Spokz People

11/08/2026

Envy doesn’t get talked about much in the disability space.

Yet a lot of us experience at least some variation of it.

It’s watching someone decide to go for a walk on a whim, or stay out late without calculating energy levels, pain, or whether the place will even be accessible. It’s seeing people treat their bodies like something they can just rely on or even take risks with.

It's seeing your non-disabled friend afford the best in life because they can reliably work full-time.

It's seeing another chronically ill person who has less flare ups and can wear non-adaptive designer clothes.

Maybe most days we can be fine with our reality. But every so often that sharp envy shows up, not of their life exactly, just of the ease.

The lack of constant negotiation with your own body, your mental health and the world around it. It’s okay to feel it. It doesn’t make you ungrateful. It just means you’re human.

If you want to chat to other disabled and chronically ill adults about your doubts about your own life and your feelings of envy, how about you join us for a free month?

Here is the link to our website: https://spokzpeople.org.uk/

Image description 🖼️: A photo of influencer Tilly Moses (left) and her best friend, another woman who is a wheelchair user (right).

Tilly is a Caucasian plus-sized woman with curly brown hair, a fringe and dark brown lipstick. She is wearing a fashionable orange and yellow outfit with a crocheted cardigan, buttoned pinafore dress with floral patterns, and her tights are mismatched (the leg on the left is orange and the one on the right is yellow.) She is sitting on a crocheted blanket placed on her black wheelchair her legs are crossed and she is leaning towards her bestie with a smile.

Tilly's best friend is a Caucasian woman with long mousey blonde hair. She is wearing a long-lived lilac shirt underneath a floral green dress. She is wearing magenta tights and leopard printed flat loafers.

Behind them, we see a tropical-looking leafy background.

04/08/2026

It’s International Assistance Dog Week, and Canine Partners (the charity the dogs of one of our team members came from) are spending the week dismantling the usual myths. 🐾

One that still catches us out in everyday life is the idea that assistance dogs are somehow “on” all the time, never distracted, never just dogs.

They’re highly trained, of course but they’re still dogs. 💖

They have off-switches, preferences, and the occasional off day. Treating them like robots does them (and their partners) a disservice.

The real work these dogs do is practical and specific. They help with the small, exhausting tasks that pile up when your body doesn’t cooperate like picking up the dropped keys, the doors, the switches. That kind of support is life-changing 💕.

Image description 🖼️ : A service dog in training. The dog is a young golden retriever and it sits on green grass, looking up and to the side with its mouth open and tongue out in a happy expression. It’s wearing a bright pink harness with yellow trim that reads “TRAINING,” plus a matching pink vest decorated with sunflowers, bees, and the words “Service Dog – DO NOT DISTRACT.” A small pink plush toy is attached to the side of the vest. The background is a grassy field with some hay visible in the distance.
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28/07/2026

Think disability rights in the UK is just about ramps and parking spaces? Think again.

The real game-changer is the Equality Act's duty to make reasonable adjustments, and it's still chronically under-used.

Employers and service providers have to anticipate barriers, not just react when someone complains. Too many workplaces treat it as an optional favour instead of a legal requirement.

One powerful (and sobering) stat is that the disability employment gap sits at around 29 percentage points. Disabled working-age people are employed at ~53% vs 82% for non-disabled.

For people with fluctuating or invisible conditions (mental health, chronic illness, neurodivergence), the biggest barrier is sometimes the quiet assumption that "if you managed last week, you should manage every week." This leads to brilliant people burning out or dropping out because support isn't flexible.

Proper adjustments and schemes like Access to Work aren't charity, they're how we stop wasting potential.

🖼️ image description : A vibrant, colorful cartoon illustration by Emily Foster on a bright purple background promoting disability rights. In the center, a bold multicolored text reads "PROTECT DISABILITY RIGHTS!" beneath a large rainbow arch. The design is decorated with hearts, stars, flowers, leafy vines, a blue butterfly, a small caterpillar, and a snail.

19/07/2026

A lot of people struggle to deal with the fact that many neurodivergent individuals can interrupt people in conversation.

