Artists Challenge Ableism Through Exhibitions and Publications Amid UK Welfare Cuts

In 2025, the Labour government in the UK revealed unprecedented cuts to disability benefits totaling £5 billion, impacting nearly 50% of working-age recipients. Artist and writer Alice Hattrick documents these changes alongside various exhibitions in London that focus on disability and ableism. At Goldsmiths CCA, the Feminist Duration Reading Group engaged in a group reading of Hattrick's 2021 publication 'Ill Feelings', which posits that societal oppression, rather than biology, shapes disability. Galli's exhibition 'So, So, So' showcases works from the queer and disability rights movements of 1980s-90s West Berlin. The Whitechapel Gallery's 'Visceral Canker' highlights Donald Rodney's art from the late 1980s to 1990s, addressing racialized medical violence before his death in 1998 from sickle cell anemia. The Wellcome Collection features '1880 THAT: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader', which critiques the 1880 Milan conference's suppression of sign language, and 'Zines Forever! DIY Publishing and Disability Justice', spotlighting disabled zine creators. In her 2024 book 'How to Tell When We Will Die', artist Johanna Hedva advocates for institutional change through 'Access Riders'. Hattrick's mother contributes to Dolly Sen's 'Lorina Bulwer Legacy Project', which references 1890s embroidered scrolls from Great Yarmouth Workhouse. In 2022-23, approximately 16.1 million individuals in the UK had disabilities, accounting for 24% of the population.