Reclaim the Night/MWR 2012

[UmYeahLikeTotally]

Hi All

Sorry if this has already been posted, I have been slacking on the feMNist front lately!

The Reclaim the Night facebook page has popped up on my news feed today; they have added photos to the website....and my placard is on there!!!

They also confirmed that Million Women Rise is being held on 3rd March, is anyone going??

I dont have children and am marching with OBJECT. However, I would love to meet you all, any chance of saying hello at the Rally. I am staying in London on Friday night but will be going back home after the rally. Are you marching with a mumsnet banner, if so I will look out for you at the Rally if I can.

Bertie - any help I can give anyone. My husband is going to cheer everyone on so he would be willing to help. Let me know.

I am sorry but I have to shout - I CANT BLOODY WAIT!!!!!

vegetariandumpling: I am not sure that the bus that you linked to for BALLROOM is for disabled women not pregnant ones. Other transport might well be available but being pregnant is not a disability and should not be confused with one.

No its not Notthefullshilling. It is for disabled women and women who would have problems completing the full march. Pregnancy isn't a disability but it can certainly cause mobility problems. Really not sure why you felt you had to say that on this thread.

I am hoping to come with DS2 (he'll be 4 months).

Hmm, I'm now thinking, it's a Saturday so I might be able to get someone to have DS. What time does it tend to finish? If I can get back by 10pm childcare won't be a problem. I'm 2 hours away by train - if I left at 7.30pm would I miss all the fun?

Or it might be too short notice and I might have to work :( (I'm putting barriers up for no reason here, aren't I?)

Oh, okay, that sounds very doable! :)

I maaaaaayyyyyy be there...

Have somewhere to stay, just praying nothing comes up beforehand.

Ah yes, I think I was getting confused :)

I said it for the simple reason that pregnant women have a choice, walk do not walk. Do a bit, do the lot. Disability is not optional, plus if the bus is adapted then you the limited space is most appropriate for disabled people, other options and modes of transport are available to women with NO disabilities.

TBE your an arse, the social model is not there for you to declare yourself disabled as a result of a temporary condition. If a woman with a pre existing mobility implement's becomes pregnant she remains disabled after the birth, for most women the birth ends in much greater mobility and ability to make choices. Again I say if the organisers wish to be inclusive stick a bigger bus on, or two buses. Or are these the same women who hog disabled toilets because "they need the room".

There is an arse on this thread but it isn't TBE.

Thankfully the organisers of MWR disagree with you Notthefullshilling.

i'll be the thread arse if you like.

Pregnancy may not be a disability itself, but it can affect mobility, and in some cases can lead to disability, whether short term or long term. Even though my pregnancy was healthy, and wasn't "disabling", my ex-employer still had to make allowances for me in the same way he may have needed to make them for a member of staff with mobility issues.

The whole "pregnancy isn't a disability" thing pisses me right off. My ex sister in law was near enough crippled with SPD during her pregnancy. She became reliant on crutches, and certainly wouldn't have been unable to walk unaided. No one asks for those side effects of pregnancy, and it's a bit misogynistic to expect those who are affected by pregnancy in this way to just, you know, count themselves lucky because it (possibly) won't last forever. It's minimising a problem that affects a number of women, right now.

Oi, SAF, butt out. "Thread Arse" is my title, damn you...

The text on the site is

"Women with Disabilities

Each year MWR has a mobility support van to ensure inclusion of disabled women and women who would have difficulty completing the length of the march. A map of the route will be available marking resting seats and public toilets for those who need resting places along the route. If you would like to know more about how MWR can support you to participate in this year?s march, please contact..."

So luckily it looks like they don't operate a pregnant woman bashing narrow version of disability, which presumably would also exclude those who had temporarily broken their limbs or were suffering an MS episode

i'm chuckling at the idea of getting one's disability credentials checked out before boarding the bus. maybe atos could lend their services for the day?

sorry madam receiving chemotherapy doesn't count as disability you'll 'ave to walk.

if you aint got a wheelchair you can't come in.

As someone with a mobility impairment from birth, my objection is that unlike a pregnancy no one consulted me about my feelings on the matter. Life has continued to segregate and point out my difference to all and sundry including myself for the last 40 years. I have lost count of the times when I am now no longer going to just smile and accept second place in society. The social model of disability is NOT some convienance for anyone to use as a means to define themselves when it suits them. Or are you all saying you will happily and gaily subject yourself s to the daily abuse, physical mistreatment, social rejection that other people with disabilities suffer. Perhaps if the bus had the word phrase cripple transport" you would be less keen to get on it. The social model is the same as feminism it defines a set of problems and attitudes that subjugate one set of people by others. What if we agreed that only unmarried women could be feminists as in many ways economical and social, they have a different life from other women....No do not like that idea well I do not like you chucking about ideas that are as important to others as lightly and blithely.

Yes if you must know the whole thing organised by women is very dis abelist, simply by marching anywhere at any time. The act of walking for the majority of women is simple, for others and some who have child care issues have already posted on this thread. Need weeks of planning just to be able to set foot outdoors. Others will rely on the help of many others, the co-operation of public transport of which a limited number is available, and the time of others paid and unpaid to assist them to "walk" from one place to another, from when they will need to return with all the same problems.

It excludes not by virtue of free will but by the sheer weight of planning and the ability to be independent thousands of women who may have wanted to take place. The solution is simple a large tented festival in the one place that people can get to and park. Women and men are all effected by disability this is a human rights issue just as much as feminism is. It is not about setting one group against the other, but each need to be aware that each has diffrent perceptions and needs.