Disabled people in the workhouse in Aston and Birmingham in 1861

A section of the workhouse directory for the Aston area of Warwickshire 1861.

This list shows how long the individuals have been in the workhouse and the reason for their admittance.

 

 

 

Above - sections of the Birmingham workhouse register for 1861

An interview with Robert Mottram

PM:   Robert thank you for agreeing to be interviewed for our disability heritage project.  Could you tell us a little bit about your early life, where were you born and when?

RM:   I was born in 1962 in Malaysia, which is quite unusual, but came back when I was 2 so I don’t remember it at all, though in 1990 I did go back to Singapore which is an island off Malaysia and we stayed there for a few weeks, my sister was working out there at the time and obviously I didn’t remember it but it brought back memories for my parents.

PM:   And what do you remember of childhood? Were you a disabled child?

RM:   My condition is such that I was diagnosed with flat feet and it developed from that into a very slow deteriorating medical condition. But I look at my disability consciousness, as I call it, starting from about 1994 when I really became aware of the discrimination and the lower standards that disabled people experience and I really became much more active in terms of disability politics from that date.

So yes I suppose I was always ‘disabled’ as it were, with an impairment and that gradually got worse and worse over the years. I remember back years ago the Mobility Allowance that went into DLA  which is now becoming PIP, I applied for it and got it but I was only a child, I remember that time and seeing how things have developed since then.

Clearly I’m glad I’m living now with the level of impairment I’ve got, compared to thirty years ago, because the aids and adaptations that are available and of course Direct Payments, clearly enable me to live the life that I do.

PM:   Can I ask you about your childhood in the 1960s, what school did you go to?

RM:   I went to a mainstream school, all the way through, although interestingly when it came up for ‘o’ levels they were conscious that I had a slight impairment of the hand and couldn’t write as fast and did ask me whether I wanted an amanuensis to write down answers to questions in ‘o’ levels. I didn’t, I was ok, but looking back it was done quite sensitively which was good. I then went to two colleges, interestingly they didn’t pick up anything like that, not that I needed it at that time, although some lectures were in rooms that were a long way for me to get to, I wasn’t using a wheelchair in those days.

So I certainly benefited, no question, in going to mainstream as opposed to special, certainly the quality of education I received certainly I imagine was much more superior. But there’s no question having left college I experienced discrimination being a disabled person by not getting a job because of my impairment. The classic example there being a firm called SGB, Scaffolding Great Britain, I don’t know if they are still going, but I went for a couple of interviews in their corporate headquarters but when it came to it they said “well you can’t have the job because you might have to go to building sites and you won’t be able to cope with that”.

Of course they couldn’t do that now, they would have to make reasonable adjustments but then they could do it. And that just gives you one example of how disabled people experience poor treatment and bad experiences, based on prejudice, based on a lack of willingness to make changes in the job. But as things turned out, my life could have taken a greatly different course than it did in the end. I mean I wouldn’t be living in Leamington Spa.

PM:   Do you remember the date of that?

RM:   It must have been the early 80s. Probably about 1982. I moved here in about 86 and it was a few years before then, probably 82 0r 83.

PM:   And was that a shock to you at the time or had you come to expect that kind of attitude?

RM:   I’d come to expect it because that wasn’t the only example of experiences that I’d had, I was becoming very frustrated and annoyed and of course that annoyance turned into anger which didn’t do me any good at all. But I think the 80s were the beginnings of the Disability Movement, not that I was anywhere near that aware then, but looking back and reading that’s when UPIAS started, the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation and the whole disability debate started and I was receiving the lower standards as part of that, not that I was part of the developing of it but I think people did start to realise that disabled people were at the bottom of the heap as it were when it came to employment, service provision and that sort of thing.

PM:   You’ve mentioned about the development of your own consciousness as a disabled person and the social model of disability, can you revisit that again for us and tell us when did that start and what was the context of your own thinking changing?

RM:   I suppose one could go back to the International Year of Disabled People which was in 1981. I was on a local committee for that and I didn’t really realise what was going on because I was quite young at the time but then as a result of that a Phab club was formed, an unfortunate name but at the time I got into that sort of social side. I did that for a few years and then I moved up here and one way to get to know people better was to join the Phab club here and for a few years it was really good – I had good experiences and even to this day I’ve got friends that I made then and as a bi-product of that I went on a rally in Trafalgar Square in 1994 which was a watershed for disabled people and the political pressure was so great then that the DDA was passed in 95. So it’s been a combination of factors really, starting way back in the early 1980s.

PM:   You worked for the Coventry Voluntary Services Council for a while, was that in the early 90s?

RM:   Prior to working for the CVSC, my first job was working for a market research company doing some desk research and then I worked for the Council of Disabled People (CDP) on a part time basis and Disability West Midlands on a part time basis. But it was clear that the job I was doing at CDP was pretty much a temporary job, it was only going to last for a year and wasn’t particularly useful but DWM offered me a full time job with the training. The training aspect came out of what I was getting involved with at CVSC actually, a group were formed through European money to learn all about training and aspects of it and that was quite good for me because obviously I was able to develop it and use it in my job. Hence the offer from DWM.

