Birmingham Disability Resource Centre – History Project
A project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, exploring the history of the BDRC and the lives of disabled people. Read our history blog and contribute your memories and stories.
A Project Funded By The Heritage Lottery Fund
Welcome to this blog about the history of Birmingham Disability Resource Centre, an 18 month oral history project which will culmintate in the production of a book and other accessible resources recording the story of Birmingham's first centre run by and for disabled which began as an idea in 1985 and is still providing support services to disabled people across Birmingham in 2009.
The project has been running since October 2008 during which time we have been working with disabled volunteers to record and transcribe oral history interviews.
Building Bridges July 1988
Another edition of the Building Bridges newsletter, this time from July 1988. Our thanks to BDRC volunteer Demelza Llewellin for her work transcribing these newsletters from their original typed format to electronic format. Thanks also to Bob Williams Findlay for the loan of the orginal material.
Do you have copies of other printed or photographic material relating to the history of BDRG and BDRC? Get in touch via email at pmillington@disability.co.uk
This project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Building Bridges June 1988
Another edition of the Building Bridges newsletter, this time from June 1988. Our thanks to BDRC volunteer Demelza Llewellin for her work transcribing these newsletters from their original typed format to electronic format. Thanks also to Bob Williams Findlay for the loan of the orginal material.
Do you have copies of other printed or photographic material relating to the history of BDRG and BDRC? Get in touch via email at pmillington@disability.co.uk
This project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Disability Terminology Debate: A Rebuff
An article written by Bob Findlay of Birmingham Disability Rights Group in December 1988. Bob's article below is a rebuff to one previously written by Anne Rae in the newsletter of the Manchester Coalition of Disabled People and published a month earlier.
During this period, the debate about the language used to discuss disability and disabled people was often passionate and forthright. Twenty years on, it is easy for us to sniff at this debate and infer that it was purely a politically correct discussion, but it is important to remember that up until this point in history language was the tip of an ice-berg about attitudes, prejudices, stereotypes and ultimately society's entire response to disabled people.
A glance through any of the copies of BDRG's newsletter, Building Bridges, republished on this blog, reminds us of the battles about language and attitudes which group members had with local and national policians, service providers, journalists and broadcasters. The use of terminology like "the handicapped" might have seemed inoccuous to the majority of people, but on further analysis such simple terms encapsulated a much more profoundly entrenched societal view about disability which lay at the root of the incarceration, or at best institutionalisation of millions of disabled people for centuries.
In the storming and norming era of the formation of the disabled person's civil rights movement, there was therefore quite justifiably the need for a debate in order, not just to agree on words and phrases, but to explore the real impact of language, ideas and concepts of the whole of society when it came to disability.
Birmingham's Bob Findlay was and remains a key thinker in this process.
Building Bridges April 1988
Editorial
There has been a great deal of activity going on around the office and DRC situation. It was hoped that by the time Building Bridges was written up, we could have some concrete news for you, but various problems have arisen which make this impossible. We will be however giving you some short-term information so that you can keep on top of what is happening.
In this issue is the AGM Management Committee report (page 3 and four). A report by Bob on a radio phone in by Alun. Page 2 will deal with- DRC and funding, Maureen Messent, Uganda (!) Office space and other bits and pieces.
We are sorry that building Bridges is out late but the workers have been so busy this past fortnight as you will see!
In the May issue-we will see a new format and editorial collective set up. We will have Leslie Bajor, the Secretary, Bob Findlay, Development Worker, and another BDRG member putting Building Bridges together. If you want anything put into it could you forward it for our consideration by the Tuesday after each Group meeting. Thanks.
Community Care Special Action Project with Dept. Personnel and Equal Opportunities-
"Getting in on the Act"
A Guide to your Rights available from Snow Hill House. (235 2567) and say that BDRG referred you.
