Rochelle Meaden

Rochelle is an 18 year-old autistic Black feminist from South London. She is an alum of The Advocacy Academy and a co-founder of Fill In The Blanks, a youth-led campaign aiming to make the teaching of colonial history mandatory in schools in England. Over a six month intensive programme, Rochelle learned the basics of community organising theory and, along with five other young people of colour, pulled off an ambitious ‘ad-hack’ stunt to spark a national conversation about what Britain would look like if there was a truly just curriculum. In 2020, she trained in social justice pedagogy and works as an activist youth worker, advising other young people how to launch campaigns.

Disability justice and AIDS activism are two other issues very close to Rochelle’s heart. Going forward, Rochelle hopes to continue organising and also work on building communities where care and mutual aid are centred.

One action Rochelle would like everyone to take:

“I want marginalised people, especially young marginalised people, to not give into pessimism. It is in the interest of those in power to convince us that what we want is ‘too radical’ or ‘not realistic’, but that shouldn’t stop us from fighting for justice anyway. Oppressive systems are able to maintain themselves by depriving people of an imagination, convincing us that a better world is impossible - breaking down those ideas is an important step towards winning the justice we want.”

Follow Fill in the Blanks on Twitter and Instagram, and read an interview with Rochelle with Elle Magazine.