My Body is a Meadow

Urgent and beautiful, this book shows how our treatment of disability mirrors our treatment of nature. Essential reading * Katherine May, author of Wintering *
Handley is a natural storyteller whose writing bursts with vitality and beauty. My Body is a Meadow is essential reading. A passionate call for an inclusive countryside - nature for all and all for nature * Jack Cornish, author of The Lost Paths *
An important, perspective-shifting book which made me think about access and our relationship to the natural world anew. Handley’s writing challenges and interrogates the status quo, and comes from a place of deep connection and love for nature * James Macdonald Lockhart, author of Wild Air and Raptor *
A painfully honest assessment of how the damage done to Disabled people mirrors that being done to the environment, the barriers both encounter and in turn how these barriers could be overcome * Maria Kett, The Conversation *
In My Body is a Meadow, Bethany Handley guides us through the wilder places of Cymru while vividly describing how inaccessible they remain to Disabled people. My Body is a Meadow moves through rage, laughter, grief and joy and makes it resoundingly clear that access to the outdoors must mean access for all. With a poet’s skill and a naturalist’s understanding, Bethany Handley celebrates the way in which disability can deepen a connection with nature and leaves us in no doubt that ecocide and societal violence towards marginalised people have the same root cause. Bethany Handley’s writing is a blast of fresh air in the world of nature writing and My Body is a Meadow is a change making book * Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean *
A stunning exploration of longing for freedom, finding a home in your body and walking your own path in life even when physical and social barriers can make it seem like an impossible feat. Handley’s writing powerfully dismantles the idea that interdependence is something we should fear, and instead shows us how the human condition is intertwined with the natural world and reflects its own fight for survival during these pivotal years * Pippa Stacey, author of How To Do Life With A Chronic Illness *
Part memoir, part manifesto, part social and natural history of land access and disability, My Body Is A Meadow is an essential celebration of interdependence and interconnectedness. Beautiful, informative and urgent, this is a book that should change conversation and possibilities both for nature and for humans, and how we live together and care for each other in a more just world. * Polly Atkin, author of The Company of Owls *
Important, inclusive, and beautifully written, this memoir details the life of a Disabled writer as she explores the links between disability and nature – Liz Robinson * Love Reading *
Compelling and change-making, this book is an essential read for those who love the outdoors. – Petre-Adrian Banuta * Buzz Magazine *
Beautiful, enlightening, energetic, challenging and essential … It is a book that chronicles Beth’s journey back to nature, with a disability, within a world which doesn’t consider access to nature in the right way … This book should be required reading for everyone, especially politicians and educators. Actually scrap that we all should read this book * Katriona O’Sullivan, Author of Poor and Hungry *

Bethany Handley is an award-winning writer, poet and disability activist from South Wales. She was named one of the UK’s ten most influential disabled people in politics, law, and media by the Shaw Trust 2024. Bethany campaigns for disability rights and better access to nature.

She is an ambassador for Country Living’s Access for All, Wales Coast Path, and Ramblers Cymru. Her debut poetry pamphlet, Cling Film, was published by Seren in 2025. Bethany co-edited Beyond / Tu Hwnt, a ground-breaking bilingual anthology of Welsh Deaf and disabled writers.

Her work has been featured by BBC One, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 4, the Poetry Foundation, Country Living, and The Guardian.

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