For neurodivergent individuals, it's also tough because the interrupting isn't due to them disrespecting you or not wanting to respect the unspoken rules of conversation.

A lot of neurodivergent people will interrupt you because they're very engaged with what you're talking about.

Maybe you gave them an idea 💡

Maybe they thought that sharing their personal story with you would allow you to bond 💕

And maybe they were afraid to forget what they had to say.

Us neurodivergent people don't mean any harm. We must try our best to wait until the person speaking is finished but let's not be too hard on . And if you've experienced this as a non-neurodivergent person, try to be patient and kindly but firmly tell the neurodivergent person "I know you have something to say but I'm not finished yet."

Image description 🖼️ :

A humorous pie chart titled "ADHD: WHY I INTERRUPT PEOPLE." The largest blue section shows an excited purple-haired character saying "Say it now or it's GONE FOREVER!" A big purple slice labeled "Random interesting things" has a squirrel with an acorn.

Another purple section reads "Your story reminded me of 8 other things" with a smiling face. The tiniest slice (5%) says "I thought it was my turn." The style is simple and cartoonish on a white background.

13/07/2026

This is very key! It is NOT lucky that we cannot work due to illness or disability.

10/07/2026

"What does Spokz People actually do?" 🤔🤔

This is a common question we get.

Spokz People is a 100% online organisation that offers weekly online peer support. 💻

This means that as disabled individuals and chronically ill people, we show up online every week and talk about different things.

Sometimes, we'll have informal chats. This week, we talked about practical solutions in relation to challenging personal situations, such as safeguarding referrals, contacting MPs and local councillors, involving the media, using legal advice and advocacy.

Sometimes, we have themed sessions. So we'll talk about topics that affect us (I.e: sleep, relationships, anxiety, etc)

We're a friendly group and our goal is for us to connect. 💜

We have therapists with lived experience who moderate our sessions to keep them safe and fair to each member. 💖

We also have self-paced online modules, so you can take your time and learn some techniques to manage certain areas of your life as a disabled person.

We charge £5/month and offer incredible value.

- You want to meet new people that will get you? ➡️ Join Spokz People!

- You want to have mental health support from a therapist with lived experience that is flexible ? ➡️ Join Spokz People!

- You want an affordable mental health platform that doesn't sell your data? ➡️ Spokz People!

Join us for 1 month (FREE) and see if you'd like being part of the community.

🔗

At Spokz People we improve wellbeing for disabled people and their families through our wellbeing community & programme. We support on everything from relationships and s*x to confidence and resilience.

03/07/2026

Just a firm reminder that being disabled doesn't mean you can't enjoy life, date, meet new friends, party, enjoy intimacy or have hobbies.
We’re not as*xual monks who only do 'quiet time.' We date. We flirt. We party (strategically). 🎆

We chase joy like everyone else, even if it’s at 3pm with a heating pad and snacks. The world assumes our bodies killed that part of us. Nah. We just got creative. 😸

🖼️ Image description : a picture of Dee Marie. She is an artist with a yellow buzz cut. She has tan skin and is wearing black glasses with bat-shaped frames.
She is smiling and laying her arms and hands on her knees.

She is wearing a sleeveless yellow dress which are held up by ribbons at her shoulders.
She has a hot pink and yellow tutu under her dress, pink tights and yellow combat boots.

She is a wheelchair users and her wheelchair's inner wheels are hot pink and some of its frame is yellow.

Behind her, we can see a lawn and a suburban home.

24/06/2026

Literally how we all feel right now, am I right? 🥵♨️🫠

Temperatures smash June records and we're pushing towards 38–39°C in places with red extreme heat warnings active.

Disabled people are bearing the brunt.

Many of us can't simply "stay cool" the way others can. Homes without proper insulation or cooling become ovens.

Public transport like the Tube turns into saunas with no accessible, air-conditioned alternatives. 🚉

Medications for conditions like MS, Parkinson's, mental health, or heart issues can impair the body's ability to regulate temperature.