AGM Motions
1 For 12 Against 0 Abstain 0 N/V 1
2 For 11 Against 1 Abstain 1
3 For 12 Against 0 Abstain 1
4 For 13 Against 0 Abstain 0
5 For 12 Against 0 Abstain 0
May BDRG Meeting
Wednesday, 11 May at BVSC, 138 gig. 7:30 PM
Agenda, welcome, apologies, Management committee report (including worker's reports)
Campaigns: media, fundraising, week of action, future events-social? Speakers? Campaigns?
A.O.B.
Colin Is a Sport?
Colin Moynihan, Minister for Sport, was interviewed on BBC's Sportsnight recently about his support for the Seoul Paralympics. Not only is he personally raising money, but, his stance on "disability" appears to be an enlightened one. He says his approach is one of seeing, "people with disabilities" and in the traditional fashion.
If only other Ministers and MPs would be as positive..... and talking of MPs........
Bob and Alun met Tom Clarke MP who brought in the Disabled Persons' Act (1986) which allows us to have a voice over service provisions. The City Council has now an information pack available on your rights under the Act. See ads next to this for the details.
The Group Meetings
It has now been agreed that the Group meets every second Wednesday of the month.
Disability Resource Centre and Funding
This item will try to bring you up to date on a number of crucial meetings, decisions and events that have happened since the AGM. It will also include the decision taken by the last Group meeting on our negotiation practice.
Following a three way discussion between representatives from Social Services, Economic Development Units and BDRG, a number of concrete suggestions were made,
a. investigate possible alternative accommodation for BDRG with better access and working environment
b. to review existing and future funding of the BDRG
To date:
On a) Certain ideas are being considered by BDRG and various Council Departments-if suggestions on finance are agreed, we will move in the summer.
b) This has been written by Social Services and although there are some reservations held by EDU and BDRG-we plan to proceed with caution. Nothing will happen now till June.
c) The main issue here is the question of EDU funding. At present we have none. EDU have recently reviewed all their projects concerned with Employment opportunities and people with disabilities. It should be noted with concern that all of these have been subject to a percentage cut in their funding. One project, now is being wound down, that is, opportunities for "the Disabled". As a Group we have never taken any decision for or against organisations of this type, therefore, our Development Worker on three separate occasions expressed concern over the EDU's policy proposal. The matter is further complicated by EDU's plan to create space within its own budget for part of our DRC proposal-the Employment Worker. They want to see a start made in this area to strengthen the case for a DRC.
The problem with this is:
1) The suggestions have not been agreed by us.
2) A number of people mistakenly see it as a trick, taking money from OFTD and giving it to BDRG. We have approached EDU to have it in writing that we are not gaining at another organisation's expense.
3) OFTD plan to protest about the whole affair and dirt is already being thrown at us by Bob Findlay.
4) If we just say, "forget it!" We are unlikely to finish any chance of funding later on or ever again.
It was agreed by the Group that, while we would have liked to have other aspects of the DRC project established first, it would be dangerous to halt completely the plans of EDU. Instead we instruct the Development Worker to raise all our concerns with them and take it from there. In other words, give ourselves space to do what was right by ourselves and by the other projects. Bob Findley undertook to do this, but found himself compromised when OFTD phoned him two days after our Group meeting with a twisted account of our discussion and agreement. They invited us to "gang up" against EDU-Bob declined the offer as he viewed it to be an inappropriate course of action to take, but expressed his willingness to have a meeting with OFTD to clear the air. This was agreed and took place. The OFTD have been informed by one of our members what had been discussed in our meeting without the knowledge of either Management Committee or the Workers.
The results of negotiations with EDU and the issue of OFTD will be discussed at the Management Committee later this week and a report will be given in due course. You are not up-to-date this the facts.
Uganda
It would appear that a smear campaign exists owing to the EDU's paper on funding. Someone in Community Industry is claiming that Bob went on an "expenses paid" holiday to Uganda last year for his services to the local Labour Movement! What is awful about this whole affair is that Brenda appears not to have noticed his absence! Sad too, the person spreading the rumours is known to Bob and Alun.
