What Community Means During COVID-19

Earlier this year, we launched the Liberare.co Community. If you don’t know what our community is, it’s a place for connection and support for women with disabilities. We have forums for talking about every subject imaginable, from lifestyle to a book club to resources for those new to the disabled community. Ultimately, the goal of our community is to give you a space to be yourself, and feel supported by a group of supportive, incredible women.

If you haven’t joined our community yet, you can do so here!

When Liberare first started, it was a marketplace for adaptive lingerie, but it’s grown into so much more than that. At the beginning of Liberare, we weren’t sure where it would go, or what we could do to help the amazing women that have supported us from the beginning. After our founder, Emma, did research and interviewed countless disabled women, she found that community was one thing they felt they needed most. In fact, disabled people are most susceptible to loneliness. Half of disabled people say that they are lonely, and one in four feel lonely every day.

The uncomfortable truth that able-bodied people need to face is that a lot of this loneliness is a product of ableism from the able-bodied community. In another study it was found that 49% of able-bodied people feel they do not have anything in common with disabled folks, and 26% admit to avoiding engaging with a disabled person.

However, it’s also due to the barriers that exist in our society which prevent those with disabilities from having access to the resources they need. And of course, now the COVID-19 pandemic. When we launched this community we had no idea there would be a worldwide pandemic on the horizon, and we weren’t sure how it would affect us. All of our worries went out the window when we launched, and heard from so many of you that community is exactly what you’re needing right now. Our community is more than just a group of people with disabilities. It’s a group of women that all have a common goal, to feel empowered and to empower each other through their commonalities and their differences, and their experiences of being disabled.

We’ve been overwhelmed with how much you all have supported our community. This community for empowered disabled women has been so long in the making, and we are so glad you’re feeling encouraged by it. If you haven’t joined our community yet, you can sign up today to get access to exclusive Liberare content, connect with other women, and encourage others in their journey. We’ll be talking more about how you can interact with our community of disabled women throughout the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

If you liked what you read and want to check out the rest of our blog pieces, you can see them here, and if you want to take a shopping break, you can look at our shop here!

Sources

https://www.sense.org.uk/support-us/campaigns/loneliness/