0:00:04 > 0:00:10In the 20th century, thousands of children found themselves rejected by society
0:00:11 > 0:00:13They were often children who had been abandoned
0:00:13 > 0:00:17by their families or who had physical or learning disabilities.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21Today, we recognise the need to integrate such children,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24but in the past, attitudes were very different.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28'The boy might have been admitted to hospital many years ago,
0:00:28 > 0:00:30'had Mr Harris had his way.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33'I was inclined to agree with him.'
0:00:33 > 0:00:36For many of Britain's disabled and disowned,
0:00:36 > 0:00:40family life was replaced by a childhood in institutions
0:00:40 > 0:00:45But 60 years ago, a revolution began to integrate
0:00:45 > 0:00:48these children into mainstream society.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53It was an aspiration which people are fighting for to this day.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57To spend all day in the pissing rain, handcuffed to a bus...
0:00:57 > 0:01:01it wasn't cos we wanted to do it as a bit of fun,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05we were doing it because we were fighting for our rights.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07Rights that can be easily taken away from you.
0:01:07 > 0:01:13Along the way, there has been trauma, scandal, even horror.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17'Up to five hours a day, tied to a post
0:01:17 > 0:01:21'when he's being particularly difficult.'
0:01:21 > 0:01:23Now the old institutions
0:01:23 > 0:01:27are long gone, and we celebrate disabled people's achievements
0:01:30 > 0:01:34In this film, we look at how disabled children growing up
0:01:34 > 0:01:37after the Second World War challenged the old order
0:01:37 > 0:01:41of patronising care and enforced segregation.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58'Once upon a time, the world regarded the handicapped child
0:01:58 > 0:02:02'as a social outcast, a beggar dependent on occasional charity
0:02:02 > 0:02:05'The mentally disabled were called "mad".
0:02:05 > 0:02:10'The physically disabled were lumped together under the general term "cripples".'
0:02:18 > 0:02:22When the Second World War broke out, disabled children were still
0:02:22 > 0:02:25treated much as they had been at the turn of the century
0:02:27 > 0:02:34The trajectory of their lives was usually dictated by the medical profession.
0:02:34 > 0:02:42Anne Rae was born in 1938. Doctors diagnosed her with cerebral palsy.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Like Anne, many children in the 1940s ended up spending
0:03:06 > 0:03:09most of their childhood in institutional care -
0:03:09 > 0:03:12be it a specialist day school or a residential home.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47Generally speaking, life in institutions for disabled children
0:03:47 > 0:03:50was harsh in the immediate post-war period.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54The curriculum was often narrow
0:03:54 > 0:03:59and not very inspiring. The discipline regime was very austere,
0:03:59 > 0:04:04and there was a lot of bullying between staff and pupils.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09So special schools were not always very happy environments.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16In the 1940s and '50s, these special schools
0:04:16 > 0:04:20and residences catered for every type of impairment.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24'Of one thing I'm certain, I shall never forget the first visit
0:04:24 > 0:04:27'I paid to a hospital for mental defectives.'
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Mabel Cooper spent much of her life at an institution like this one
0:04:35 > 0:04:39She was first taken into care after she
0:04:39 > 0:04:41and her mother were caught begging on the streets.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Doctors later made Mabel undergo a psychological evaluation.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52They took us to a big place in London and gave us a test.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55And if you couldn't do the test they'd say you need looking after
0:04:55 > 0:04:56all the time.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Doctors declared that Mabel was technically an "imbecile"
0:05:00 > 0:05:06and sent her to St Lawrence's Hospital in Surrey, in 1957.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08You think you're going to a loony bin.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16They had bars up at the window and you could hear them...
0:05:17 > 0:05:20you could hear them outside.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25Oh, my goodness me, I said to whoever was with me,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29I said, "Why are they making that noise?"
0:05:29 > 0:05:31They said, "Well, they do it all day."
0:05:36 > 0:05:38At the time, doctors believed
0:05:38 > 0:05:42that in sending physically and learning-disabled children
0:05:42 > 0:05:45to institutions, they were lessening the burden on parents.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49'My concern was for Mrs Harris who was, in my opinion,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52'fast approaching a complete breakdown in health.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55'The boy might have been admitted to hospital many years ago,
0:05:55 > 0:05:57'had Mr Harris had his way.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59'I was inclined to agree with him
0:05:59 > 0:06:03'and suggested that the boy should enter a hospital now.'
0:06:06 > 0:06:11Another parent to receive such advice was the actor Brian Rix
0:06:11 > 0:06:15In the 1950s, he was a nationwide celebrity.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18He and his wife Elspet were famous for their popular farces
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Oh, blast!
0:06:20 > 0:06:22I must look keen.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24I could be learning the language.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28In 1951, their daughter Shelley was born with Down's syndrome,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32a chromosomal defect which leads to intellectual impairment
0:06:32 > 0:06:35and distinctive physical features.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39There was a degree of the general public looking down on you
0:06:39 > 0:06:43and thinking that you'd done something
0:06:43 > 0:06:49either wrong or you had married the wrong person or whatever it might be.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54I was asked if I was drunk, if I'd had venereal disease,
0:06:54 > 0:06:58all these things which had got nothing to do with Down's syndrome at all.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00Unsure of what to do,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Brian wrote to a Ministry of Health official for advice.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08The instructions we were given was to put her away, forget her and start again.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13And then he gave me a list of homes which were high-grade imbeciles
0:07:13 > 0:07:18low-grade imbeciles, idiots, all these expressions used quite ..
