Lydia Wilkins is an award-winning freelance journalist and editor who specialises in disability and social inequality issues. Her work has appeared in publications such as Women’s Health, Stylist, Happiful, Refinery 29, Insider, The Daily Mail, PosAbility Magazine, Readers Digest, The Mid Sussex Times, The Brighton Seagull, and multiple other titles. Her journalism has ranged from uncovering how former Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick was referred to the police watchdog during an inquiry into the stop and search of Bianca Williams, to exploring the rise of adaptive fashion in the disability space.
As a speaker Lydia has worked with a organisations such as Naidex, Bath Spa University, Suffolk University, the International Women’s Podcast Festival, SIC, King’s College London, the Crown Estate, and others. This has included lectures on how to freelance, to the need for disability representation for International Women’s Day. She was also a model in the September 2023 show on behalf of the adaptive fashion label Unhidden for Kurt Geiger, as part of the annual event London Fashion Week.
Lydia’s debut book, The Autism Friendly Cookbook, was released in November 2022. Compromising 100 recipes, part 1 focused on opening up the kitchen to everyone – such as in how to adapt, what strategies to use, and more. The book won 2 awards in the 2023 Gourmand Awards. The book has also been featured in the press nationally and internationally – such as on Canadian radio, the Lynn Bowles show, BBC GoodFood, The Bookseller, Mashable, and others.
From August 2021 – April 2025 Lydia served as an ambassador to AccessAble, the largest provider of accessibility information in the disability space in the UK. In her role, this involved public speaking, presenting on camera, mobile video production, and more. She was also the newsletter editor for the organisation from June 2023 – May 2024; this involved editing and commissioning others to write for her, as well as the design and setting up of the Substack and MailChimp service. She also runs The Disabled Feminist substack newsletter, which has been on the ‘Substack Reads’ list twice; she was shortlisted in 2024 by the novelist Elif Shafak.
Lydia is the editor in chief of Disability Review Magazine, the largest disability magazine title in the UK. Currently she is also working on her forthcoming second book, Criminally Misunderstood, and is represented by Artellus. She is available for speaking, commissions, editing and consulting opportunities.