Management Committee Report to Be Annual General Meeting
This year has seen many changes both in terms of our activities and issues we as a group have attempted to raise or discuss.
We have to recognise that our membership has both continue to grow and strengthen. The vast majority of our members have remained with us. In addition we have seen the growth of confidence, with members putting themselves forward to serve on the management committee and also agreeing to undertake activities.
We should also recognise that the creation and promotion of both our image and presence is down to the workers funded through the project. We need also to recognise that the workers need the support of the group both in terms of their employment and the structuring of their work, and we need to address this more fully on the management committee in the coming year.
This year we have appointed another worker Alun Davies as a full-time Training Awareness Worker.
Briefly to give an overview of the year's events, we have seen the completion of the Feasibility Study on the Need for the Centre. We have lived with the highs and lows of its potential reality.
The group through the activities of the workers were able to mount a very successful conference on 21 November 1987 at Skipton Road Centre, to highlight the need for such a Centre in Birmingham. This resulted in re-awakening interest in our project and encouraging new initiatives to be considered.
We should also recall that the group has responded to events in the media over blatant discrimination in the case of the Killgrew's attempt to purchase their council house, and the Morgan parents to bring up their own child. We have also illustrated through photographs the lack of through planning of the new Cocksmoor Leisure Centre for people with disabilities.
The group itself has undertaken some fund raising through the production of badges, raffles and Christmas sales on the Webster catalogue. We are in the process of establishing a media response group and organising the transport to our own meetings.
To a stock take, we have been successful in a fairly high profile in the media, among councillors and officers of the city. It is difficult to say how widely we are known among people with disability, but just on the spread of members it is fairly diverse. We also have all party support in the city to the idea of establishing a Centre People with Disabilities.
We have now to actively develop ourselves and our group and gain confidence and experience, so that we are able to project ourselves independent of our funded workers.
In conclusion I would like to thank all the people who served on the management committee last year and all who supported and were active on behalf of the group in the past year. I think we can look forward to an interesting time ahead.
Building Bridges April 1988 AGM Report
Editorial
This issue of Building Bridges is dominated with the reports back from our recent AGM. As you will see from the minutes, we had a very high turnout and it was the biggest Group meeting ever!
What BDRG needs to do now is build on that night's work and ensure that the incoming Management Committee works hard to involve as many members as possible in our activities.
The first thing that all full members can do is take part in voting for various pieces of policy recommended by the AGM. You will find a voting slip on a coloured piece of paper-please could you return it to the office by 9 April, 1988. Thanks.
One of the suggestions being made here, which was supported at the AGM was a switch in the days for the Group meetings from the third Wednesday in the month to the second. The main reason for doing this is the recognition that at least four full members were having a problem making the third week. However, if you are a person who attends the meetings, please let us have your views if this creates any difficulties for you.
New Badge?
The next meeting will be asked to order more "normal people" badges as we have nearly sold 1000 of them in about nine months! A lot of this is down to a sister organisation called, Survivors Speak out, which is a pressure group with experience of people who have been subjected to treatment under "mental health" provisions and to campaign inside and outside MIND. What we also want to do is adopt a new badge too. This one would read: LABELS: STICK THEM ON JARS NOT PEOPLE (ignore the layout!) What do you think? Let us know!
April's Group Meeting
To ensure that our meeting is held in April and to test out the new day, we have organised the next Group meeting for: Wednesday, 13 April, 1988 at the BVSC HQ, 137 Digbeth starting at 7:30 PM. Transport will only be provided for those who contact the office before 28 March. We cannot chase after members to check their transport needs! (Our Group wants to see people with disabilities in control of their own lives and not just being passive bystanders).