0:07:18 > 0:07:23sheets of paper issued by the Ministry of Health.
0:07:23 > 0:07:24There was no education.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29I was told, if I wanted any sort of additional welfare
0:07:29 > 0:07:31I had to pay for it, there was nothing
0:07:31 > 0:07:35on the National Health Service, there was nothing in the social services
0:07:35 > 0:07:41available - it was a complete battle for every single parent in the land.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Brian decided to visit some of the institutions on the list
0:07:46 > 0:07:50one of which was St Lawrence's where Mabel Cooper grew up.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53They just used to shout and pull you around.
0:07:53 > 0:07:59I don't like being pulled about
0:07:59 > 0:08:04You know, you could get into trouble if you said anything,
0:08:04 > 0:08:09so we didn't talk for nearly 20 years.
0:08:12 > 0:08:18In the hospital, when I came out, I had to learn to talk again,
0:08:18 > 0:08:22cos they use to keep telling us to shut up.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24We were horrified.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28There was maybe 3,000 or 4,000 people there, herded together,
0:08:28 > 0:08:33shambling around the grounds, nothing to do - it was appalling.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44Life could also be harsh for children with physical impairments.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Until the mid-20th century,
0:08:46 > 0:08:51doctors' approach to physical disability was to try and cure it.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54'Today, Maureen, convalescent from her operation, is being brought
0:08:54 > 0:08:57'out onto the terrace for the first time.'
0:08:57 > 0:08:59Treatment often involved
0:08:59 > 0:09:02fresh air and sunshine, traditional remedies for tuberculosis
0:09:02 > 0:09:07and polio, which were then the most common causes of disability.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09'The hospital is designed
0:09:09 > 0:09:12'so that natural sunlight can be used to the fullest advantage.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15'Beds are taken out on the great terrace fronting the wards,
0:09:15 > 0:09:20'and there the children can sleep, play and eat.'
0:09:20 > 0:09:22In 1948,
0:09:22 > 0:09:26David Bradford was sent away to be treated for cerebral palsy.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29I was sent to a hospital at the age of four
0:09:29 > 0:09:33and where it was considered presumably that they could do
0:09:33 > 0:09:37something with me, and in fact what they succeeded in giving me
0:09:37 > 0:09:41was pneumonia and bronchitis and nearly bumping me off because it's one
0:09:41 > 0:09:45of the hospitals in those days that was a former TB hospital, and they believed very much
0:09:45 > 0:09:49in fresh air and pushing beds outside come rain, hail or snow
0:09:49 > 0:09:51'Clean, fresh air.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54'Why even the schoolroom has one side open to the country.'
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Put-them-on-the-mountainside job, and if they survived, they survived,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00if they didn't, well, so luck..
0:10:00 > 0:10:03That's probably being a bit mean to them, but it was a Spartan regime.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08'Our children get every encouragement to use their limbs as early
0:10:08 > 0:10:11'as they can, because life is ahead of them.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15If doctors could not cure a disability, they saw it
0:10:15 > 0:10:20as their duty, at the very least, to make a disabled child appear normal.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22This could mean everything from encasing
0:10:22 > 0:10:28a child in plaster to the fitting of various forms of walking devices.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58'Here's Christine with her callipers on again, going to have another shot
0:10:58 > 0:11:00'at the walking lesson.'
0:11:00 > 0:11:05All the way through from the '3 s right through to the late '70s
0:11:05 > 0:11:07there was a drive for children
0:11:07 > 0:11:12not to use wheelchairs, so children would be walking in callipers
0:11:12 > 0:11:16or using crutches and walking very slowly, very uncomfortably
0:11:16 > 0:11:19because the wheelchair was seen as the sign of failure
0:11:19 > 0:11:22'Such a new, strange thing is walking.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25'These skis give him confidence '
0:11:56 > 0:11:59In the years that followed the Second World War,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01the Government became increasingly aware
0:12:01 > 0:12:06that the treatment of disabled children left much to be desired.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08The emergence of the welfare state and the National Health Service
0:12:08 > 0:12:13brought with it a wealth of new ideas.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17In 1944, a new Education Act had been passed,
0:12:17 > 0:12:21which contained a revolutionary idea - that wherever possible,
0:12:21 > 0:12:26disabled children should be educated in mainstream schools
0:12:26 > 0:12:30But this idea of integration was way ahead of its time.
0:12:30 > 0:12:37No resources were made available to implement that aspiration.
0:12:37 > 0:12:42There has been considerable resistance to the integration
0:12:42 > 0:12:46of disabled children due to the medical control
0:12:46 > 0:12:52of special schools, the vested interest of teachers and psychologists.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57'In one way, they are like all other children.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01'They need the stimulus and companionship of school life '
0:13:01 > 0:13:04Established institutions did what they could to resist
0:13:04 > 0:13:08integration, and local authorities were often reluctant to put
0:13:08 > 0:13:11the Government's new policy into practice.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Liz McPherson, born with weak and irregular bones, recalls
0:13:17 > 0:13:22how hard it was for her parents to get her into mainstream school.