Mobility issues, sensory sensitivities, and energy-limiting conditions (like ME/CFS or fibromyalgia) turn simple tasks into exhausting ordeals. Flare-ups spike. Heat exhaustion and worse become real daily risks.

If you live alone, the risk is insane.

Our infrastructure, housing, and planning still treat extreme heat as a rare inconvenience rather than the predictable threat it is.

Although we have heard of ways to "manage" the discomfort such as hydrating proactively, taking cold showers, using fans, closing our shutters, we also know that it's become unbearable. Heat exhaustion (dizziness, nausea, heavy sweating) can escalate fast.

We need urgent, disability-inclusive climate adaptation. Retrofit homes and social housing for heat resilience. 🆘

We would also like public transport to stop telling us to bring water bottles on board but to instead be reliably cool enough during extreme temperatures

The UK needs to mandate cooling standards in new buildings and care settings and fund proper research and support for disabled people's specific needs in heatwave.

This won't only benefit the disabled people you meet today but everyone you know.

🖼️ image description : Collage of an 80s anime girl who is using crutches. She is a young Caucasian woman and has fun purple hair that reaches her shoulders. She has round pink sunnies perched on top of her head. Her eyes are purple and she is wearing big maximalist red earrings, a sleeveless yellow shirt with a pink collar.
She has high waisted pink denim shorts and a brown belt and her crutches have pink elements.

She looks exhausting and we can see beads of sweat everywhere.

She is in a street in London and we can see a pink bus on her right and blurred out people on her left.

17/06/2026

This evening, our beloved therapist Mark will be leading our session focused on self-care.

Self-care sometimes feels like something we HAVE to do, like some kind of chore.

Medical professionals remind us endlessly that to "manage" our chronic illness or disability we need to move, eat well, sleep enough, etc.

But what if self-care was more than a list of extra tasks?

This is what we are going to discuss tonight!

If you want to join our incredible peer-led sessions, take advantage of a 1 month free trial by following the link to our website : https://spokzpeople.org.uk/signup-clp/

🖼️ Picture description: A Caucasian woman with a prosthetic leg actively engaging in exercise by the ocean. We see her from the back. She has straight blonde hair that go below her shoulders and is wearing a bright blue sleeveless tank top, and multicolored leggings. Her arms are stretched above her head.

©️Pikwizard

08/06/2026

Recently, X has been flooded with reactions after an American influencer revealed that his wife chose to terminate a pregnancy after prenatal testing showed their child would be born with Down syndrome.

In response, many people tried to make the case that disabled lives are worth living by sharing photos of successful people with Down syndrome: models, athletes, comedians, motivational speakers, and other public figures.

But I think we need to examine the message we're sending.

Disabled people should not have to be exceptional, famous, inspirational, or professionally successful to have their lives valued. A person's worth is not determined by their achievements, media visibility, or ability to inspire others.

Likewise, many people responded by sharing stories of relatives with Down syndrome who are always smiling, loving, and happy. While these stories may be genuine, they can also reinforce another harmful stereotype: that Down syndrome is somehow a "happy disability."

People with Down syndrome experience the full range of human emotions. They can feel joy, frustration, sadness, anger, loneliness, grief, and pain, just like anyone else. Presenting them as perpetually happy risks erasing their struggles and denying them the complexity we afford to non-disabled people.

It can also unintentionally invalidate carers and family members. Caring for a disabled relative can be deeply rewarding, but it can also be exhausting, emotionally difficult, and sometimes isolating. Pretending disability is always easy or joyful leaves little room for honest conversations about the support that disabled people and their families often need.

Two things can be true at once:

1️⃣ Disabled lives are equal in value to non-disabled lives, regardless of achievement, independence, or public success.

2️⃣ Disability can involve real challenges, difficult emotions, and significant caring responsibilities that should not be ignored or romanticised.

Respecting disabled people means recognising their full humanity and not turning them into either tragedy stories or inspiration stories.

🖼️ image description : a light blue background teal bold font in caps stating : "Respect all disabled people not just the ones that inspire you."