In this blog post, two composite narratives of Nyra and Maya reveal the everyday negotiations faced by disabled and/or chronically ill women of colour in academia. From the expectation of overperformance to the silencing of needs, this piece examines how diversity is often performed rather than practiced. Through their stories, we see how inclusion often comes without support, and how excellence is demanded without care. At once a narrative of survival and resistance, this blog calls into question what belonging really means when it’s always conditional.

This written reflection is for organisers, facilitators, and justice-minded groups who are exploring how their events might move beyond surface-level inclusion – towards spaces where people can show up whole, where power can be shared, and where no one is an afterthought. In reflecting on what that involves, I continue to return to Sins Invalid’s Principles of Disability Justice, which offers an intersectional framework for rethinking access, solidarity, and what it means to build liberatory spaces.

Consternation leading to frustration,
to a possible contemplation
yet utter exasperation
and eventually resignation
no, capitulation
to the dominant narrative

White identity, Brown skin?
Hijab in the equation, what a scene!

But as the cold bit into my skin, something shifted. I thought of that kid on the schoolyard, of the lecturers who’d doubted me, of the feedback that tried to break me. I thought of the unanswered emails, the lonely nights, the bank account that always seemed to hover near zero, the weight of being the first. And I thought of me, still here, still fighting, still blooming through the cracks.

So I hear you are considering being a Postgraduate Researcher (PGR) representative (rep). You didn’t ask me, but if you were to ask “should I be a rep while doing a PhD?”, my knee-jerk reaction would be NO. And if you tell me, you are a person of colour doing a PhD, then I would say ABSOLUTELY NOT. Don’t be a rep, don’t waste your time, your energy and your mental health. 

The mere existence of a term – whichever one we choose – is problematic. The issue does not lie in the wording, it lies in the framework of our society that necessitates these terms. Yet we argue and end up in constant cycles of renaming, which I believe obscures our real mission – dismantling a society that makes us need to have this term in the first place.