0:13:22 > 0:13:23My parents obviously wanted me
0:13:23 > 0:13:27to go to the school that was virtually next door to me,
0:13:27 > 0:13:32and the education department and social work had different views
0:13:32 > 0:13:36on that, and felt that I should go to the local special school
0:13:38 > 0:13:42In Aberdeen, at that time, there was only one special school,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45which took children with physical disability
0:13:45 > 0:13:49but also catered for children with learning disability.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52And, unfortunately, most of the populace of Aberdeen,
0:13:52 > 0:13:57I would say, that if you said that you went to that particular school,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01would automatically assume that you had a learning disability.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05And, therefore, there was
0:14:05 > 0:14:08no way my adoptive parents were going to accept that.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13Liz's parents eventually won the argument.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16But the reality of being educated in the mainstream was hard
0:14:16 > 0:14:18for disabled children like Liz
0:14:18 > 0:14:22Most education authorities didn t have sufficient resources
0:14:22 > 0:14:24to cope with their needs.
0:14:24 > 0:14:30I quite clearly remember, on at least three winters, having a plaster up
0:14:30 > 0:14:35to my knee, having it wrapped in a poly bag and hiking up to school
0:14:35 > 0:14:37in the snow.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40So, you know, there wasn't an alternative - you just walked
0:14:40 > 0:14:43or you didn't, and if you didn't walk, you didn't go to school.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49Although mainstream school could be a challenge at every level,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52the standard of education was far higher
0:14:52 > 0:14:54than in the majority of special schools.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59'Within the next three years more than ?1 million will be spent
0:14:59 > 0:15:02'on new national schools and residential centres,
0:15:02 > 0:15:06'including a centre for so-called ineducable spastics.'
0:15:28 > 0:15:32You didn't learn all things that you need to learn out in the world.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37They taught you to make puzzles and colouring and all that.
0:15:37 > 0:15:43I don't want to do that. I'd rather learn something than do that.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49Who wants to sit and do that when you're supposed to be at school
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Disabled children in mainstream schools
0:16:53 > 0:16:59received a better education, but they faced other challenges
0:16:59 > 0:17:03I ended up in a class of 35 girls. Because some of these girls
0:17:03 > 0:17:08were twice my size, some of them were bullies, some of them
0:17:08 > 0:17:14threatened me every day, and they had no knowledge of me
0:17:14 > 0:17:19so name-calling started, bullying started, and I just shut off.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22And at that time, I think
0:17:22 > 0:17:26I would have actually welcomed being in special school.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29I think there would have been less bullying, I think it would
0:17:29 > 0:17:34have been very small classes, I had an assumption that the teaching
0:17:34 > 0:17:38would be equally as good, although I don't think it would have been.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46In this bleak world there were however, some places which had
0:17:46 > 0:17:50long been pioneers of a more enlightened approach.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57Treloars School in Hampshire was set up by the Lord Mayor of London
0:17:57 > 0:18:02in 1908, and the school still exists today.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05'A crippled child need no longer be a lonely outcast.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07'The cripple can be cured.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12'That is the spirit of Treloars
0:18:12 > 0:18:14'left behind by a man who loved children.'
0:18:18 > 0:18:20In 1957, David Bradford
0:18:20 > 0:18:24began his education here, at the school's former premises
0:18:24 > 0:18:28It was run, in those days, in a similar way to what
0:18:28 > 0:18:30I imagine a public school would have been.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33It had absolutely brilliant, wonderful grounds.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37And in those days, Treloar College had a headmaster
0:18:37 > 0:18:41who was called a warden, who was a brilliant educationalist,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45the sort of person who could read Bertie Wooster one day
0:18:45 > 0:18:50and do all the actions and also the next lesson read
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Animal Farm and explain all the characters were and what
0:18:53 > 0:18:57the analogies were and stuff like that so he opened, certainly, my mind.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01Historically, Treloars had always been funded through
0:19:01 > 0:19:05charitable donations and fees paid by the children's parents
0:19:05 > 0:19:10But David Bradford's education was paid for by his local authority
0:19:10 > 0:19:14making him one of a growing number of disabled children
0:19:14 > 0:19:16to benefit from increased welfare spending.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19I think
0:19:19 > 0:19:22Treloar opened up a whole new unforeseen opportunity in education
0:19:22 > 0:19:26for me. I think had I stayed where I was I probably would have ended up
0:19:26 > 0:19:30in a factory somewhere, maybe in an office stuck up in a corner.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32MUSIC: "White Room" by Cream
0:19:49 > 0:19:53In the 1960s, the first generation of post-war disabled children
0:19:53 > 0:19:55came of age.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00British society was experiencing huge changes - with the general
0:20:00 > 0:20:04liberalisation of the time putting a new emphasis on civil rights
0:20:04 > 0:20:07As a result, many disabled young people
0:20:07 > 0:20:10like Anne Rae had high hopes for the future.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32'This young man wants a job, a chance to earn a living.'
