Saturday, May 31, 2014

Photo Of The Day ... And A Disability Role Model

black and white photograph of Rosa May Billinghurst sitting in her adapted wheelchair after being arrested, surrounded by police officers and members of Women’s Social and Political Union
Bisexualfandom - May 27, 2014

(Via the Just Rollin On Tumblr blog).
"Billinghurst’s ‘invalid tricycle’ gave her the mobility she needed to become an active member of the suffrage movement. Her ‘invalid tricycle’ was a makeshift wheelchair consisting of a modified tricycle with hand controls. Billinghurst attracted public attention by appearing in processions dressed in white and wheeling along with her machine decked out in colored WSPU ribbons and “Votes for Women” banners. Billinghurst rose to prominence as a recognizable public figure and became known as “the cripple suffragette.”"
Why oh why have I not heard of this woman before!