From the 16th of November to the 16th of December, it is Disability History Month. This is a time to reflect on the monumental work from pioneering activists who directly contributed in shaping policy, accessibility and inclusion for Disabled people today.
A few words from your Disability Liberation Leader, Ella Edwin:
This is an important time to reflect on the journey towards equality, rights, and inclusion for individuals with disabilities. It is a chance to acknowledge the struggles, the resilience, triumphs and contributions throughout history of people with disabilities.
This month offers an opportunity to educate, raise awareness, and celebrate the progress made in creating a more accessible and inclusive society. Through history, we understand and honour the past while paving the way for a more equitable future, one in which diversity is celebrated, stereotypes broken down and barriers to inclusion are eradicated. The theme for this year’s disability month: Disability, Childhood and Youth, gives us an opportunity to bring awareness to the specific challenges faced by Birkbeck Disabled students and find ways to mitigate them. A survey will be administered through the month to pinpoint these specific challenges.
There is large community that fosters inclusion and provides support for disabled students at Birkbeck. Please feel free to use the resources available including:
Throughout the month, we will be putting on various events - keep your eyes out for more information coming soon:
· Seminar – Online “Coping with anxiety during” 30th November
· Mixer – in person event 1st Dec
· International Day of Disabled people- 3rd Dec
· Workshop 1 -15th December- Disability Awareness- Understanding Disability- Advocating for students with disabilities, fostering empathy
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Wellbeing Services — Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck's Wellbeing Services team provides counselling, mental health, and dyslexia and disability support to our students.
This month is Disability History Month and here at the Student Union we have taken a look back at people who have truly broken-down barriers for the disabled community, challenging and changing the status quo through relentless activism – from policy to academia to the media and beyond, the following people and groups have been fundamental in developing the rights that the community have today.
Michael Oliver
Michael Oliver was a sociologist, author and prominent figure in the disability rights movement in the UK. As well as this, he was the world’s first Professor of Disability Studies and one of the leading figures advocating for the Social Model of Disability. After completing a degree in Sociology at the University of Kent, followed by a master’s and then a PhD in 1978, he began running a course on Social Work with Disabled People in 1979 and went on to publish a book on Social Work with Disabled people in 1983 and many more afterwards.
Michael was also the key advocate of the social model of disability, the notion that it is society itself, which is disabling and creates the inconveniences and difficulties of living as a disabled person, and not the disability itself that is responsible for this.
Disabled People Against Cuts
Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) formed in 2010 and since then has campaigned for full human rights and equality for all disabled people, operating from the Social Model of Disability that Michael Oliver also advocated for. It was started after the first mass protest against the vicious and deadly impact of austerity cuts to disabled people was in 2010 outside the annual Conversative Party conference, lead entirely by disabled people who spoke for themselves. They continue to work relentlessly on their activism and have multiple local branches across the UK!
Judy Heumann
Judy Heumann is known as the mother of the Disability Rights Movement. She founded Disabled in Action which focused on securing the protection of people with disabilities who exercised their right to protest. Together with the other founders of the organization and 80 other activists, they stopped traffic with a sit-in at Madison Avenue to protest a vetoe of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act by President Richard Nixon in New York.
In 1974, Huemann contributed to developing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act whilst working as a legislative assistant to the chairperson of the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. Further to this, she co-founded the World Institute on Disability with fellow disability activist Ed Roberts and Joan Leon in 1983 and continued her position as co-director for a decade. As well as this, Huemann was appointed as Washington’s first Director for the Department of Disability Services and was the person in charge for the Department of Disability Administration and the Rehabilitation Services Administration.
On top of this, Huemann was responsible for much more and was a leading figure in helping to assemble the community and transforming the way in which society viewed disability. Huemann once said, “Disability only becomes a tragedy for me when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives—job opportunities or barrier-free buildings, for example. It is not a tragedy to me that I’m living in a wheelchair.”
Ed Roberts
Ed Roberts was a disability activist who co-founded the World Institute of Disability with Judy Heumann. He has been referred to as the father of the Independent Living movement and was the first disabled person to study at the University of California, Berkeley. He paved the way for other disabled students to come and study at Berkeley, forming a protest group called the ‘Rolling Quads’. They began advocating to change the curbs on campus to enable them to be more disability friendly and created the Physically Disabled Students’ Program (PDSP) which was the first of its kind in the country, leading onto developing the Berkeley Center for Independent Living.
Further to this, Roberts also campaigned and protested for wider accessibility on campus, occupying the offices of the Carter Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in San Francisco for 28 days to enforce section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act which started that people with disabilities should not be excluded from activities or be discriminated against. This also garnered support from the Black Panthers, the Butterfly Brigade and many others who brought food along with other materials to assist protesters. This and other acts of defiance contributed to the creation and passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Leroy Moore and Keith Jones
2021 Emmy award winning Leroy F. Moore Jr. is the founder of Krip Hop Nation. Since the 1990s, Moore has been a key member of Poor Magazine, starting with the column “Illin-N-Chillin” and then as a founding member of the magazine’s school, the Homefulness and Decolonize Academy. Moore is one of the founding members of National Black Disability Coalition and an activist around police brutality against people with disabilities. Leroy has started and helped start organizations including Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization, Sins Invalid, and Krip-Hop Nation.
Keith Jones is the President and CEO of SoulTouchin’ Experiences. An organization aimed at bringing a perspective to the issues of access inclusion and empowerment, which affect him as well as others who are persons with a disability. Along with Mr. Leroy Moore the two men co-founded Krip Hop Nation an international collective of artist with disabilities. The tag line of Krip Hop Nation is, “Its more than music...". Also, in 2008 long shot 2008 U S Senatorial bid based on “Fulfilling America’s Promise”. Also, Mr. Jones was the Disability Law Center’s 2011 Individual Leadership Award, amongst many other achievements, he also continues to work creatively.