Media Blues
Once again we have to report that the local media is acting in its usual blinkered way. Until people with disabilities have a greater say in how we are represented in the newspapers and on TV and radio, able-bodied journalists will continue to misuse and insult us. It is sickening to hear associate members of our Group refer to *"various handicaps", when we have explained to them fully that the term, "handicap" creates a negative image because it imposes able-bodied values on us and places all the responsibility for our restrictions on us or our condition and not on the values, expectations and practices of an able-bodied "normal" society.
We are meeting with a journalist from the Birmingham Evening Mail to challenge her handicap-ism, and steps are underway to speak with the Head of radio WM. If we have no joy, then we may have to organise some form of protest action.
*Even using the old traditional ways of defining disability/handicap the usage was incorrect!
Building Bridges
From the next issue we are interested in seeing Building Bridges being a little bit more than an office written and produced work of art! What an outside editor be too much to hope for? Are short (hundred words) articles from members in possible? Anyone interested in being the editor or writing for us please contact us 0212333035 or BDRG, 31 Lionel St, Birmingham B3 1AP.
Building Bridges March 1988
Another edition of the Building Bridges newsletter, this time from March 1988. Our thanks to BDRC volunteer Demelza Llewellin for her work transcribing these newsletters from their original typed format to electronic format. Thanks also to Bob Williams Findlay for the loan of the orginal material.
Do you have copies of other printed or photographic material relating to the history of BDRG and BDRC? Get in touch via email at pmillington@disability.co.uk
This project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Building Bridges December 1987
Editorial
This is the final issue of Building Bridges for 1987 and it is good to end the year on a high note-I think everyone who was at the Conference would agree that it was a great success.
We estimate that 66 people came to be Conference and it was nice to see so many new faces. The discussions were lively and very fruitful with many people eager to be involved. In the next issue of Building Bridges we will give a full Conference Report.
December BDRG Meeting
The next meeting of BDRG will be a short business meeting followed by a Christmas Social. It is being held at 8A Harris house, St Agnes Road, Moseley, Birmingham B 13, starting at 7.30 and finishing at 10 PM. Food and music will be provided and it would assist if people could also bring a bottle-(or two, says Alun!). Transport will be arranged for those who need it. Please contact Bob or Alun as soon as possible.
Thank You
We would like to acknowledge those people who helped us at the Conference and especially: Sharon, Alison, Brenda, Debbie and Ann in the kitchen. Dora and the others who gave money and food. Len, Carl, Geraldine who helped with the Conference. Ann and Geraldine for Chairing it. Roy and Len Martin were both great speakers! Those driving for us and anyone else who helped in any way!
Councillor Albert Bore
Geraldine has received a letter from Cllr Bore in relation to the one she sent after the July meeting. Once the management committee has been informed of its contents we will pass the relevant information onto you.
Welcome
We would like to welcome the 10 people who have recently decided to join BDRG. It is hoped that you will be able to attend meetings and join in with our activities-those of you who haven't filled in a membership form or paid a fee, please could we have it as soon as possible so we can put the record straight!
Campaign News
For the next few months Alun has taken on the responsibility for reporting on all our campaign work-the Management Committee was given a detailed report on why we have made such a decision and we hope to be able to hand the responsibility back to Bob as soon as it is practical.
Mandy and Gerry
Various behind-the-scenes developments have been going on which cannot be reported for legal reasons but the pair of them are well. It is expected that the Case will go before the High Court in January with a number of recommendations being put forward.
Kiligrews
The Kiligrews are still engaged in a battle with the Housing Department over the issue of the Right to Buy an adapted Council House. At present they have been made a new offer which is unsuitable to them and one that the BDRG Workers are very concerned over from a legal position. We seek legal clarification before returning to ask BDRG to endorse a press statement.
Gwen Priddey
We would like to wish Gwen a speedy recovery from her accident. It was sad that her accident meant she was unable to attend the Conference but those who were there would surely agree with us that her speech Malcolm read out was superb! Gwen doesn't do things by half-she broke both her ankles!
