About

Enabling disabled women of all backgrounds to have a voice

A diverse group of women around the WinVisible banner, some holding the banner and some holding placards.

WinVisible (women with visible & invisible disabilities) is a multi-racial grassroots group. We bring together women with various disabilities: polio, sickle cell anaemia, osteo-arthritis, visually impaired, mental distress, cancer . . . from different backgrounds: asylum seeker, refugee, immigrant and UK-born.

In WinVisible, we meet and support each other, overcome isolation and discrimination, and often win what we are entitled to.

We provide self-help information and advocacy, on benefits and cash help with the cost of living, accessing healthcare, transport and support services, tackle homecare charges and many other problems, and deal with discrimination, including in employment.

Our self-help benefits and cost of living information helps many people to win our disability benefits, defend ourselves against benefit sanctions, Council Tax bills, to know our rights as Council and private tenants, and access our community care rights as disabled asylum seekers and immigrants.

Being disabled and surviving in an inaccessible and prejudiced world is very hard work. Many disabled women are mothers and carers for elderly relatives and others in the community, on top of coping with our own disability or ill-health.

We defend disabled women against discrimination of all kinds, including refugees, claimants denied benefits, mums who face having our children taken away because we are seen as ‘unfit’.

Hands holding the Care Act booklet. Drawing of a wheelchair user mum of colour, she is looking forward and her child stands by her side leaning into her shoulder.

The Disabled Mothers’ Rights Campaign (DMRC) co-ordinated by WinVisible brings together disabled mothers and other disabled women for the right to have a family and keep our children. We are lobbying Councils to provide the Care Act support which we are entitled to, for our caring responsibilities for children. We are part of the Support Not Separation coalition and participate in the monthly picket of the Central Family Court in Holborn — first Wednesday of every month, in person and online.

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Take part in our activities:

Meetings and topic discussions.
Volunteering, with training and support provided.
Information and advocacy by phone, email, face-to-face, online.
Workshops on Zoom and in person — contact us if you are interested in having a joint workshop hosted by your group.
Testifying how cost of living, cuts to benefits, legal aid, homecare and carers’ low pay, healthcare and other services affect disabled women — and defending our entitlements.
Exposing mistreatment by private companies such as fuel suppliers, benefit assessors Maximus, Atos, Capita, for-profit homecare agencies.
Pressing for money and resources to protect us against dependence and promote independent living.

We work with women’s groups and other organisations:

To stop and prevent violence against disabled women and girls by institutions, abusive partners or family members.
Backing a Care Income for everyone who does caring work for people and planet. Like other women, disabled women want recognition that our caring work, for ourselves as well as others, is vital to society. A living wage and decent conditions for care and support workers respects them and us and prevents neglect and abuse.
Supporting disabled women’s struggle in Bhopal, India, for justice, compensation, healthcare and clean-up after the industrial disaster, as one with our own — and other environmental, air pollution and climate change struggles.

Volunteers are welcome — we need help with all kinds of things

Contact us Tel: 0207 482 2496