0:20:32 > 0:20:35After the war, the Government had introduced a quota scheme
0:20:35 > 0:20:39to get disabled people into work.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Companies were told that 3% of their staff had to be registered
0:20:42 > 0:20:46disabled people, but as there were no penalties for those
0:20:46 > 0:20:51who didn't follow the rules, the policy was ignored by most employers.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55If you were disabled, you were supposed to register,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59and they were supposed to find appropriate jobs for you.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04I very much decided that I wasn't going to do that
0:21:04 > 0:21:09I had probably heard stories that if you had registered you would only
0:21:09 > 0:21:16get a job operating a lift or some really derogatory type of job that
0:21:16 > 0:21:21probably wouldn't pay very well and I was quite interested in money
0:21:21 > 0:21:25so I wanted a job that had good money, I wanted to go out
0:21:25 > 0:21:27and enjoy my life.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31For many disabled people with less obvious impairments,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33the message from society seemed clear -
0:21:33 > 0:21:37hide your disabilities, or face segregation.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40I think a lot of people didn't realise
0:21:40 > 0:21:46the degree of my disability, because they could only see a very
0:21:46 > 0:21:50small part of it, and I was quite prepared to let them
0:21:50 > 0:21:56see as little of it as possible as I felt that it would not be
0:21:56 > 0:22:02in my best interest to really say to people the level of severity of it.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Not all disabled people, however,
0:22:05 > 0:22:09had difficulty finding acceptance and employment.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12David Bradford managed to find a job in the accounts department
0:22:12 > 0:22:14of an electrical firm.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19There were plenty of opportunities, and you could afford to do,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23as I've done in my early days, say, "No, I don't think we're
0:22:23 > 0:22:28"suited here, goodbye," and find somewhere else fairly quickly.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32One of the things that you do need to be successful as a person
0:22:32 > 0:22:36with a disability is a thick skin, because you'll no doubt get
0:22:36 > 0:22:39called, in my case, a "spaz" and things like that -
0:22:39 > 0:22:44in those days, that was common. Get on with it. If people think that
0:22:44 > 0:22:48life is fair, they need to rethink again, because very often it isn't.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Some people have to fight harder just to be on a level playing field.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Despite the difficulties
0:22:56 > 0:23:00and setbacks, young disabled people in the '50s and '60s
0:23:00 > 0:23:04had more chance of making it in the outside world.
0:23:07 > 0:23:08But for many,
0:23:08 > 0:23:13the future still held no more than a life in institutional care.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Behind the closed doors of one of those institutions,
0:23:16 > 0:23:21a young man was sowing the seeds of change for all disabled people.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23His name was Paul Hunt.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Paul was a very quiet, reserved person.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30He wasn't somebody easy to get to know, he was...
0:23:30 > 0:23:34but he made a sort of big impression on you.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Paul was born with muscular dystrophy,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43a condition marked by the progressive weakening
0:23:43 > 0:23:47and wasting of the muscles, which often leads to an early death.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52At the age of 16, he was transferred to a ward for geriatric
0:23:52 > 0:23:57patients where he was expected to live out the rest of his days.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Pretty grim place, a very grim place.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07He became very depressed, very withdrawn.
0:24:08 > 0:24:14And then at some point, I think it was about 1955, he saw...
0:24:15 > 0:24:22there was a television programme about the first Cheshire Home, Lee Court.
0:24:22 > 0:24:28From no home to the building of this new Lee Court seemed to them
0:24:28 > 0:24:29something of a miracle.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Lee Court was a private care home founded by Group Captain
0:24:35 > 0:24:41Leonard Cheshire, a highly decorated World War II bomber pilot.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43After the war,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45he had set up a number of homes which offered disabled people
0:24:45 > 0:24:51somewhere they could live with a considerable degree of independence.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54All this started for me right out in the East over Nagasaki
0:24:54 > 0:24:58at the dropping of the atomic bomb. and over there,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02I conceived a great desire to play my small part, as best I could,
0:25:02 > 0:25:08in contributing towards the peace that everybody had fought for so hard.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12For Paul, seeing the Cheshire Homes by chance on television
0:25:12 > 0:25:14was the answer to his prayers.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18He moved to Lee Court in 1956 and joined an increasingly
0:25:18 > 0:25:22autonomous community of disabled people.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28A moment that was very exciting was the fact he could get in the lift
0:25:28 > 0:25:32himself and get him upstairs from one floor to another.
0:25:32 > 0:25:38Because it was designed for people in wheelchairs to operate it,
0:25:38 > 0:25:40and that was like freedom.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45Paul quickly got involved in Lee Court's everyday life,
0:25:45 > 0:25:50taking part in a short film produced by the residents themselves.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52'There are 39 residences
0:25:52 > 0:25:56'and the noise in the dining room is sometimes past belief.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00'Shop's open for half-an-hour twice a day. It serves us small
0:26:00 > 0:26:05'necessities sweets - cigarettes, stamps, writing paper.'
