Frances Ryan
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francesryan.bsky.social
Frances Ryan
@francesryan.bsky.social
29K followers 120 following 1.7K posts
Guardian columnist and journalist. Commentator of the Year 2024. Author of Who Wants Normal? and Crippled.

E: [email protected]
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francesryan.bsky.social
Before she died, Alice Wong was kind enough to give me an interview for my book, Who Wants Normal?

Here’s her wonderful advice to disabled women (from the Guardian extract): www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
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.
November 17, 2025 at 12:06 PM
francesryan.bsky.social
If you needed a boost on a Monday.
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.
November 3, 2025 at 10:32 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
This from X is a striking example of what I argue in today’s column. Reform and the Tories are out here gleefully saying disabled people on Motability should be forced to drive a 3-wheeler, like a scarlet letter. The stigma is not an accident - it’s the design.
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’
October 30, 2025 at 11:21 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
Mabel has had a minor operation and is currently being a very, very brave soldier.
A red show cocker spaniel lays on a bed, her head slightly to the side and her front legs outstretched. She has a plastic medical cone on.
October 29, 2025 at 10:44 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
It was lovely to chat to Benedict Cooper for October’s Left Lion about Who Wants Normal? and what it was like to interview 50+ of Britain’s best known disabled women.

Online here: leftlion.co.uk/features/202...
Nottingham journalist and author Frances Ryan is Britain’s leading writer and activist for disabled people. She has spent years calling out reckless government policies and social ignorance towards disability, and been a beacon for people living with disabilities. This year she released a new book describing the daily differences of living with a disability. We caught up with her for a chat…
October 17, 2025 at 12:15 PM
francesryan.bsky.social
LAST CHANCE!

Waterstones is running a pre-order offer on select titles - and the Who Wants Normal? paperback is included! 

Be quick - it ends today - and you’ll get 25% off and be one of the first to receive the book next year: www.waterstones.com/book/who-wan...
Waterstones: 25% off 2026 new titles. Pre-order code: OCTOBER25. An image of Who Wants Normal? Life Lessons from Disabled Women sits in the centre.
October 17, 2025 at 8:24 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
If you like renovations and interior design, I’m documenting a 3 year building project over on my Instagram (frances.ryan85). It’s essentially a low scale Grand Designs if no one gets pregnant in a caravan or a £100k loan from their dad.
October 15, 2025 at 8:54 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
NEWS. Waterstones is running a pre-order offer on select titles - and the Who Wants Normal? paperback is included!

You’ve got to be quick - it runs today until 17th - but you’ll get 25% off and be one of the first to receive the book next year: www.waterstones.com/book/who-wan...
Waterstones: 25% off 2026 new titles. Pre-order code: OCTOBER25. An image of Who Wants Normal? Life Lessons from Disabled Women sits in the centre.
October 14, 2025 at 9:36 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
For this weekend’s TV column, I previewed Rylan and Prof Alice’s new show investigating the Essex witch trials. Think Blackadder crossed with CSI plus a sprinkle of Philomena Cunk. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Much of the action takes place in an “incident room” – AKA a budget studio in which Rylan and Alice write on a board with a big pen above mugshots of the key characters. At one point, Rylan sticks a photograph of “Attorney General Gilbert Gerard” – one of the main prosecutors to implement Elizabeth I’s 1563 law criminalising witchcraft – and Alice nods in recognition. That she is actually recognising the actor Sky has hired to play Gilbert Gerard rather than presumably congratulating Rylan for discovering the earliest known camera roll on Earth is neither here nor there. This is history coming to life! We’re in the moment!
October 12, 2025 at 10:36 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
Lovely to see this double page spread in Motability Lifestyle for my interview with the fab @carolinebutterwick.bsky.social. We spoke about my book Who Wants Normal? and tips on navigating life as a young disabled adult. (She writes, as an elderly millennial.)
A double page spread shows a collage of images of young disabled people. The headline reads: Preparing For Adulthood. On the right side is a small picture of Who Wants Normal? and its orange and yellow cover.
September 25, 2025 at 11:21 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
Sorry, refuse to live in a timeline where news outlets fact check whether Royal swans are being eaten by migrants. Put Farage in a cupboard with a mic and let him talk to the walls. Leave the rest of us out of it.
Royal Parks says there's no evidence to back Farage's claim their swans being eaten by migrants., The Royal Parks have rejected a claim from Nigel Farage that migrants are killing and eating swans from their grounds. The Reform UK leader made the assertion in his LBC interview this morning as he deflected a question about whether Donald Trump was wrong last year when he claimed migrants in Ohio were eating dogs and cats. Trump’s comment was widely dismissed as a racist slur.
September 24, 2025 at 12:29 PM
francesryan.bsky.social
It was a pleasure to write the forward for this year’s Patient Experience Survey for NHS England. @patientlibrary.bsky.social

Now more than ever, we need to listen to the people relying on the service (and that includes minorities like disabled people). www.patientlibrary.net/cgi-bin/down...
A screenshot of my forward. Click on the above link to read it in full.
September 23, 2025 at 9:34 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
It was an honour to be asked to write the forward for this year’s Patient Experience report on NHS England. @patientlibrary.bsky.social

At a time when the NHS is struggling, more than ever we need to put patients and their feedback first.