January Meeting
Please note the change of date and venue for the January meeting: 27th of January, 1987 at 7.30 p.m. in the new BVSC HQ at 138 Digbeth. Details of the venue's location will appear in the next issue of Building Bridges.
Conference Report and other news out in January!
Building Bridges October 1987
In this edition of Building Bridges, the newsletter of Birmingham Disability Rights Group from October 1987, the group members take on issues around where charitable status sits in the context of the politics of social change.
A trip down Memory Lane with Carl Chinn
Radio presenter, history professor and author Carl Chinn came to BDRC on Friday 1st May to facilitate a day of training for staff and volunteers:
Building Bridges - September 1987
Following the douldrums of the June 2007 edition of Building Bridges, the summertime seems to have reinvigorated the Birmingham Disability Rights Group, or at least it's workers Bob and Alun who have thrown themselves headlong into some very high profile campaigning work, taking on The Sun newspaper, no less, for offensive language on the front page and also the Chief Executive of Princess Anne's favourite charity.
There is also exciting news about a conference around why Birmingham needed a Disability Resource Centre:
Building Bridges - June 1987
Thanks once again to Demelza Llewellyn for this transcript of another edition of Building Bridges, the newsletter of the Birmingham Disability Rights Group (old editions lent to us by Bob Williams-Findlay.
In this edition we find a very candid appeal by BDRG member, Alun Davies, who attempts to drum up support from members to attend meetings and to support Bob Findlay with the decision making and adminstrative processes of the organisation. By this stage the group had been 2 years in existence and whilst Alun Davies acknowledges the genuine mobility difficulties faced by many BDRG members, he remains forthright in challenging members to do their bit for the greater cause.
The newsletter finishes with a reference to Deaf people's history.
Birmingham Handbook 1950
A look back to the City's Handbook of 1950 and the early development of residential and occupational welfare services delivered by the local authority in close partnership with local charities:
Would You Like To Be Interviewed For Our History Project?
We are looking for people to be interviewed for our oral history project. Would you like to get involved? Find out more below:
Key Events in Disability History - Ancient Times (2)
We continue our exploration of how disabled people and disability issues have been portrayed in both UK and world history, by going back in time to the evidence from ancient texts. Here are both positive and negative attitudes to disabled people expressed in early recorded human history:
Megan Du Boisson & Margaret Blackwood
In the previous post we heard a reference to the name Megan Du Boisson, who was one of the leaders of a demonstration for disability pensions and integration rights held in London in 1960. If the roll call of the founders of the modern disabled people's movement from the late 1970s is barely known by the wider public, then names from the early sixties, like Megan Du Boisson and her Scottish counterpart Dr Margaret Blackwood stand even less chance of gaining recognition.
Bellies Filled With Fire
The following article about the part played by West Midlands groups of disabled people in a national demonstration in 1960, was sent to Pinpoint Magazine in September 1997 by Mr F Pitcher M.B.E.
The article gives an interesting insight into disabled people's activisim in the West Midlands as far back as the early 1960s.
Building Bridges - May 1987
Another back copy of Building Bridges, the newsletter of Birmingham Disability Rights Group, this one from May 1987. Our thanks to Bob Williams-Findlay for the loan of these newsletters and Demelza Llewellyn for transcription support.
This edition contains an update on progress to set up a Disability Resource Centre in Birmingham.
Disabled Drivers Association
We have previously learnt from articles on this history blog that user led disability organisations have a much longer history than the advent of UPIAS and the Social Model of Disability in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and this important watershed was preceded by a long history of disabled people organising themselves into self determined peer led lobby groups which often campaigned around focussed issues such as income (e.g. Disablement Income Group) or innovated single impairment support services (e.g. sensory impaired people's groups, Spinal Injuries Association, etc.)
From the early 1950s, a new and powerful type of user led group began to evolve, it's development closely linked to wider changes in tansportation within society as a whole. These groups were concerned with mobility and transport and their members past and present should be credited for bringing about major changes to the personal mobility of disabled people in Britain specifically and an enlightened response to accessible transport in wider society generally.