0:26:05 > 0:26:08But a few years after Paul's arrival,
0:26:08 > 0:26:12the freedom of the residents came under threat.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15The expansion of the Cheshire Homes had led to a much bigger
0:26:15 > 0:26:18management structure, and tensions arose between the residents
0:26:18 > 0:26:20and senior staff.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25These were in part due to the regimented rules and regulations
0:26:25 > 0:26:30imposed by the warden, who the residents nicknamed the Commander.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34One of the issues was bedtime if people could put themselves
0:26:34 > 0:26:38to bed, they didn't see why they should all go to bed by 10: 0,
0:26:38 > 0:26:43or whatever time the management decided they had to be in bed by.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47People shouldn't be going out to the pub - that was seen...it started
0:26:47 > 0:26:50to be frowned on that they were being unruly,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53they are getting a bit too drunk and unruly.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58One ruling was that they shouldn t sunbathe in public,
0:26:58 > 0:27:03shouldn't show their bodies, it was unsightly.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07Paul rallied the other residents behind him
0:27:07 > 0:27:11in revolt against the Commander and the management team.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14It really became a big issue.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17I mean, it became...it got a lot of publicity locally.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20Cheshire was pulled in and he tried, you know,
0:27:20 > 0:27:25to settle the difference, to come to some peaceful arrangement.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30Leonard Cheshire managed to calm the conflict before it got out of hand.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35Paul and the residents kept their autonomy
0:27:35 > 0:27:38and were granted a place on the board of management.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41This meant disabled people could continue to have a say
0:27:41 > 0:27:43in how their Cheshire Home was run.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48For Paul, the conflict was an inspiration
0:27:49 > 0:27:53His ideas were born out of a conflict
0:27:53 > 0:27:55with the management about how the home should be run
0:27:55 > 0:28:01and the role that disabled people should have in that management
0:28:02 > 0:28:06It was the place where Paul Hunt developed his ideas
0:28:06 > 0:28:11about independent living and rights for disabled people
0:28:13 > 0:28:16Paul left Lee Court in 1970
0:28:16 > 0:28:19and began campaigning for the rights of disabled people as a whole,
0:28:19 > 0:28:23soon becoming a leading figure in the movement.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30It was a time when the integration of disabled people - and especially
0:28:30 > 0:28:35children - was still proving hugely difficult to implement.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Despite the Government's best intentions, the institutional
0:28:39 > 0:28:43care system continued to grow, and by 1972, there were nearly three
0:28:43 > 0:28:50times as many children in special schools as there had been in 19 5.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52One of those children was Ann Young,
0:28:52 > 0:28:57whose parents had sent her to the palace school in Ely.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39Ann spent most of her childhood in Ely.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41As for so many who were sent away,
0:29:41 > 0:29:44institutional living was a mixed experience.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23In 1970, the year after Ann went to Ely
0:30:23 > 0:30:28the Government passed a new Education Act, which abolished
0:30:28 > 0:30:31one of the most negative aspects of disability policy.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35Previously, children with learning disabilities had been classed
0:30:35 > 0:30:37as unworthy of an education,
0:30:37 > 0:30:42as were a significant number of physically disabled kids.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47In 1970, that distinction between educable
0:30:47 > 0:30:51and uneducable children was abolished which meant that children
0:30:51 > 0:30:55could no longer be dismissed as being incapable of being educated.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47As part of the drive to improve the expectations of disabled children,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50careers advice was provided,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54and in her late teens, Ann received a visit from a social worker.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37MUSIC: "Heroin" by The Velvet Underground
0:32:50 > 0:32:54As ever, changes in attitudes towards disability moved
0:32:54 > 0:32:57slower than changes in policy.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00But the speed of change was hastened by a development
0:33:00 > 0:33:02that horrified the general public.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10In the early '60s, several hundred children had been born
0:33:10 > 0:33:13with very distinctive and profound impairments.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16Many had missing arms or legs.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19These disabilities could have been avoided,
0:33:19 > 0:33:22as they were caused by a drug prescribed to pregnant women
0:33:22 > 0:33:25against morning sickness and insomnia.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28The drug was called Thalidomide
0:33:28 > 0:33:34By 1972 a national campaign was well under way to draw attention
0:33:34 > 0:33:37to the plight of the "Thalidomiders".
0:33:44 > 0:33:47'Kevin Donnellon is 11 years old
0:33:47 > 0:33:49'and lives with his family in a suburb of Liverpool.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53'In the first few weeks of her pregnancy, Agnes Donnellon took
0:33:53 > 0:33:54'five sleeping tablets.
0:33:54 > 0:33:59'The tablets were called Distaval - they contained the drug Thalidomide.'
0:33:59 > 0:34:00I remember as a kid,
0:34:00 > 0:34:05being sort of put on this stage and looking at hundreds of doctors
0:34:05 > 0:34:08in white suits, white coats, looking at us, as if we were
0:34:08 > 0:34:14like, you know, guinea pigs on show, or like freaks in a show
0:34:14 > 0:34:16I grew to resent them and hate them with a passion,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19because they forced us into these bloody awful
0:34:19 > 0:34:24artificial legs, prosthetics, which I really hated.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27Thinking about it now, they meant well. In their wisdom, they thought
0:34:27 > 0:34:32that if we were the correct shape, that we'd be accepted in society.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38Campaign groups for the rights of Thalidomiders sprung up
0:34:38 > 0:34:39around the country.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43In Liverpool, a local school got involved, offering to provide Kevin
0:34:43 > 0:34:49and a number of Thalidomide children with a mainstream education.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51It was really exciting starting school - I loved it.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54We went as a group, there was 12 of us, 12 Thalidomides,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57and we were kind of like, you know,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00a bit of a celebrity to the other kids, really.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03And the kids would fight over the privilege of pushing me
