My friend Ruth Bashall, who has died unexpectedly aged 71, was a feminist, an anti-racist and a disability rights activist.
Whether chucking paving stones in the 1968 Paris student protests, chaining herself to an inaccessible London bus, or battling a local authority to force them to protect an at-risk disabled woman, she displayed the commitment to justice and human rights that shaped her life. She fought to defend those at risk of deportation, and women and children under threat from male violence.
Born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, Ruth moved with her parents, Joan, a translator and English teacher, and Bill Parsons, an economist, to a suburb of Paris in 1954. At Lycée Blaise Pascal, Orsay, Ruth quickly learned French and liked to say that she dreamed in the language throughout her life.
In 1970 she returned to the UK to study sociology – and hone her socialist feminism – at the London School of Economics, gaining a BSc in 1975. She married Alan Bashall in 1971, and their daughter, Tamsin, was born the following year. The marriage ended in divorce in 1977.
In the mid-1970s Ruth came out, helped to found the Lesbian Mothers’ Group and joined the London Lesbian Line collective. Forming unbreakable bonds with women from diverse backgrounds, she acquired a lifelong lesbian family. Compassionate and humorous, she loved music, nature and cats. She lived in London for the rest of her life.
Ruth started her working life as a bus conductor (1977-81), before working in Centerprise community bookshop in Hackney (1981-84), then as a transport researcher at the Campaign to Improve London’s Transport (1984-90). After becoming disabled, she progressed from local council access worker (1990-96) to policy officer (1996-99) for the London borough of Waltham Forest.
In 1999, Ruth became an independent disability equality trainer and consultant, and was an adviser to the Metropolitan police and Greater London Authority on disability hate crime, and domestic and sexual violence (2007-17).
She co-founded the Campaign for Accessible Transport in 1989, with protests including disabled people blocking the London streets by “catching” a bus with handcuffs. Forming the Met’s disability independent advisory group with Anne Novis, she then, with Nicholas Russell, set up Stay Safe East, the first disabled people’s organisation dedicated to tackling violence and abuse against disabled people from diverse communities.
Ruth’s fierce intellect, attention to detail, persuasive tone and persistence grabbed the attention of those with the power to make changes. She was a huge-hearted woman who put enormous amounts of time, effort and determination into supporting individuals in desperate situations. For her, people mattered, and, above all, everyone had a right to be safe.
Ruth is survived by Tamsin and by her grandchildren, Sophia and Robbie. Just as important to her was the community of lesbian friends she built around her, especially Savi Hensman, Val Stein and me.