PM:   And this was Disability Equality Training, as opposed to Disability Awareness Training? So you were there at a fairly important time when the DDA came in, what’s your recall of the difference of these two different types of training?

RM:   Well I won’t bore you with the specifics but basically, Disability Equality takes a barrier approach to the whole issue of the focus on what the external environment is doing, be it attitudinal, organisational or physical and from a practical perspective looks at ways of improving the life experiences of a disabled person. The impairment based, or Disability Awareness is very much focussed on the individual, looking at their impairment or medical condition and looking at therapies and how to improve the individual. Not saying that medical intervention isn’t useful, but getting on with your life is what it’s all about when you’re out there in the big wide world competing.

Of course, fundamental to this is delivery. It’s very important to add weight to the messages being given that the deliverer needs to be a disabled person. Having said that, the individual must have the technical expertise and ability to deliver a course, to formulate and craft a course, because I’ve seen it and I’m sure you have many times, just wheeling a disabled person out there in front of an audience can do more damage than benefits.

For a few years that worked but of course now the equalities agenda has been stretched so much, with the Equality Act, people aren’t fully realising that disabled people do still experience disadvantage when they go to their local shop to buy a can of beans or whatever it may be. I think the personal service has been lost somewhat, which is a shame but so be it.

PM:   So, remembering back to the DDA in 1995, do you remember much of a change? Was it a watershed?

RM:   The passing of the Act was a watershed certainly. But it took many years to see any discernible change in terms of accessing your local services and possibly employment. My big issue was and still is, of course some disabled people need support to help them get a job, no question there however, what I would say is that a number of firms don’t deliver on their social responsibility in terms of employing disabled people whatever impairment they have.

I’m sure that you know and I know lots of disabled people that are as productive as their non-disabled peer, given the appropriate support if they need it. There’s still an attitudinal barrier there when it comes to employment and also delivering a service, unfortunately many shops don’t consider supporting their staff as particularly important so they are not delivering a quality service that an older or disabled customer should have, like their non-disabled peer, and when you think that disability is an issue that will affect all of us at some stage in our life and the fact that the number of disabled people and older people is increasing all the time, it’s very short sighted not to do that.

So going back to what you asked, yes there have been improvements but it’s still very, very slow.

PM: In terms of your own life, we’re now in 2013, do you think things have changed? Thinking back to the early 90s, that’s 23 years, during that time has your experience as a disabled person in society changed and in what way?

RM:   Well as I’m older I like to think I’m wiser, more experienced, so in terms of that …yes, it changed for the better. Certainly as my impairment has increased, I’ve got more aids and adaptations, twenty years ago I wouldn’t have had those because things are much more updated. Basic things like the car I’ve got, that’s tremendous, I wouldn’t have had that five years ago, certainly not ten years ago, similarly the wheelchair I use, things are developing all of the time.

Also, Direct Payments, money that the local authority gives to the individual disabled person to organise their PA support, their care support, I wouldn’t have had that. That came into effect in about 1996 but didn’t really get going until 1998, so there are a number of things that have happened that have certainly been a real improvement for disabled people living in society.

The big problem now of course is the closure in the next few years of the Independent Living Fund and that’s going to hit quite a few disabled people quite hard, depending on where they live will determine what support they get from their local authority.

PM:   If you were a politician, what would be your three priorities to improve the lives of disabled people in Britain in the next ten years?

RM:   Wow! That’s a biggie. Well certainly the whole issue of social care, which Andrew Dilnot looked into a couple of years ago and the government have come forward with some proposals for a financial cap. That is really important to look at.

Direct payments, looking at the porosity around the country of the take-up and the quality of support given to people going that way.

Education, that’s very important, still they’re hanging on to special schools, which I know for some highly impaired individuals may be thought to be the way forward, but I still maintain that fully inclusive schools are the way forward. And also employment, looking at ways of maybe not fining, but cajoling and persuading or something in regard to employers to make them see the light that employing disabled people won’t make them go bust.

And maybe more education within schools about disability and what it means. I know that in ‘citizenship’, all school children will have older grandparents so they experience it all the time, maybe not from the perspective that we know, but certainly it would help them develop and mature as equal minded citizens when they leave school.

PM:   Robert have you had any role models or are there any individuals, which may include people you have known or people you have never actually met, that have influenced you and stand out in your life?

RM:   I suppose from the disability academic side you’ve got the usual ones like Mike Oliver and Vic Finkelstein who died recently, and Collin Barnes, theoretical people. One has to question at times that theory over arches the practicality. From a personal level and a local level I have a very dear friend I have known for about twenty years and have a lot of respect for when one looks at the degree of impairment she’s got compared to what a ‘normal’ in inverted commas, life she has.