One of these groups was the Disabled Drivers Association and below is an article about the development of a local group in Coventry. This transcript is from a history article written by Len Tasker recording the history of disabled people's organisations in Coventry.
The role of Community Health Councils
The following article was written by a disabled person named John Hall for the Spring 1987 edition of Pinpoint Magazine (West Midlands Council For Disabled People). In his article John Hall gave some interesting insights into the lives of disabled people in the early part of the 20th century and goes on to highlight the important role of Community Health Councils (CHCs), first formed in 1974 which gave influence and expression to disabled people alongside other health service users.
It is likely that participation in CHCs gave many disabled people their first experience of service user consultation, campaigning and representation. Involvement in generic community-grounded organisations like CHCs would certainly have supported the development of skills, expertise and knowledge which were later transferred to the innovation and running of more specific user led, campaigning organisations such as the pan impairment organisations of disabled people from the early 1980s.
Step back in time to 1987
The post immediately below this one took us back to the Building Bridges newsletter of 1987 where we learn that negotiations were well under way between Birmingham Disability Rights Group and Birmingham City Council around the development of a Disability Resource Centre.
Elsewhere in the West Midlands, there were lots of things going on for disabled people, disability organisations and service providers, within a broad mixture of charitable, medical, social and campaigning activities. The Spring 1987 edition of Pinpoint magazine published by the West Midlands Council for Disabled People helps to paint a picture of the wider context of that point in history.
Building Bridges - March 1987
Here is the editorial from another edition of Building Bridges, the newsletter of Birmingham Disability Rights Group, this one from March 1987. The editor makes reference to the progress of the negotiations with Birmingham City Council's Economic Development Department around the proposed Disability Resource Centre.
There is also a very interesting letter, or copy of the original letter, from Rachel Hurst, at that time Chair of the British Council of Organisations of Disabled People to the Manpower Services Commission challenging the use of medical language in a guide for trainers of young disabled people. Back in 1987, disabled people were increasingly challenging the language, attitudes and stereotypes being widely used by statutory and government bodies. Do you think things have changed?
Thanks to Bob Williams-Findlay for loan of the Building Bridges newsletters and to Delmeza Llewellin for transcription support.
Key Events in Disability History - Ancient Times
So far on the blog we have started to explore the origins of the Birmingham Disability Resource Centre by researching documents from the late 1980s such as the newsletters of the Birmingham Disability Rights Group, Building Bridges. We have then started to add to this information the wider historical context of disabled people's lives both in Birmingham and other parts of the West Midlands and also the history of local trusts, institutions, services and charities, which all contributed to the historical background from which user led organsiations eventually emerged.
Let us now start to explore the even wider historical context of disability history, by plotting key events, trends and perceptions affecting the lives of disabled people down the centuries, starting with evidence from ancient times.
From Institutions to Inclusion
Disabled people often get left out when it comes to telling the story of the local community because they were literally excluded by being 'put' into institutions, but during the past few decades Birmingham has played an important role in making sure that disabled people do have a voice and do have a place in the city’s heritage.
Here is a very brief summary of the changes in how wider society has responded to disabled people in the city of Birmingham, from institutionalisation to inclusion.
Women in Birmingham's history of philanthropy
This post is a slight aside from the history of disabled people in Birmingham but we were prompted to research this information about the role of women in Birmingham's modern history from a discussion about women philanthropists in the city such as Louisa Ryland, Alice Beale and Elizabeth Cadbury.
The work of many of these women arguably contributed to the city's deeply embedded culture of liberal thinking and corporate social conciousness which had it's roots in Victorian philanthropy.
Disabled People's Organisations in the Last Century
Before we convince ourselves that disabled people only started to come together to organise their own groups from around the mid to late 1970s, we don't have to look that far around us locally to discover user led groups in existence many years before the advent of the Social model of disability and the birth of what is generally considered to represent the modern day disabled people's movement.
