“There has historically been such a big problem with the way stories about disabled people have been told in film and on television, shown as needy and tragic, in often pathetic circumstances,” says Wreford-Sinnott, who wrote and directed Hen Night. “It was important to show Jessica countering that – she loves her life, it’s only when her government support is pulled that that changes.” “It’s 2021 and cultural prejudice around disability still assumes disabled people have rubbish, pitiable lives,” says Ryan, on whose book, Crippled, Hen Night is based. This is the opening to Frances Ryan and Vici Wreford-Sinnott’s short film, which tells the story – in a compact 20 minutes – of a young disabled woman’s life today and her continued struggle to be seen by society and helped by the state.
It is the night before the first national lockdown and Jessica – a loved-up twentysomething trainee teacher – is tipsily recounting her last-minute hen do, crammed into the final hours of freedom.
