Disability affects an estimated 10-20% of the global population; in the UK, around 18% of the working age population are disabled. These numbers are rising as populations age, but which legislators are advocating for this constituency? In this paper, I use the substantive representation frame, i.e. how well the policy preferences of a group are represented by parties and officials, to explore the representation of the interests of disabled people in the UK parliament by asking, "who speaks for disabled people at Westminster?" Based on what we know about (a) the behavior of women MPs and (b) the purpose and composition of legislative members’ organizations, I hypothesize that women and members of Westminster’s Disability All-Party Parliamentary Group are more likely than their colleagues to be sources of substantive representation for disabled people. I test these hypotheses using data on the submission of disability-focused Early Day Motions and Written Parliamentary Questions. I use EDMs and WPQs because both are accessible to all MPs and both have a role in the legislative agenda—EDMs help to put issues on the agenda, while WPQs often challenge the government’s agenda/priorities.