Certainly disabled people's groups started to become more politicised from the mid 1970s onwards, in terms of overtly and unapologetically campaigning for equaility, access and rights, but history shows us that disabled people were setting up their own groups and organisations a long time before then.
Not a million miles away in pre-World War 2 Coventry, a small group of young disabled people came together to form the Coventry Cripples Social Club as early as 1938. One of the founder members, Len Tasker, is still alive and well in Coventry. Two years ago I went to visit Len and recorded his memories of a lifetime's work with and on behalf of other disabled people, not just in Coventry but nationally, and he also lent us many fascinating documents which tell the story of 6 disability groups in Coventry which trace their roots back to the original group of 1938. The text from one of these documents is reproduced below:
Time To Disturb The Public
Again we go back in time to 1981, International Year of Disabled People, to the very first issue of Pinpoint, the newsletter of the West Midlands Council for the Disabled.
Formed in Birmingham in 1977, the inaugral meeting of the WMCD was at Prospect Hall in Selly Oak. Initially convened as a Birmingham group, at their first meeting disabled people from Solihull and the Black Country proposed that the WMCDP should become a regional organisation.
Not known for being a radical organisation, even so, one senses the dissatisfaction being expressed from within the ranks of the WMCD back in 1981, four years before the formation of the more outspoken Birmingham Disability Rights Group.
Disabled Peoples Organisations - A Force for Change
Project worker Pete Millington has been invited to attend this conference in London on the 9th May to give a presentation on our history project here are Birmingham Disability Resource Centre.
This is a national conference run by Disability LIB around user led organisations. It's a free conference and there are access and travel bursaries available but get in there quickly if you want to attend.
The launch of Birmingham Disability Resource Centre
The following article about the launch of Birmingham Disability Resource Centre appeared in Pinpoint Magazine in Septermber 1992. The article was written by Anne Boothe.
From the Archive - 3 challenging articles on Disability
The follwing three articles are from the archive of Disability West Midlands and appeared in Pinpoint Magazine, published by Disability West Midlands.
These articles include a piece about inclusion by Robert Mottram, who now works at the Council of Disabled People Warwickshire and Coventry. Another article is by Phil Hill, a challenging piece in which Phil argued for the Social model of mental illness. The third item is a poem about disability history by Paul Green who was the editor of Building Bridges in the 90s, the magazine of Birmingham Disability Rights Group and later an officer at Birmingham's Equalities department.
Building Bridges - Lobby Special (November 1986)
Thanks once again to Delmeza Llewellin for transcribing another copy of the Building Bridges Newsletter to electronic format. This is a very interesting edition dated Novermber 1986 in which the Birmingham Disability Rights Group invite members to lobby Birmingham City Council for a Disability Resource Centre.
Thanks also to Bob Williams Findlay for the loan of his archive of past copies of Building Bridges.
Education of disabled children in Birmingham in the late 1940s
The following transcript is of a recorded interview made with a Birmingham resident named David Barnsley. David gave this interview to a history project based at Disability West Midlands in 2005 and large extracts of the interview were published with David's consent in an article in Pinpoint Magazine.
David was keen to share his memories about his early school life at Carlson House, a school for children with cerebral palsy based in Harborne on the site which is now occupied by CP Midlands and we feel it helps to build the historical and social context which surrounded the development of user led groups in the 1970s and 1980s. In his interview David uses the term 'spastic', a phrase which is not in common usage today and is often used as a term of abuse and derision by people who do not understand the original impairment / medical related meaning of the term. This term was the official medical related label for children who had cerebral palsy throughout most of the 20th century and one which David and others of his generation grew up with and we therefore respect his choice to use the term in this historical context whilst advising caution to readers that the term is not generally acceptable outside of the historical or medical context, especially referring to a person or people pejoratively by this label.
Getting from there to here: how much have things moved on since 1981?
