Ramping Up Rights: An Unfinished History of British Disability Activism

by Rachel Charlton-Dailey

From the ‘crippled suffragette’ to 1980s punks chaining themselves to buses, from resisting government policies to changing the media narrative, this book celebrates the amazing activists, protest actions and campaigns that have fought in the UK for disabled people’s rights to live.

In Ramping Up Rights, Rachel Charlton-Dailey highlights a shockingly overlooked 100 years of struggle for disability rights. She unpacks what has gone so wrong with British attitudes and policy in the twenty-first century, and interviews campaigners and disabled people about how they have reclaimed power, from the inclusivity of online activism to the importance of intersectionality. She explores the live frontiers in this ongoing battle for civil rights—from the scandalous inaccessibility of our education and transport systems, to the existential debates about neurodiversity, genetic screening and ‘the right to die’.

These angry, thoughtful, hopeful pages show for the first time how a look at disability activism’s past can become a call to action for the future. As rights continue to be eroded for political gain, this urgent, powerful book will show readers how hard, and how often, disabled people and their allies have fought and won—and will give them the energy to keep fighting back.

Genres: Disability

288 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2025

Reviews

[Laura Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly important book, tracing the much-overlooked history of how disability rights have been fought for, won, and lost in the UK over the last century, and how the fight is continuing. This should be required reading in schools across the country.

[liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely so important that this book exists. tbh I found the 'today' section hard to read, but it's truth that needs to be told.