And I am a firm believer that a lot of that comes from how you are brought up. The influences you have when you’re a child are extremely important. And also the support network, I know that some people like to lead a solitary life which is fine but when you are a disabled person, whether you like it or not you do need support, whether it’s from professionals or from friends and family, how that support is given is tremendously important to how you develop and make out in the world.

PM:   I want to ask you to expand on that slightly. For instance what advice would you give to parents of a disabled child. Are there any key bits of advice you might give, I’m thinking of the RADAR publication a few years ago called “If only I’d known that 12 months ago” or someone becoming a disabled person later in their lives. Do you have any advice you’d give them?

RM:   It’s very difficult in terms of the parents of a disabled child, because emotionally they are going through a tremendous battle in their own mind, but I suppose it depends on where they’re at on the line of inclusion really. But also on how ‘bad’ and I use that word advisedly the impairment is that the child has. Obviously when one acquires an impairment later on in life, there’s a whole host of issues that one has to consider depending on where you are in your own life cycle. If you’ve got a job, a house, a family, all of those things you’ve got to take into consideration and the support you have then clearly is important.

But a very common factor that all of us experience is denial, one will deny one’s impairment, “Oh I don’t need this, I don’t need that” but sometimes you do and you’ve got to accept it and so how that support is given is crucial. But of course for a newly disabled person there is a whole host of things you’ve got to be aware of that you can’t possibly know right from day one. It’s only going to come over a period of months and possibly years actually. I may know about physical impairment but I don’t have a hope in hell of knowing what it’s like to be deaf or have a hearing or visual impairment. Only people that experience that will know fully what it’s like and the little tips they need to know to get on with their lives.

I wouldn’t dream of giving a parent any advice as I’m not a parent. Very difficult but even more difficult with a disabled child. All I would say is bring them up not smothered in cotton wool but bring them up like you would any other child, give them the support when they need it but don’t make exceptions and treat them special because they’re not special.

 

PM:   Robert, I want to ask you, has your experience of health care changed over the last five decades?

RM:   I think it has to a positive perspective and maybe that’s matched both in terms of me getting older, more grumpy and more assertive, but also the way society’s changed in terms of making sure the patient is communicated with. I know for many times, doctors and consultants are blamed for not including the patient, well I personally think, having been in hospital a few months ago, that what they’re expected to do is enormous and they don’t do such a bad job really. Obviously the communication is still the key issue but I think it isn’t all one way, it’s up to the individual disabled person and / or person with an illness to inform themselves of what they can do and what they need to be aware of, to help the doctor diagnose, to help the doctor provide as much support as they are able. So I think my experience of the medical profession has got better, knowing the enormous pressures they are under a lot of the time.

PM:   Robert, in terms of historic landmarks for disabled people and within the disabled people’s movement, what do you think have been the key events and what’s the trend? Where are we at now do you think?

RM:   I think a few years before the DDA came about, things were very positive and five to seven years after the DDA we of course had the DRC, the Disability Rights Commission, I feel things were being done and we were steaming ahead. Ever since the EHRC, the Equality and Human Rights Commission came about and the Equality Act, the disability element of the equality agenda has been dissipated and compromised. I’m a firm believer that people feel “oh, we’ve done disability so let’s move on to something else”. Well yes there have been improvements but there is still more that can be done and should be done and I’m afraid it’s still not there.

For example, I’m a member of the Warwickshire Police Independent Disability Advisory Group, all police forces have these things and I’ve just been sent a draft policy of hate crime, which covers against straight people and so forth and the issues around disability convey no understanding of the Social model at all. Which is rather disheartening that it’s just wheeled out time and time again with no intention from my perspective of a willingness to fully understand or appreciate the generally accepted view of disability, for example, there are questions like “do you have a disability?” …things like that. It’s disheartening really that that happens and it’s an indication of how far we still have to go before we can fully expect and achieve full equality in whatever shape or form or whatever area we look at.

PM:   And do you think that reflects society’s wider understanding of the Social model and do you think when, every few months it seems, somebody trots out “this is the alternative to the Social model of Disability”? What’s your view on that? Do you think the Social model, as some people would say, has become obsolete and we need something else?

RM:   Well first of all your question is “is that common place?” Well it probably is in terms of people fully understanding the difference between disability, impairment and a medical condition, they’ve probably never given it a lot of thought. In terms of “do we need something more?” maybe the Social model needs refining, yes I think it does, in terms of being a disabled person it’s a complex issue. The main elements of the barrier approach are still good, however there needs to be a sensitivity there and a development of the understanding that every impairment is different, every person is different, how they deal with their impairment, what support structures they have, all these things need to be taken into consideration for the disabled person to fully function in their lives.

So yes, the Social model still has validity, however it needs to be developed somewhat and I think people delivering courses or engaging with this, use it as a tool. They don’t use it as a be-all and end-all, they use it as the basis from which to develop their arguments in any discussions that they have.        