Eight years before the launch of the Birmingham Disability Rights Group, another disability organisation was set up in Birmingham in 1977 called the West Midlands Council for the Disabled (WMCDP). WMCDP were one of the first organisations in the city which had a significant number of disabled people on it's board or involved as active volunteers, rather than just being service users. The WMCDP was based at Moseley Hall Hospital and it provided information and advice on things like access, mobility and benefits. In the early 1990s the WMCDP changed it's name to Disability West Midlands.
Here is an extract from the editorial of the WMCDP's newsletter Pinpoint, published in 1981, the International Year Of Disabled People. The editorial was written by the organisation's chairman, Professor Edward Marsland, who was the vice-chancellor of Birmingham University and a disabled person himself. Whilst some of the terminology in this extract seems outmoded today, the main issues under discussion around accessible public transport remain just as relevant 28 years later.
Building Bridges Newsletter - April 1987
Another copy of the Building Bridges Newsletter of Birmingham Disability Rights Group from April 1987. Thanks to Bob Williams-Findlay for the loan of these old newsletters and to Demelza Llewellin for her work transcribing this and other documents.
After the AGM news and agenda in this edition, there is an interesting policy review which addresses some of the main issues and positions which BDRG were focussed on during the late 80s.
Building Bridges Newsletter - September 1986
Here is another edition of Building Bridges, the newsletter of Birmingham Disability Rights Group from September 1986. The editorial draws parallels between the South African apartheid regime which was in the news in the mid to late 1980s and the position of disabled people in Britain.
In the 1980s this sort of parallel would have been difficult for the majority of people to relate to or understand and it is only in the more enlightened times of single equality based policy that society as a whole is starting to grasp the critique which groups like BDRG were offering at that time. At a basic level the critique offers a social model view that 'disability' is a socially constructed phenomenon and not the same as 'impairment'. Individuals have impairment, but society disables people with impairment. Even today the debate continues and long after apartheid was deconstructed, Nelson Mandella released from prison and racism has become discredited, many would say that the lot of many disabled people has not significantly altered.
Building Bridges - newsletter from 1986
Our thanks to Demelza Llewellin who has been supporting the history project as a volunteer, transcribing old newsletters and documents into a digital format using voice to text software. Here are the contents of Building Bridges, the newsletter of Birmingham Disability Rights Group from December 1986. In this edition of Building Bridges there is encouragement given to BDRG members to join the camapign for a Disability Resource Centre.
An Interview with Bob Williams-Findlay from 2000
Bob Williams-Findlay was the person who founded the Birmingham Disability Rights Group in 1985 and conceived the idea of a Disability Resource Centre in the UK's 2nd city. The work and dedication of Bob and his colleagues in the Rights Group led to the successful launch of the new Centre in 1992.
In 2000 I interviewed Bob about his life and work within the disabled people's movement for Pinpoint, the magazine of Disability West Midlands. Below is the interview with Bob along with the front cover of that edition of Pinpoint Magazine:
BDRC History Timeline
A draft timeline from the founding of Birmingham Disability Rights Group in 1985 to the launch of the Birmingham Disability Resource Centre in 1992, right up to the present day.
The timeline has been put together from information contained in old documents and newsletters but we appreciate that it is far from complete. Can you help us to fill in the gaps?
Project update - March 2009
Thank you to all of the interviewees and volunteers who have contributed to our history project so far. Here is the latest project update:
Welcome to the BDRC history blog
Welcome to the blog of our new project which sets out to research the history of the Birmingham Disability Resource Centre. This 12 month project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund is shedding light on the early origins of the Birmingham Disability Resource Centre (BDRC).
With support from volunteers, the project has been busy carrying out and transcribing oral history interviews with former staff, members and service users.
Interviewees so far have included Bob Williams-Findlay and Katherine Walsh who were both influential in the development of the BDRC which was launched in 1992 by the Birmingham Disability Rights Group.