Read it here: www.patientlibrary.net/cgi-bin/down...
A flag has the words: thank you NHS on it.
September 17, 2025 at 9:06 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
Thanks to @sarahchave1.bsky.social for a copy of her new book! One for readers who love anything from nature writing, ecology, to Celtic mythology.

Available here: www.waterstones.com/book/hafren/...
Hafren: the Wisdom of the River Severn.
September 15, 2025 at 9:12 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
For those who read about Mabel’s birthday in this week’s Guardian, here she is at today’s Parkrun modelling her present: a Hay collar.

She’s decided to turn down sponsorship deals because she thinks it’s tacky but is keen for any gifted tummy tickles.
A red show cocker spaniel stands on grass. The sunlight is behind her, as is a small crowd. She is wearing an ochre and white collar and a black lead.
August 30, 2025 at 9:12 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
I can’t say how pleased I am to have got Mabel into today’s Guardian.
A photo of the page in the paper: a column divided into two topics - US celebrities moving to Britain and pet birthdays. On the bottom right, there’s a small photo of Mabel. A close up of the photo in the paper. The heading says: birthday girl…Mabel.
August 28, 2025 at 11:43 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
It’s Mabel’s 4th birthday today and she’s waiting at the door for her gifts somewhat expectantly.
A red show cocker spaniel sits in a porch, staring closely at the door.
August 22, 2025 at 4:49 PM
francesryan.bsky.social
I love this illustration by Thomas Pullin in today’s Guardian to accompany my column on the surge in private healthcare amongst the young. Just the right element of menacing.
The journal front page. At the top, there is a large illustration of an IV bag with two tubes marked ‘NHS’ and ‘private.’ A fist is squeezing the NHS tube. At the bottom of the page is text and my byline photo.
August 22, 2025 at 11:42 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
A ludicrously adorable dog. Should probably be illegal.
A red show cocker spaniel sits against a wall. Her ears are adorably inside out and her big eyes are very visible.
August 21, 2025 at 10:33 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
I’m in the September issue of British Vogue with a personal piece on writing Who Wants Normal? and the (often complex) relationship between disability, health and body image.
A double page spread. On the right side is an illustration of a woman in a striped dress laying down. On the left is a smaller photo of me and a headline that reads: A Better Fit.
August 18, 2025 at 10:18 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
Mabel thinks she invented lifting her front paws up and I don’t plan on breaking it to her.
A red show cocker spaniel puts her two front paws on a light blue garden table. She has successfully raised herself up and looks very pleased with herself.
August 15, 2025 at 10:56 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
What a cover! Whilst the US fumbles, British Vogue always nails the September issue. (Excited to have a piece in there myself. More soon.)
Michaela Coel on the cover of British Vogue. She is wearing a dark blue headpiece.
August 14, 2025 at 1:55 PM
francesryan.bsky.social
This is the crux of the lie: “women are at risk from *these* men.” In reality, women are at risk from any demographic of men. You don’t need to look at a small boat to find a rapist or wife beater. Just walk into your local pub or shop. The issue with male violence is men - not race.
Pochin, who was elected as the MP for Runcorn & Helsby in May, said: “The inconvenient truth for the left is that the culture of men from predominantly Muslim countries like Afghanistan is one that holds a medieval view of women’s rights. “Women are at risk of sexual assault and rape from these men; hundreds of young men who arrive in this country, [are] housed in our communities, who undoubtedly become sexually frustrated [and] have a warped view of their right to sexually assault women.”
August 12, 2025 at 11:47 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
Reform MP Sarah Pochin’s praise for men who “protect their wives and daughters” from asylum seekers reflects the point in my column. “It’s an extension of the centuries-old racial prejudice ethnic minorities are a sexual threat to white females - and the white males who claim possession of them.”
Reform’s newest MP has praised “concerned British men” for organising private street patrols and has accused illegal immigrants of thinking they had a “right to sexually assault women”. Sarah Pochin said that private security personnel were protecting their wives, daughters and mothers from sexual assault. She also accused illegal migrants from “predominantly Muslim” countries of having a “medieval view of women’s rights fundamentally alien to our own western values”.
August 12, 2025 at 11:01 AM
francesryan.bsky.social
Very much torn over being excited for the King of the Hill reboot and seeing adult Bobby as an existential threat of my own impending death.
An image of Peggy, Bobby, and Hank. All three are visibly older than the original series, as that’s how time work.
August 6, 2025 at 10:12 AM