Disability Now. Our voice, our lives.
Providing support for a blind friend is about more than making sure he avoids obstacles, says Daniel Levene, as he prepares for the onset of his own blindness. When Wayne describes the day it’s like he is describing a Rothko painting. “It’s red with a thick band of yellow across the top and a thinner …
Continue reading “Wayne’s world: a friend and carer’s perspective”
It’s a classic image from the movies. Person in a hurry cries “Taxi!” and one comes skidding to a halt. But for many disabled would-be passengers it’s a prospect that falls far short of reality but which, Helen Dolphin says, is about to come a step nearer. With less than a quarter of London underground …
Continue reading “Partial victory in battle for access to taxis”
Looking back on 30 years of campaigning and activism, Andy Rickell says our rights are still too often granted at the whim of governments rather than being a given. One of the disabled people’s movement’s early slogans was “rights not charity”. The parliamentary campaign of the early 1990s that forced defeat on the Major government …
The format of this programme which looks back at moments of history means it wilfully lacks relevance to the lives of disabled people today and fails to take an opportunity to challenge, says Ian Macrae. The Reunion is BBC Radio 4’s returning series in which presenter Sue McGregor invites a number of people who were directly …
Continue reading “Radio review: The Reunion – Disability Campaigners”
As a nascent umbrella organisation of disabled people takes its first steps to being our voice, Mike Oliver reflects on what the future needs to learn from the past. A recent conference organised by the Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance (ROFA) highlighted the need for a new national umbrella organisation suggesting that the United Kingdom Disabled …
The absorption of the DDA into the Equalities Act in 2007 represented dilution of legislation which, despite its weaknesses still managed to achieve change, says Peter White. Twenty years ago I presented my first piece for BBC ONE’s prestigious Six O’clock News. It covered the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and for me, …
Continue reading “DDA: flawed Act still better than the alternative”
Why do some people insist on denying their disabled status? Peter White ponders in the light of some recent encounters. It’s often argued that one of the main reasons politicians of all parties get into such a tangle over disability is that very few of them have direct experience of it, or if they do, …
History teaches us the importance of speaking up for ourselves individually and collectively says Professor Mike Oliver. I was a founder member of the Spinal Injuries Association in 1974 and I have been a member ever since, proud to support an organisation which has always been led by people with spinal cord injuries. The organisation …
Recent discussions of so-called ‘three parent babies’ prompts Mike Oliver to warn us to learn the lessons of history and guard against the relentless and potentially menacing march of science. The UK is likely to become the first country to allow the creation of babies from three people. Following a free vote in the House …
Continue reading “Letting the genetic genie out of the bottle”
Whatever the outcome of the pending general election, Peter White says the result will be a bad one for disabled voters. Despite cash for questions, dodgy expenses claims, and MPs who rarely open their mouths, let alone say something sensible, we’re still very pleased with our democracy in this country. As the so-called short campaign …
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