The Seeds of a Movement— Disabled Women and their Struggle to Organize

Abstract

Since the 1970s, disabled peoples in differing global locations have increasingly realized that their interests and needs were not being served—that projects were not being designed in ways that they would have chosen and that ultimately, they were not in control of their lives. This led to the creation of self-help and single-issue disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) run by and for disabled people, addressing needs identified by their members. The creation of such groups, and networking between their members, marked the beginnings of the disability movement. For instance, the resistance to ‘charitable’ approaches saw the establishment of international DPOs such as the International Disability Alliance [2] and Disabled People’s International [3], whilst the protests and impact of organizations of disabled Vietnam War veterans in the USA, marked the rise of campaigns for Rights not Charity [4].