PM:   I wanted to ask you about the Paralympics last year in London. A big thing was made of the change of attitudes and the ‘legacy’ of the Paralympics and now 12 months later there has been research recently published by Scope saying that 80% of disabled people are saying it didn’t make any difference to their lives twelve months on and 20% saying their lives have got worse. Do you think this big historic event in the UK has made any difference to the lives of disabled people?

RM:   Personally I haven’t noticed any difference myself. Not that I’m particularly sporty. What I would say is that during the time, certainly the consciousness of people was raised and their attitude, one would have thought, would be better. But then its waned inevitably and talk to disabled people of course over-arching all of this is, not only media representation of disabled people, headlines like “scrounger”, we live in an electronic age but the papers are still enormously powerful in terms of giving people the attitudes that they hold.

But also how the Universal Credit, Bedroom Tax, DLA changing into PIP, all of this is a great worry to disabled people and why you’re getting a certain percentage saying their lives are worse. So it’s a complex issue and an easy answer is difficult. All I can talk about from a personal perspective is that I haven’t really noticed anything but I’m the exception to the rule probably because I’m assertive and confident enough to be able to challenge discriminatory behaviour so not necessarily experiencing it. But people that don’t have the capacity to do that, one’s got to worry about.

So yes, at the time it was great, it was reported to be one of the most successful Paralympics there has been, which is superb, but talk to me in five years time as one wonders whether disabled people will still be experiencing the discriminatory bad attitudes that they do unfortunately.

I’m afraid with special schools and segregation still going on, I don’t hold out too much hope of that being fulfilled. I think the most important thing here is supporting the disabled person, whether young or old, with appropriate, non-biased support so they are able to play a full and active part in society.

 

PM:   Robert we’ve talked quite a lot about disability, so I want to ask you some other questions which disability may or may not impact on. Holidays, what’s your idea of the best holiday or the best place you’ve been to in the world?

RM:   I was fortunate enough to go to Singapore in 1990 and then went on to Malaya. I look back on that and think it was an amazing experience and I was very fortunate to do that. Of course now, with the impairment that I’ve got flying is another, I won’t say impossible, but to get all things working properly is at times a real challenge so I don’t tend to fly now.

What is really important is to do your homework, check out accessibility to make sure that the people in a hotel know what you’re talking about because people’s concept of accessibility differs enormously. Also where you’re going to, do you want luxury which is fine, or are you willing to slum it and spend that much less, that’s up to you. What I would say though, in my experience is that unfortunately you have to pay quite a lot of money to get accessibility in hotels and where you stay otherwise you won’t get it which is unfortunate, that’s the way of life. I’m not a beach bum, although I like to be warm but I like to do things on holiday rather than just lounge around doing nothing. So being active is important but wherever I go I still have the issue of accessibility.

PM:   Robert you are a great lover of music, who are your favourite groups and artists?

RM:   I like Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits and I’m also into Country music. Many people have an outmoded view on Country music, it’s quite contemporary these days I can assure you. But I also like to listen to Classical music. Music in my view is very mood dependent and depending what mood you’re in will influence the music you want to listen to at any particular time. So quite any eclectic mix, a bit of jazz maybe sometimes, although said that I’m not into the real esoteric punk bands. If something takes my fancy I’ll listen to it.

PM:   Any other interests or passions in life?

RM:   I’m really into cars. I’m always looking at different models of car. I like Formula One, I know for some people that’s tremendously boring, but for me I always find the political side of it tremendously fascinating and I don’t think people realise the technology going into Formula One cars, the spin-off comes down to mainstream cars, so it isn’t all wasted.

I also try to keep informed about the political side of things, whether we like it or not, politics enters into everything and it’s good to be aware of what’s happening in that regard, whether one exercises one’s democratic right or not. I think it’s very important, particularly as disabled people because disability is a political subject. To ensure that we have our say as much as possible about whatever’s happening.
 

 

 

 

PM:   Robert, thank you very much for being interviewed.

RM:   My pleasure.           

 

Blogging the Project - article in new magazine about West Midlands History

We are pleased to say that an article about DRC's history project appeared in the 2nd edition of West Midlands History, a new magazine exploring the region's past.

The magazine is a very exciting new publication with an impressive editorial board of well-known history researchers and authors. This second edition, Moving into the West Midlands, focussed on migration and has some fascinating articles.

To find out more about West Midlands History, visit the website at www.historywm.com   

Blogging the Project - a visit to the Birmingham Deaf Cultural Centre

This morning Sarah and I went to visit a club for older deaf people run by BID (Birmingham Services for Deaf People).

Sarah is a deaf person herself and is an apprentice at DRC who has offered to support us to carry out some heritage interviews with older deaf people.

