The Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA), formerly known as the Women with Disabilities Feminist Collective (WDFC), is an Australian social support organization representing women, girls, feminine identifying, and non-binary people with disabilities, which first engaged in
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
political action in the 1980s.
Lesley Hall
Lesley Maria Hall (27 November 1954 – 19 October 2013) was a disability advocate, arts administrator, writer and activist. She was one of the founders of the Women with Disabilities Feminist Collective (WDFC), now known as Women with Disabili ...
was one of the founders. One of its earliest actions was to protest the
Miss Australia Quest, a beauty contest which raised money for what was then known as the
Spastic Society
Scope (previously known as the National Spastics Society) is a disability charity in England and Wales that campaigns to change negative attitudes about disability, provides direct services, and educates the public. The organisation was found ...
. The WWDA objected to the contest's focus on physical perfection "as the norm all must maintain if they are to be fully accepted into society."
The group disrupted the 1982 Miss Victoria contest, invading the stage with a banner reading "Equality Not Charity."
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://wwda.org.au/
Feminist organisations in Australia
Disability organisations based in Australia