0:35:03 > 0:35:05round the playground.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10For the school and the staff,
0:35:10 > 0:35:14the Thalidomiders were the first disabled pupils they'd ever taught.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20To be honest, they didn't really have a clue about disability,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22but for example, in the reception class,
0:35:22 > 0:35:26the desks were like really low for small kids, but I was wearing
0:35:26 > 0:35:29prosthetic legs at the time, which I couldn't sit down in.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31They didn't bend at the knee,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34so I'd had to stand up all day be writing like this
0:35:34 > 0:35:39and if I leant too far forward I'd actually fall over the desk
0:35:39 > 0:35:41So the way they got round that was instead of bringing
0:35:41 > 0:35:44in a higher desk, which you would think that was the obvious solution,
0:35:44 > 0:35:47they actually tied me to the radiator.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50And me back would be in agony, you know, just leaning over,
0:35:50 > 0:35:53but when you're seven, you just kind of like don't complain,
0:35:53 > 0:35:54you just get on with it.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57While Kevin was growing up, his mother was part of the local group
0:35:57 > 0:36:00who were campaigning for compensation
0:36:00 > 0:36:02from the drug manufacturers.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07Bizarrely she said to me, "When you grow up, you'll be voting Tory
0:36:07 > 0:36:10"probably." I said, "Why?" "Cos you'll be very rich "
0:36:10 > 0:36:12Which is, you know, ironic.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15Considering the compensation I was awarded was 19 grand,
0:36:15 > 0:36:18which is, you know, a pittance, really.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22The court case might have fallen short in terms of compensation
0:36:22 > 0:36:26but the campaign helped to transform public attitudes
0:36:26 > 0:36:28to disability as a whole.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32Thalidomide was important in raising the awareness of disability
0:36:32 > 0:36:36in general, but other changes were happening as well -
0:36:36 > 0:36:39the Chronically Sick and Disabled Person's Act, for example,
0:36:39 > 0:36:43which started to improve the accessibility
0:36:43 > 0:36:46of the environment also had an effect.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50The Disabled People's Movement, as well, was beginning to gather steam
0:36:50 > 0:36:55and so that was also working towards the same purpose
0:36:55 > 0:36:59of raising the profile of disability.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04By the mid-1970s, Paul Hunt,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07having successfully fought for the rights of residents
0:37:07 > 0:37:12at his Cheshire Home, was living in London with his wife, Judy.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Since leaving, they had been planning a campaign
0:37:15 > 0:37:19to fight for the rights of disabled people as a whole.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23Paul was influenced by the civil rights movement in his reading
0:37:23 > 0:37:30and he was drawing parallels with the experience of black people
0:37:30 > 0:37:33and disabled people.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36And seeing, you know, making connections
0:37:36 > 0:37:40with the segregation of disabled people into special schools,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43special homes, special workshops.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49In 1972, Paul published a letter in the Guardian newspaper,
0:37:49 > 0:37:54calling for disabled people in institutions to fight the system.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58"I am proposing the formation of a consumer group to put forward
0:37:58 > 0:38:01"nationally the views of actual and potential residents
0:38:01 > 0:38:04"of these successors to the workhouse..."
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Paul Hunt's letter was the foundation
0:38:07 > 0:38:09stone for a ground-breaking new organisation,
0:38:09 > 0:38:13the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation,
0:38:13 > 0:38:16or UPIAS for short.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18It was an organisation of disabled people for disabled people
0:38:18 > 0:38:22in contrast to earlier charities which were simply
0:38:22 > 0:38:27for disabled people which assumed that they knew
0:38:27 > 0:38:33what disabled people wanted, often quite mistakenly.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37One of the first to join UPIAS was Anne Rae.
0:38:59 > 0:39:04In 1976, UPIAS leaders Paul Hunt and Vic Finkelstein issued
0:39:04 > 0:39:08a manifesto that was to have a profound impact.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11At its heart was a revolutionary new definition of the causes
0:39:11 > 0:39:13of disability.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16It contained the idea that society now had the means available
0:39:16 > 0:39:19for people to be integrated.
0:39:19 > 0:39:20It was technically possible.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25And because that was the case, since it was now possible, to deny people
0:39:25 > 0:39:31access, participation in society was a form of social oppression
0:39:33 > 0:39:38This idea later developed into what is called the social model of disability.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40According to the social model,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43people are not disabled by their impairments.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46They are disabled whenever society does not take
0:39:46 > 0:39:49their impairments into consideration,
0:39:49 > 0:39:51for example,
0:39:51 > 0:39:55when buildings are designed in a way that makes them inaccessible.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58"Disability is something imposed on top of our impairments
0:39:58 > 0:40:01"by the way we are unnecessarily isolated
0:40:01 > 0:40:05"and excluded from full participation in society."
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Hi, I want to get on to the bus please. You can't get on.
0:40:10 > 0:40:11Why can't I get on?
0:40:43 > 0:40:47The emphasis was beginning to shift away from simply reforming care
0:40:47 > 0:40:51for disabled people to fighting for their civil rights
0:40:53 > 0:40:58In 1981, a documentary film called Silent Minority
0:40:58 > 0:41:01drew attention to conditions at St Lawrence's Hospital,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04where Mabel Cooper had grown up
0:41:06 > 0:41:09What it revealed caused outrage
0:41:10 > 0:41:16Silent Minority showed the degradation with which people
0:41:16 > 0:41:21suffered in such an institution
0:41:21 > 0:41:25I'll never forget a load of shivering,
0:41:25 > 0:41:31naked men in wheelchairs being wheeled into be, possibly
0:41:31 > 0:41:39hosed down rather than given a decent bath or anything of that nature.
0:41:39 > 0:41:44Another image that left viewers appalled was of a child named Nicky.
0:41:44 > 0:41:45Hey!
0:41:47 > 0:41:51'This time he knocks a chair over and looks for attention.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56'It works again. The patience of the staff was evident.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58'We knew, however, there were other solutions
0:41:58 > 0:42:00'they employed to deal with Nicky.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02'This is a solution.