Initially my thinking was to take a camcorder (Flip camera) and a tripod and set it up to film an interpreter using BSL to talk to people about their memories. Sarah had contacted staff at BID who run the group for older deaf people, but we weren't quite sure what to expect, for instance how many people would be there, what support there might be, whether people would be willing to be interviewed and what was the format of their activities (i.e. would we be intruding on the bingo?) 

We therefore decided not to be over ambitious on our first visit and we took along a list of questions which Sarah had devised and the hand held digital Edirol audio recorder. My thinking was for Sarah to ask questions in BSL and then I would record the BSL interpreter onto the audio recorder.

This turned out to be the best policy as the group were mainly preoccupied with eating their lunch in the restaurant. Unfortunately there were no electrical sockets to plug in the Edirol and I had broken rule number one of oral history recordings and forgotten to bring batteries!

So some tactful negotiation had to be done to persuade people to come with us to the reception area to record an interview. In the event a very nice gentleman named Clive came and gave Sarah a lovely interview about his childhood and early life. Sarah asked him some very insightful questions about whether things have changed.

Back in the restaurant it seemed that a number of ladies were starting to chat about their early lives as deaf people but seemed reluctant to be properly interviewed, so we decided to leave it for this week and perhaps give people more time to consider their involvement.

On the way out, a lady on reception gave us a newspaper cutting about Gem Street Deaf School in the 1930s which she had popped into the Deaf Cultural Centre recently with her contact details. This is very exciting and I will contact the person to see if Sarah and I can go and interview them. If we have an open door then we may as well give it a little push.

Blogging the project - an interview with Robert Mottram

With summer holidays out of the way and already half way through September, I felt it was time to get our teeth into carrying out some oral history interviews. I have a few people lined up but wanted to start with someone I already know well in order to hit the ground running.

I therefore contacted a former work colleague, Robert Mottram, a disabled person since childhood and for nearly two decades a disability equality trainer in the West Midlands which included working for two of the region's leading disabled person's organisations, Disability West Midlands and Coventry & Warwickshire Council of Disabled People.

Robert agreed to me visiting him at his home in Leamington Spa to conduct the interview. I briefed Robert on the telephone about what we are looking for within the HLF project so we were both very confident about how the interview would go. This was a rare occasion where I didn't even think written notes or questions were required as I know Robert so well and did not expect any moments where either of us would be stuck for words.

Unfortunately I did not have use of the car yesterday so it was a very long ride from Birmingham to Leamington on a 50cc scooter via the scenic route as I'm not allowed on the motorway on a moped, with my camera and recording equipment safely tucked away. This is the beauty of using small hand held digital recorder's, I'm using an Edirol which is a few years old but still gives perfect clarity in a digital format. 

Before carrying out an interview its always worth checking out equipment to make sure everything is working and there's enough memory space. So before I left for Leamington some time was spent testing the sound levels and clearing some memory from an existing memory stick. A 2G memory stick provides plenty of space for recording, so I divided the interview into little sections of about 5 minutes.

It is always worth explaining the techie side of things to the interviewee before you start so they know why you are stopping and starting the conversation. Its about waiting for a natural end in the person's answer to a question; or a point at which they naturally hesitate. A slight hand gesture also let's them know you are going to click the stop button and the break of a few seconds often allows both parties to compose their thoughts for the next question. A break was also prompted at one point when Robert's personal assistant Roberta came through the front door, though in fairness she had been advised in advance that we may be recording so was very quiet and unobtrusive.

Towards the end of the interview, between recordings I asked Robert if there was anything he wanted to talk about that we had so far missed and this proved useful as there were a couple of issues he wanted to expand upon.

The final point I want to make as a tip to would-be interviewers was that I took some little ear plugs with me so that I could test the sound levels prior to the interview starting. This was very useful to do as you then don't have that constant worry in the back of your mind "is this going to sound ok?" You don't have to keep the ear plugs in during the interview, you can just keep one in or pop one in every now and then just to check everything is still clear and audible (we men are good at multi tasking too!). But it does help to make a good recording if you are prepared in advance.

Got a bit lost riding home and ended up going towards Stratford. Not too much of a trauma on a pleasant September evening riding my retro scooter through the lush south Warwickshire countryside. I could definitely do this for a living!  
    

Funding and Networking Event - 24th July 2013 at DRC, Kitts Green

A Funding and Networking Event

aimed at Disability, Carer and Health organisations in Birmingham

24th  July 2013
10.30am to 12.30pm

at

Disability Resource Centre

Information, Health and Wellbeing Centre
Unit 18, ACE Business Park, Mackadown Lane, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 OLD.

Information on funding opportunities
An invitation to join a new grassroots network of local organisations
Networking opportunities
Free lunch

Presentations from the Heritage Lottery Fund
and the Near Neighbours Fund

Other funders have been invited.

If you would like to attend please contact:

Pete Millington on 0212 248 4530
or email pmillington@disability.co.uk

Disability history month: Arthur MacMorrough Kavanagh

Born without arms or legs, Arthur MacMorrough Kavanagh was an adventurer who rose to become a successful politician. Widely revered as a prodigy, he was also part of a rich and powerful family, writes Nicholas Whyte.

He was the heir to the ancient kings of Leinster. He was a horseback messenger for the East India Company in the 1850s. He wrote a book about hunting and painting on the borderlands between Greece and Albania.

He was a member of parliament for 14 years and became the leader of the Unionist MPs from Ireland.

Read the full article

More history documents from Coventry Sports Association for the Disabled

Some history of the Coventry Sports Association For The Disabled

The roots of charity in Birmingham

From the Preface of the Index to Birmingham Charities 1983.

Giving to beggars and to the poor seems always to have been accepted as a moral and proper way of life, and charity was accordingly urged as one of the guiding principles of life. What is - or is not - charity, a charitable purpose or a charitable object are therefore questions which have troubled philosophers, religious leaders and the like for many centuries.

The earliest recording of charitable dispositions for Birmingham folk seems to be for Yardley, when in 1335 John de Yeardley made over all his lands to the poor, and soon after, several other gifts were donated and some two hundred years later, in 1531, the Yardley Great Trust came into being. The Gild of the Holy Cross was founded in the reign of Richard II (1377 - 1379) and, after the Reformation, Edward VI restored the endowments of 1552 and utilised them for the Grammar Schools which bear his name. that period produced several other charities for Birmingham folk, viz. Lench's Trust in 1525, Rodes in 1527, and Thomas Bromwich in 1579, all of which survive today. In Sutton Coldfield the Bishop Vesey Grammar School (1527) and other Charities are also still extant.

The Statute of Charitable Uses was passed in 1601, under which Act ad hoc local committees were appointed to enquire into abuses, breaches of trust, etc. By 1786, the Old Parliamentary Reports contained much information about Birmingham charities, and in the first part of the 19th Century, Parliamentary Commissioners were appointed to enquire into every charity in the land, and several extracts from their Reports to Parliament which refer to ancient Birmingham Charities are included in this treatise.

In 1853 The Charitable Trusts Act set up both the Charity Commission and the Official Trustees of Charity Lands and Funds, and by the end of the century, the Charity Commissioners were playing a very important role in the shaping of charities and the use of charitable funds.

 

From 'cripples' on the pavements to the Community Health Council: Experiences of disability

An article which appeared in Pinpoint Magazine in the 1980s, written by a member of West Midlands Council of Disabled People named John Hall from Edgbaston:

In the 1930's when I was a schoolboy living in Malvern, Worcestershire, I had my first encounter with disabled people, an experience which made me very sad. In the main street an ex-merchant navy hero from the First World War with no arms and only half his legs squatted on the pavement every weekday selling matches and shoelaces. He received no pension and had no other income. I was old enough to not only know that his experience had been horrific, but also to treat him as a human being, with respect.

I also recall blind George, who walked daily more than 2 miles to play a small organ at St Anne's Well, a building on the way to the top of the Malvern Hills, which is still standing. Although totally blind, he gave great pleasure with his music to thousands of people and, quite rightly, his name has been commemorated with a plaque as a permanent memorial. He was a good musician, and always bright and cheerful, a man of tremendous strength of character.

Little did I know at the time, that within 10 years, I too would become disabled and that, even later, my interest in the cause of disabled people would be strengthened by activities as a member of the Central Birmingham Community Health Council.

I make no apology for referring now briefly to my war experience, this part of my story has a bearing on the social work which has become an important part of my life.

Like many teenagers, I joined the R.A.F. in 1940, hoping to do my 'bit' for the country, with no thought of what might lie ahead. But in 1942 my flying days came to an abrupt end, when I was shot down into the English Channel, and picked up by a naval air-sea rescue boat. After a short time at Dover Hospital, I was transferred to Halton R.A.F. Hospital in Buckinghamshire, where I was given immense care and attention, after countless operations, by consultants, doctors and not least by the nursing officers of Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service. I shall never forget or fail to appreciate their love and help to enable me to tackle civilian life, when initially I had to learn not only to walk again, but to integrate into a society, which barely understood or could face physically crippling disablement. I had to learn that to accept that sport and running would never again be possible, but with the coming of a happy marriage, and later children, and a good job to return to, life began to look up. For whatever the pain and anguish of my war experiences I was lucky to be alive, and appreciate that there were many men and women far more disabled than I.

I was soon to meet a man blinded in the R.A.F., and to become a personal friend. He was probably the most brilliant man to pass through St Dunstan's, and with his immense sixth sense has done more for the blind people than any living man today. He is one of many disabled people that I've met over the years and it is encouraging to know how much is being done by the growth of so many caring organisations.

Since my retirement, I have been able to further my interest in this activity through the Central Birmingham Community Health Council, one of many Councils formed in 1974, which has statutory powers within the National Health Service. The Council, which is non-political and non-sectarian in its outlook, consists of appointed members of all classes and races, nominated by the City Council, the West Midlands Regional Health Authority, and various charitable and social work bodies. It is known as the patients' watchdog, and that simply is its brief.

The activities are varied: regular checking visits to hospitals, membership of health care planning teams, representation as observers on their District Health Authority, and the Family Practitioner Committee. The Council has a say in any proposed substantial change to the local Health Service, e.g. the closure of wards, or even whole hospitals, to which they have a statutory right to put forward counter-proposals. They can even organise campaigns e.g. for the improvement of interpreting services in hospitals, to set up working parties to look at health care for disabled, elderly and handicapped people. They have advised patients and their families how to seek information and how to make complaints.

For disabled people, the Council was instrumental in the issue of the booklet "And how am I supposed to get in?", is constantly campaigning for better access and services, and continues to campaign for equal opportunities for employment in the Health Service.

Never let it be said again that a disabled person is no use in the community. Believe me, in all walks of life they are offering much, and still have more to offer, and I hope that those of you who have no impairment of health or limb, who read this article, will have learnt something of their efforts and in turn consider what they can offer to help many thousands of people who are less fortunate than themselves.

John Hall

Edgbaston

Birmingham

Building Bridges: December 1986

Another edition of Building Bridges, the newsletter of Birmingham Disability rights Group from December 1986:

Editorial

May we begin by wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! This will be the last BUILDING BRIDGES of 1986 and the next issue will be out at the end of January 1987.

We felt that with Christmas only two weeks away it would be unproductive to hold a members' meeting this month. The next meeting will, therefore, be:

WEDNESDAY, 14 January, 1987 at 7:30 PM in Room 45, Doctor Johnson House, 40 Bull Street, B4

Given the time of year we are bringing you up-to-date with Minutes and plans that may have escaped you for one reason or another.

In the next issue we hope to open the debate on questions we will need to resolve in 1987. Because we seek to build an open, active and democratic Group it is important that people respond to the issues raised in our meetings or in Building Bridges. It is no good allowing the Management Committee, workers or a few active members to do everything on our behalf. To be passive means accepting the usual oppressive roles people usually fall into.

In 1987 we hope to see more new members and some of the old ones play a greater role in BDRG. Our aim in 1987 is to turn the idea of a Resource Centre from a dream into reality. We will only do this by working together!

Social

Our fundraising social turned out to be small and selective. Despite the lack of support from members we did raise some money - but a number of individuals made a financial commitment to make the social possible in the first place.

May we, on your behalf, thank them for their efforts. May we also ask why so many agreed to hold a social and then failed to turn up?

Liberation Network?

On 6 December, Brenda, Bob and Alun went down to London to discuss the situation facing the Liberation Network of People With Disabilities. For over a year little had been heard of this national organisation and its magazine, In from the Cold. The outcome of the meeting was to note that the old-style Network had died a natural death and that fresh steps were needed to create a new organisation. The next meeting will take place in late February. We'll keep you informed.

Constitution

A draft constitution has been written up and will be discussed at the next Management Committee. If anyone wants to see this before the next meeting please contact Bob. After the M. C. has discussed it will be circulated to members. We will also prepare a paper on charity status and trusts.

Disability Resource Centre

Since the Council meeting on the fourth, Bob has travelled far and wide with members of the Economic Development Unit to investigate computer-based educational resources available to people with disabilities. This tour is part of the build-up to presenting a paper on the DRC but it also has wider implications for the people's educational needs. Amongst the many educational projects was an interesting shopping by computer which gave us many new and wonderful ideas. Bob also visited Lambeth Accord which has some similarities to the DRC. At present the Day Centres in Birmingham are being visited by Bob with a view to gain new support and more filled in questionnaires.

January's Group Meeting Agenda

On the agenda of January's meeting of the following items:

Welcome, Apologies, Management Committee's Report, Workers Reports, A.O.B, Video of Link plus a discussion on the language of disability.

Action Committees?

The Development Worker has submitted to the Management Committee a paper entitled Which Way Forward for BDRG? In his paper Bob argues that it is vital that we have full participation from the members if we are going to build BDRG. One suggestion from him is that we start to develop committees to look at fundraising, transport and media coverage of disability related issues. Clearly, these suggestions will be debated through the pages of Building Bridges and it is hoped members will respond either in support or against the idea.

Help Required

Are there any members willing to go on a "help list" for us? We would like to know what help you can offer, and how often and how to reach you. If you can offer some spare time please contact Bob.

What Is Disability?

There is now a paper available which takes up the language and terms used in relation to disability. If you would like a copy send a S.A.E to Bob/Maria.

Mobility Plus Bus Pass

Did you know that you can now claim mobility allowance and have a bus pass too? Contact Social Services for details.

Transport Fund

We have just claimed a grant to cover transport costs for a short period of time. It may be possible to hire a tail-lift van if enough members require it. Could people contact Bob as soon as possible with their needs.

BDRG Badges

There are still a number of BDRG members' badges available. They cost £1.50 for waged and £1 for others.

DRC Questionnaire

It is important that individual questionnaires are returned to the office or to the meeting on 14 January so that we can write it up. If any full members still require a copy contact us as soon as you can.

Disability history: The sword-thrower with no limbs

Etchings captured people with disabilities before photographs

By David M Turner

Dr David Turner, from the University of Swansea, specialises in social and cultural history.

He is the author of Disability in 18th Century England, published in 2012, and historical advisor to this new series of short documentaries.

Using previously unused sources, a new daily 10-part BBC Radio 4 series uncovers personal accounts of disabled people's lives, stretching back to the Middle Ages. These challenge the idea that all stories were of triumph or tragedy.

It is often assumed that prior to World War I, when the return of thousands of disabled servicemen forced disability onto the political agenda, disabled people were hidden from history, shut away behind the walls of asylums with their voices silenced.

Now this silence is being broken by a new generation of disability historians.

Diaries, letters, advertisements and memoirs are now being used to access the voices of our ancestors, voices that challenge our preconceptions of how disability was treated and about what it meant to be disabled.

Disability is part of my own family history and as an academic historian I've always been interested in the lives of people traditionally left out of the historical record. In my research I have found that, rather than being hidden, disability was everywhere once I started looking for it.

In the 18th Century, disabled people with the highest profile were "freak show" performers who profited from public fascination in the varieties of the human body. We often think about such people as the victims of cruel exploitation, but it seems this was not necessarily the case.

Disabled performers could also be successful entrepreneurs, in control of their image and destiny.

Matthew Buchinger was known as "the little man of Nuremburg". He lived from 1674 to 1739 and achieved fame in England during the 1720s as a highly skilled artist, musician and card player, despite being born without arms or legs.

His disabled body was a source of pride rather than embarrassment, and a lucrative source of income that propelled him up the social ladder.Buchinger performed for royalty and the nobility in London and engraved several self-portraits, which make no attempt to hide his physical difference.

His shows in which he "performed such wonders as have never been done by any but Himself" were designed to challenge his audience's expectations about the capabilities of a limbless person.

He impressed them by playing bagpipes and trumpet, performing tricks with cups and balls and live birds, was an expert at sword throwing, origami and more. There seems to have been genuine admiration for "freak" performers like Buchinger, but 18th Century attitudes towards disability could also be cruel and unsentimental.

Buchinger was proud of his body

Born in 1695, William Hay became a Member of Parliament for Seaford. He had a curved spine and restricted growth.

Hay wrote the autobiographical Deformity: An Essay (1754) in which he described the casual insensitivity of others towards him and mockery he had to endure as a disabled person when walking the streets of London.

In response, Hay sought to fashion a positive identity that made a moral virtue of physical difference. He challenged those who might see "deformity" as an illness by highlighting his own good health.

Living with difference had acted as a spur to self-improvement, making him better able to cope with life's adversity and more sensitive to the torments of others.

Direct, humorous and strikingly modern, his account shows how the search for identity has long been an important part of disabled people's history. His primary concern was with disciplining the able-bodied poor and using the workhouses to make them economically productive.

Hay did not see himself as part of a community of disabled people and, as an MP, did not campaign on behalf of his fellow "deformed". He thought of his own circumstances as being preferable to that of the "deaf, the dumb, the lame and the blind".

Though Hay thought of himself as separate, by the 19th Century, disabled people began to recognise the importance of banding together for political action.

The series reveals the hardships and prejudice faced by disabled people in the past and will highlight their achievements. But it recognises that the history of disability is neither simply a story of tragic neglect nor triumph over adversity.

For the most part, disability history is about people's experiences of getting by and surviving in environments that could be ill-suited to their needs.

Engraving of an old sailor with a wooden leg, drinking in a tavern

In 1864, Hippolyte Van Lendeghem - a young Belgian woman living in Clapham, south-west London - wrote a remarkable book, Charity Mis-Applied, decrying the educational segregation she had been subjected to as a blind person.

Van Lendeghem challenged the culture of low expectation that condemned the blind to menial careers, arguing that philanthropy ought to provide funds to supplement the incomes of disabled workers, allowing them to participate more equally.

She also argued that the "four-sensed" deaf and blind could not rely on their "five-sensed" neighbours to understand their experiences adequately enough to respond to their needs.

"We have been educating the blind and the deaf and the dumb in segregated schools," she wrote in 1865, "when we ought to have been educating the members of society, who have all their senses, how to understand the peculiarities and necessities of their four-sensed relatives."

Disability: A New History starts on BBC Radio 4 this Monday at 13:45 BST and can be heard every weekday at that time for two weeks. It is presented by Peter White, who is blind.

Presented by Peter White, Disability: A New History is a 10-part series airing at 13:45 BST every weekday on BBC Radio 4, from Monday 27 May

Original article on BBC News website