, compared with 38 per cent of Bangladeshi families and 41 per cent of Pakistani families.
Two framed front pages are propped against a green wall. One is the New York Times and the other is The Guardian.
‘40’ gold helium balloons float about a bouquet of orange and green flowers.
After 40 years as a doctor, and eventually as a senior consultant, my final year’s salary, before tax, was just over £101,000. A bit pathetic, don’t you think? And I didn’t do much private practice – so little that it didn’t justify the time, effort and insurance. I can wholeheartedly say that my aim was to make all my patients’ lives better, every day. Most days, I think I did. Elizabeth Taylor Norton, South Yorkshire
No 10 calls on Farage to urgently address ‘disturbing allegations’ of past racist behaviour
Alice Wong, activist and writer: Try not to feel the need to keep up or be as good as your non-disabled peers. Focus on doing what you love and knowing who you are and what kind of person you want to be in the world. Life can be messy and shitty and it’s totally OK to be full of rage and pain. Don’t do something because it’s what others expect – please yourself first and take your time. You don’t have to follow the typical path. You can find freedom when you let go of what you think success, perfection or happiness is supposed to look like. Asking for help and needing help doesn’t mean you are a failure. You have power, whether you realise it or not.
A red show cocker spaniel sits in the back of a car. She is wearing a plastic cone on her head and it is hiding part of her face at a comedic angle.
A tweet that says: Just got Reform to commit to a serious crackdown on Motability as part of their reforms to PIP. Lee Anderson says he’d be keen to see anyone with a Motability car forced to drive a ‘blue three wheeler’