0:42:02 > 0:42:08'Up to five hours a day tied to a post when he's being particularly difficult.'
0:42:08 > 0:42:11Silent Minority shocked a great many people,
0:42:11 > 0:42:15and I suppose you could say that was a platform from which we were able
0:42:15 > 0:42:17to build Care in the Community
0:42:17 > 0:42:20although it was still going around by then,
0:42:20 > 0:42:26but that gave an emphasis in as much as you could refer back to it.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33The Government had first espoused the ideal of making all disabled people
0:42:33 > 0:42:37part of the community back in 1 48,
0:42:37 > 0:42:42but it was only in the 1980s that this aspiration started to become a reality.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46Disabled people were increasingly being removed from special facilities
0:42:46 > 0:42:50and integrated into mainstream society.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54One of those affected was Mabel Cooper,
0:42:54 > 0:42:57who left St Lawrence's in 1977
0:42:57 > 0:43:03Oh, I was frightened, because I'd never known anything else.
0:43:04 > 0:43:08I was frightened, but I got used to it after a time.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15Once Mabel grew accustomed to the outside world,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18she became one of the first people with learning disabilities
0:43:18 > 0:43:21to record her memories of childhood.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25In 1998, she took part in a BBC television series
0:43:25 > 0:43:27called On The Edge.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30In the hospital, you didn't get choice,
0:43:30 > 0:43:37but out in the community, you get choice of all different things
0:43:37 > 0:43:43Like choice for what you eat, choice like for what you can wear.
0:43:43 > 0:43:50I think this story is to tell people that it's wrong to shut people
0:43:50 > 0:43:53with learning difficulties away
0:43:54 > 0:43:56CROWD: Rights, not charity!
0:43:59 > 0:44:02The fight for disability rights was growing in strength
0:44:02 > 0:44:05and it was not confined to Britain alone.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07The United Nations declared
0:44:07 > 0:44:11that 1981 would be the International Year of Disabled People.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13"WORLD IN ACTION" THEME
0:44:17 > 0:44:23Kevin Donnellon was filmed as part of the general media coverage.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26He was now 19 years old and about to finish secondary school.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31'On the last day of term, Kevin and his classmates went to the pub.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35'They were pessimistic about finding any work in their own city.'
0:44:35 > 0:44:38Forget all A-levels it would be a big step like, to get a job -
0:44:38 > 0:44:41that's the only thing that will get you a job now is qualifications
0:44:43 > 0:44:47Soon after the programme, Kevin got a call from the local council.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51The local social services set up an advice service for the disabled,
0:44:51 > 0:44:53and they rang me up and said,
0:44:53 > 0:45:01"We need someone on the team who's disabled to give it credibility "
0:45:01 > 0:45:05So I was their token crip, if you like, on their advice service for disabled people.
0:45:05 > 0:45:10And I kind of didn't mind that cos, you know, at least I had a job.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13I was grateful. It was in the days when I was very grateful for everything, really
0:45:13 > 0:45:16MUSIC: "Sex Drugs Rock Roll" by Ian Dury The Blockheads
0:45:20 > 0:45:25With help from the council, Kevin was also able to leave home.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32He soon made the most of his new-found freedom.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37I threw meself into everything you're not supposed to do,
0:45:37 > 0:45:44like drugs, sex, booze, you know, erm, and just had a ball, basically.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51When he was 22, Kevin met his first steady girlfriend
0:45:51 > 0:45:54It was something many people, including his mum,
0:45:54 > 0:45:57had thought would never happen
0:45:57 > 0:45:59I said, "Well, I've got a girlfriend,"
0:45:59 > 0:46:03and then she said, "What's wrong with her?" That was the first thing she said.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05I said, "Nothing, Mother."
0:46:05 > 0:46:07This is kind of like this negative attitude.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09Me mother was a bit of a paradox, really,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12because on the one hand she fought to get me educated
0:46:12 > 0:46:14in a mainstream school, but on the other hand,
0:46:14 > 0:46:15she listened to the doctors
0:46:15 > 0:46:19quite a bit and she sort of took on their negative ideas
0:46:19 > 0:46:23He'll never get married. That would be a physical impossibility anyway.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26I can't see anybody marrying him.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29INTERVIEWER: He is, in fact, sterile?
0:46:29 > 0:46:31He's damaged down below, yes.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35I found out I was infertile, apparently, because she said
0:46:35 > 0:46:37in a documentary that I couldn't have kids.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39When I left home,
0:46:39 > 0:46:41when I got me first steady girlfriend, I just assumed
0:46:41 > 0:46:45I couldn't have kids, so I didn t take any precautions and guess what,
0:46:45 > 0:46:50lo and behold, within a matter of weeks, me girlfriend became pregnant.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53My first reaction was to accuse her of sleeping with someone else.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56You know, I was saying, "You slut, who've you been with "
0:46:56 > 0:46:58And that was really bad.
0:46:58 > 0:46:59But I did the gallant thing and I said to her,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02"I'll support you whatever you decide."
0:47:02 > 0:47:04But deep down, I was shitting meself at the idea of becoming a dad.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07For Kevin's girlfriend's parents,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11the thought of having a disabled son-in-law was too much to bear
0:47:11 > 0:47:13They imagined all kinds of like you know,
0:47:13 > 0:47:16"Will the baby be disabled?" etc.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20And they forced her to get rid of the foetus, basically.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35In 1981, Ann Young was in her last year at Ely College.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39She too had been becoming aware of her sexuality.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59The staff at Ely College noticed that Ann was having
0:48:59 > 0:49:01a relationship with one of the boys at the school.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05One day, the couple were caught together in an empty classroom
0:50:03 > 0:50:06When Ann left Ely, like so many disabled people,
0:50:06 > 0:50:08she was angry at the outside world.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31I was always constantly trying to rebel
0:50:31 > 0:50:34against society's attitudes with disability,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37even before I was aware of the social model,
0:50:37 > 0:50:40it was a very personal thing, really, it was like me and society,
0:50:40 > 0:50:43and I was out to prove a point
0:50:43 > 0:50:45And that's why I threw myself
0:50:45 > 0:50:47into politics and went on all the demos in the '80s,
0:50:47 > 0:50:51you know, the anti-apartheid demos, CND marches.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54I was arrested for cutting the fences at an American airbase twice.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57And it wasn't for publicity or anything like that -
0:50:57 > 0:51:00it was just to prove a point that I had a mind of me own
0:51:00 > 0:51:01and could be politically active
0:51:01 > 0:51:04MUSIC: "Where Is My Mind?" by The Pixies
0:51:06 > 0:51:09As the '80s drew to a close, the desire to challenge society
0:51:09 > 0:51:13grew stronger within the disabled community.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16When will be able to ride the bus? A simple question.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18We want a straightforward answer.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21Many more disabled people learnt about the social model
0:51:21 > 0:51:24of disability, and started seeing the daily struggle
0:51:24 > 0:51:29they faced with their impairments as something imposed on them by society.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07I know this sounds a bit weird but you know,
0:52:07 > 0:52:09cos I went to mainstream school and I interacted mostly with
0:52:09 > 0:52:13non-disabled kids, I kind of like wasn't bothered about disability.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16And even like if I was in the company of other disabled people,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19I felt, like, really uneasy.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21I used to kind of say, "I am not disabled.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23"I can do everything for meself "
0:52:23 > 0:52:26Once I found out about the social model, I could say
0:52:26 > 0:52:30I was proud to be disabled, because I knew what disability was.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32What have you done to the bus?
0:52:32 > 0:52:34I've just chained myself to it with handcuffs.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37MUSIC: "Spasticus Autisticus" by Ian Dury The Blockheads
0:52:41 > 0:52:45Disabled people began to organise protests against the things
0:52:45 > 0:52:49that, in their view, limited their involvement in mainstream society.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56Ironically, their targets included some of the charities
0:52:56 > 0:52:58who raised money for disabled people.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04Every two years, ITV ran the Telethon, a 27-hour phone-in
0:53:04 > 0:53:07to raise money for disabled and other disadvantaged people
0:53:08 > 0:53:11This ?1 million cheque which we are giving to Telethon
0:53:11 > 0:53:14so they can distribute it to local charity.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58MUSIC: "Back To Life" by Soul II Soul
0:54:01 > 0:54:04It became increasingly difficult to ignore the angry voices
0:54:04 > 0:54:08of disabled people, voices which had been silent
0:54:08 > 0:54:10and shut away for so many years
0:54:12 > 0:54:15In 1995, the Government finally passed
0:54:15 > 0:54:19the Disability Discrimination Act - it was, in many ways,
0:54:19 > 0:54:25the culmination of 40 years of protest and policy change.
0:54:25 > 0:54:30The 1995 Disability Discrimination Act broke new ground in Britain
0:54:30 > 0:54:34because it was a piece of civil rights legislation
0:54:34 > 0:54:39and because it used the concept of reasonable accommodation which had
0:54:39 > 0:54:44to be met in order to make facilities accessible to disabled people.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14The Disability Discrimination Act had a profound effect on the way
0:55:14 > 0:55:18disabled children are cared for - an effect which endures to this day.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29Over the last two decades, the special schools and institutions
0:55:29 > 0:55:33of old have gradually become the exception instead of the rule.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37But there is a recognition that while integration is the ideal
0:55:37 > 0:55:40it doesn't always work.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43Special schools are still needed
0:55:43 > 0:55:46and mainstream education cannot always cope with children
0:55:46 > 0:55:49who have very severe physical and learning disabilities.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34Over the last 60 years,
0:56:34 > 0:56:38the lives of disabled people have changed dramatically.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40They now have better access to housing, work
0:56:40 > 0:56:44and education than previous generations.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47'They haven't found anything else yet that Albert can do,
0:56:47 > 0:56:51'but chopping firewood, he can do as well as anyone.'
0:56:52 > 0:56:57These were victories which disabled people had to win for themselves.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01I get emotional when I think about access and politics.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04Because it did take a struggle
0:57:04 > 0:57:08To spend all day in the pissing rain, handcuffed to a bus -
0:57:08 > 0:57:12it wasn't cos we wanted to do it as a bit of fun.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16We were doing it because we were fighting for our rights
0:57:16 > 0:57:18Rights that could easily be taken away from you.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24Many worry that in harsh economic times,
0:57:24 > 0:57:28disabled people may be left behind once again.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31They are 30% more likely to be unemployed,
0:57:31 > 0:57:33and one in five is living in poverty.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39But the hope remains that in the future,
0:57:39 > 0:57:42there will be no limit to what they can achieve.
0:59:04 > 0:59:06Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd