0:00:51 > 0:00:58CHANTING: We want Ted! We want Ted!
0:00:58 > 0:01:06This will enable us to provide strong and honest government for Britain in the '70s.
0:01:06 > 0:01:12The early 1970s were a period of conflict and questioning for many.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18But there was no organised voice for disabled people,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22although individuals were beginning to challenge the system.
0:01:22 > 0:01:30Richard Jameson found himself inside one of the huge, grim mental homes of that time.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35I thought - in fact, I knew - I was an international star of stage, street and radio
0:01:35 > 0:01:42and I went all over the West End with hidden cameras and microphones trained on me.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47I landed up in a cafe, spouting away to the hidden microphone,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50until the proprietor slung me out.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54This is where I was transferred by police car
0:01:54 > 0:01:59after a particularly exciting bout of hypermania.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Of course, the grimness of the place was lost on me -
0:02:03 > 0:02:08I thought I was in the emperor's palace in Thailand.
0:02:08 > 0:02:14I was convinced this wonderful thing was happening. I've never felt so happy.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19The normal person just does not know what he's missing.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24It was about a month later that the grimness of the place bore in on me.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30Nobody bothered to enquire into my mind or say what was going wrong in there.
0:02:30 > 0:02:37I was left in an armchair, a very comfortable armchair, to work it out for myself.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40This is the undergrowth - very bleak.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43The windows are even bleaker.
0:02:43 > 0:02:50It looks like a convicts' camp, my pyjamas look like convicts' clothing, and we were treated like convicts.
0:02:50 > 0:02:57If your bedclothes weren't done properly in the morning, they were thrown to the floor.
0:02:57 > 0:03:03The nurses went round like sergeants and corporals, barking orders.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08It wasn't quite the right atmosphere to get better, I don't think.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13I was kept in pyjamas for the first month. They were afraid I'd run away.
0:03:13 > 0:03:21Damned inconvenient it was, and I couldn't go down into the town because you can't hide your crotch.
0:03:21 > 0:03:26It was bloody annoying! I said, "Can I have my clothes back?"
0:03:26 > 0:03:33And because I burst into tears, this went into the report book and I was given my clothes back,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35which was marvellous.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40Pyjamas are inconvenient when you're trying to get down into society.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44But there were happy moments. We did have our happy moments.
0:03:44 > 0:03:52Like the two nurses who held me down on a bed and rifled my pockets and took all my property,
0:03:52 > 0:03:58which was particularly annoying cos I'd just got it back from the charge nurse. They nearly killed me.
0:03:58 > 0:04:05We had dances in the theatre, which was capable of putting on shows for us.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10We had full-scale dances with a musical accompaniment,
0:04:10 > 0:04:15which you might have thought was an absolute holiday camp,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19but really the atmosphere of madness hung over it in a sort of pall
0:04:19 > 0:04:23and was not at all pleasant,
0:04:23 > 0:04:28so it was all rather gloomy even though it was trying to be cheerful.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33The doctor who was in charge was rather like a little Hitler,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37as far as I and a good many others were concerned.
0:04:37 > 0:04:44For all that, we were very lucky to see him for about three minutes every fortnight.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47He didn't really give a damn.
0:04:47 > 0:04:53He said, "I'm afraid you've got to wait Richard. I'm terribly sorry..."
0:04:53 > 0:04:58He didn't even say sorry. He said, "You're nowhere near back to form.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01"Charge nurse, show him out."
0:05:01 > 0:05:07It's a terrifying business trying to prove you're sane. I almost gave up.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11I remember crying and all the rest of it, all over the place,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14because I couldn't get out.
0:05:14 > 0:05:21In the early 1970s, a report examined disabled people, institutions and power.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26The report coined a term for the institutionalised disabled...
0:05:32 > 0:05:37You would go to bed at six o'clock, not particularly tired.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42I was able to read, you know, down the bed, with a torch.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45There were lots of other people
0:05:45 > 0:05:47that couldn't do that.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50They were lying on their backs
0:05:50 > 0:05:54gazing at the four walls, with nothing to do.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59You'd go to sleep thinking, and feeling,
0:05:59 > 0:06:05"Wouldn't it be wonderful not to feel like this ever again,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08"and it would all be over?"
0:06:08 > 0:06:13And the thought of dying did seem to have a...you know...
0:06:13 > 0:06:18something quite sort of happy about it.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23Cos it would be that you wouldn't be missing anything,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27cos every day was...was the same.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33'The new bus is going to mean a lot to girls like Sue Barker, a spastic.
0:06:33 > 0:06:41'When she first came here, Sue was very unhappy, but her deep faith helped her accept her disability.'
0:06:41 > 0:06:48The ways and means of living were taken out of the control of disabled people.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52They were expected to be pleased with simple things.
0:06:52 > 0:06:58In my search for somewhere to live, I went to Norfolk, to a home up a country lane,
0:06:58 > 0:07:04and was greeted by this woman with a frilly hat - presumably a matron -
0:07:04 > 0:07:06and she started to show me round,
0:07:06 > 0:07:14and I went into this huge room where all the residents were sitting around the edges of the room,
0:07:14 > 0:07:16like you see in day centres.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21She swished these great velvet curtains back and said,
0:07:21 > 0:07:26"When you come here, you can sit and watch Canada geese land on the lake.
0:07:26 > 0:07:32I turned to her and said, "I won't be sitting here watching them come to this lake.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37"I'll be going to Canada to watch them in their natural habitat."
0:07:37 > 0:07:39I did a bit more looking around
0:07:39 > 0:07:46and saw all these cane baskets and the usual things that disabled people are expected to do,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and just decided it was not for me.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54# How many roads Must a man walk down
0:07:54 > 0:07:58# Before they call him a man? #
0:07:58 > 0:08:04One of the places I went to said to me that I couldn't have a room of my own.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09I'd have to go in the big girls' room, a dormitory of about six.
0:08:09 > 0:08:15You must have been waiting for someone to die before you had your own room.
0:08:15 > 0:08:22But on the Friday we all had to sit round this big oak table and people were given their benefits,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26and so everybody knew what everybody else had.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28I thought, "No, no, not for me."
0:08:28 > 0:08:34You didn't even have to think for yourself what you wanted to eat.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37That was decided for you.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41It didn't matter whether it was what you wanted.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44That never came into the equation.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49One treatment decided for Richard Jameson was ECT,
0:08:49 > 0:08:55a controversial therapy challenged by many who experienced it.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Nearly all of us were ordered to have ECT,
0:08:59 > 0:09:06and it was a little bit worrying because most of us thought our brains were going to be fried,
0:09:06 > 0:09:11or killed or cured, and all that sort of drama.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16We all queued in a room beside the ECT room and went in one at a time,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19were given anaesthetic. I had mine,
0:09:19 > 0:09:27and as he was putting the anaesthetic up my arm, he asked me to recite a little poem I'd written.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32"Mildred, a dim-witted dove, fell all meltingly in love.
0:09:32 > 0:09:39"She wrote a sonnet every day and even an unsuccessful television play.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43"Love had cleft her heart in twain Like Rommel at El Alamein.
0:09:43 > 0:09:50"Heartbeats fluttered in her bosom. She tried to calm them, couldn't lose them.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55"Alas, her love cannot be true - she's fallen for a kangaroo."
0:09:55 > 0:09:59And that's when I sparked out.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04I didn't see how anything so Heath Robinson and haphazard
0:10:04 > 0:10:09could be allowed to operate in the 20th century, in England.
0:10:09 > 0:10:16The fears of patients before we went on was that our brains would be fried
0:10:16 > 0:10:20or that we'd emerge with half a brain or lose our memory.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24It's not a very pleasant thing to see.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28It's rather like a sheep or cow being slaughtered.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33You don't want to see that. You just want your sheep or cow on the plate.
0:10:33 > 0:10:39So we don't really talk about the nasty appearance of ECT.
0:10:39 > 0:10:46Richard's experience of institutions was typical of a lot of disabled people at that time.
0:10:46 > 0:10:52Some now wanted out of the slow rot of segregated care.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55I saw so many people dying
0:10:55 > 0:11:00and being carried off in their brown box.
0:11:00 > 0:11:07And I used to think to myself, "My God, that's going to be me one day!"
0:11:07 > 0:11:12I decided I was not going to die, not yet.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14I was not going to be carried off
0:11:14 > 0:11:17in a brown box.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22I was going to have a life, no matter what.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Nobody... Nobody was gonna stop me
0:11:25 > 0:11:29and it didn't matter how long it took
0:11:29 > 0:11:33and how long I had to wait for it to happen.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35Something had to happen.
0:12:13 > 0:12:19But for some, like Bill Surrey, who spent 70 years in an institution,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22leaving was more of a shock.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26They had all the hospitals closed up.
0:12:26 > 0:12:32And I made a joke. I said to the staff, "Oh, gotta come out the nuthouse.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37"Never mind. Couldn't do nothin' about it. We all have to come out."
0:12:37 > 0:12:43Marie said, "Well, look Bill, all the staff gotta come out." They didn't wanna leave.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46I couldn't do nothing. Had to come out.
0:12:46 > 0:12:53I said to her, "I suppose I gotta come out the zoo." She said, "Don't talk silly, Bill.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57"It's not a zoo." I said, "It must be a nuthouse."
0:12:57 > 0:13:02Oh, I laughed to meself. Wind them up.
0:13:04 > 0:13:11Eighteen years of institutional life had left Louise Medus ill-equipped for life outside.
0:13:11 > 0:13:18Institutions were often indifferent as to how their former residents were to manage.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23I didn't want to leave Chailey. I'd been there since 17 months old.
0:13:23 > 0:13:29It's like being kicked out your home, knowing you could never return, leaving all your friends.
0:13:29 > 0:13:36They packed all my stuff in this little suitcase and I couldn't take my rabbit with me,
0:13:36 > 0:13:43but when the crunch came, you were just dumped somewhere you didn't know.
0:13:43 > 0:13:50You'd never had anything of your own. You had your clothes and your few personal possessions,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53and maybe a book or two, a suitcase.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57The whole of my life was in a suitcase.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00And that was it.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06Disabled people were leaving institutions to find no support.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11Care in the community existed as an idea in the 1970s,
0:14:11 > 0:14:19but there was no significant shift in resources to help disabled people live like everybody else.
0:14:19 > 0:14:25In 1974, I moved into a purpose-built flat. I was one of the first people to move in.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28And as other people joined me...
0:14:28 > 0:14:34They were mainly people like myself, who had come out of an institution
0:14:34 > 0:14:41and just found it incredibly hard because they often came from quite long distances away,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44so they had no network of friends.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47I remember one couple moving in
0:14:47 > 0:14:53who just sat amongst their curtains and their light bulbs and crockery
0:14:53 > 0:15:00and just nobody to come and support them to put their home together.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05There was no sophisticated technology like there is now.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09A local charity actually came around and said,
0:15:09 > 0:15:15"If you want to be able to call for help, we'll make this HELP sign."
0:15:15 > 0:15:21I remember having to use it in the middle of one night and it was very efficient.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26Someone passing by at 4am saw it flashing and called the police.
0:15:26 > 0:15:34There was a woman that moved in next to me, a young woman who was quite mobile when she first arrived,
0:15:34 > 0:15:39but quite quickly she became a wheelchair-user
0:15:39 > 0:15:45and she also developed a mental illness
0:15:45 > 0:15:50which resulted in her not turning her lights on in her flat.
0:15:50 > 0:15:56She used to bring all the toilet rolls and biscuits home from the local day centre,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59but she wouldn't touch them.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04She never ate the biscuits or used the toilet rolls.
0:16:04 > 0:16:10In the end, she would sit outside her door, naked, and she would cry.
0:16:10 > 0:16:17If you gave her something to eat, she'd eat it, as long as it didn't belong to her or was in her flat.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20And when I used to ring the doctor,
0:16:20 > 0:16:25he used to say, "Why don't you take a sleeping pill and forget it?
0:16:25 > 0:16:27"It'll all resolve itself somehow."
0:16:27 > 0:16:30But she died about ten weeks later.
0:16:30 > 0:16:37It certainly felt to me as though it was people coming out of institutions, closing them down.
0:16:37 > 0:16:43Not so much closing them down, but people trying to move on, realising they could,
0:16:43 > 0:16:45and not having any community support.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48I myself had very little.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53# You know, together we will stand Every boy, girl, woman and man. #
0:16:53 > 0:16:58The change in attitudes to the disabled was sluggish.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02Many were met with petty distinctions and resentment.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18It wasn't all bad for disabled people in the 1970s.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Mat Fraser recalls his youth with fondness.
0:18:22 > 0:18:28I was at public school, fifth form, and chose my fag - Constant - and I had to slap him.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30We all had to go up and slap our fag.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33"Go on - slap your fag, Fraser."
0:18:33 > 0:18:37And so I... I didn't have any shoes on,
0:18:37 > 0:18:42so I slapped my fag with my foot, cos that's how I slap people.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46He duly started to cry and I felt bad about it, but it looked hard.
0:18:46 > 0:18:54That was one of those things that happened in the fifth form at public school in 197...whenever it was.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58'I loved the '70s, style-wise. Everything was really tight fitted.'
0:18:58 > 0:19:01I don't do baggy well.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06In the '80s, my arms didn't reach out the end of most T-shirt sleeves.
0:19:06 > 0:19:13In the old days, you had cap-sleeved T-shirts, tight-fitting bodies, crotch-hugging, bum-clinging stuff.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17I find that more attractive on anyone.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22Disabled people were increasingly a presence in society.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26The isolation of disability was breaking down.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29The next step - SELF-acceptance.
0:19:29 > 0:19:36In those days, there wasn't the same contact or knowledge of the condition you were born with.
0:19:36 > 0:19:43Then you'd feel quite secluded, which, unfortunately, I did, and became perhaps bitter.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47I was feeling very insecure about who I was.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52We went that night to the circus. As we walked up the ramp to the seats,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55I froze on the spot.
0:19:55 > 0:20:02I was petrified of what I saw - this person, small person, dressed in a clown outfit,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04looking down at me.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09It was like seeing a mirror image and I was horrified.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14- Arthur broke the ice with...- "It's not often our sort meet, is it?"
0:20:14 > 0:20:18I could tell she was reluctant to come up the ramp.
0:20:18 > 0:20:26I'd not met with this attitude. I knew little people in show business and they didn't have inhibitions.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30I couldn't wait till the end of the show.
0:20:30 > 0:20:36I was performing as well as I could, but I had my mind on Penny. I wanted to talk to her.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41We went round the corner and I was looking for this clown.
0:20:41 > 0:20:48This wasn't a clown, but a man, all his make-up wiped off. Looked quite handsome, really.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51We chatted about life, how I coped.
0:20:51 > 0:20:57I went home feeling a bit better about myself because I'd met somebody like myself -
0:20:57 > 0:21:00there was somebody out there.
0:21:00 > 0:21:08In the '70s and '80s, many disabled people organised into self-help and lobby groups.
0:21:08 > 0:21:15Gladys Brooks was one of the founder members of the Restrictive Growth Association.
0:21:15 > 0:21:21RGA, as it is now, that's just the Restrictive Growth Association,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24is very supportive.
0:21:24 > 0:21:29There is nobody quite like somebody with the same problems as yourself -
0:21:29 > 0:21:37to understand you, your problems, what you're going through, what mental torture, everything like that.
0:21:37 > 0:21:44So, anyway, we went along, and there must have been perhaps 50 to 70 people.
0:21:44 > 0:21:50I was amazed, cos I had met only two little people, really.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54I'd seen one or two, seen the film with Snow White.
0:21:54 > 0:22:00I knew they were about, but I'd never seen so many in one place at one time.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04MUSIC: "48 Crash" by Suzi Quatro
0:22:04 > 0:22:10There had been a number of ladies, especially, couldn't face the mirror image.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14They went away in tears and we never saw them again.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20- There we are... - ..arriving at the church.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24- I didn't see that bit, obviously. - No.
0:22:24 > 0:22:30'Arthur was still with the circus, and I joined as a wardrobe mistress.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34'And they were going to have elephants come just for photographs.
0:22:34 > 0:22:40'The two elephants were outside the church, and our white cars.
0:22:40 > 0:22:48'We got on the elephants for photographs and then before you know it up they were and off they went.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53'I said to Arthur, "Hang onto me!" I'd never rode an elephant before.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57'It was like sitting on an upturned yard brush.
0:22:57 > 0:23:04'I'm sure the people of Southsea thought it was a publicity stunt, but it was for real.
0:23:04 > 0:23:10'We got back to Mary Chipperfield's Circus and had a reception in the circus ring
0:23:10 > 0:23:16'and were blessed by the actors' chaplain, and had to do two shows on our wedding night.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21'No time off. Circus life was circus life.'
0:23:26 > 0:23:33Eileen Chipper's marriage to her partner Ken freed her from the institutions.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36The marriage lasted 14 years.
0:25:44 > 0:25:51The Falklands Victory Parade of the early 1980s notoriously hid its war disabled.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55They didn't suit the image.
0:25:56 > 0:26:03But times had changed. Elsewhere, disabled people did not accept the barriers -
0:26:03 > 0:26:09people like Mike Rogers, amateur pilot, and himself disabled in World War II.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14I got onto British Airways and said, "Any chance of flying Concorde?"
0:26:14 > 0:26:20And he said, "No, I'm afraid not. We don't even train our own pilots live on Concorde.
0:26:20 > 0:26:26"But what about a Jumbo 747?" So I said, "That'd be all right."
0:26:26 > 0:26:28Wonderful!
0:26:28 > 0:26:32So I flew this damned great thing - 600 tons of it, or something.
0:26:32 > 0:26:38He landed it beautifully, then said, "You taxi it back to the hangars."
0:26:38 > 0:26:43So I taxied it the whole length, going round Concorde and things,
0:26:43 > 0:26:48and you're 40ft up in the cockpit, looking in second storey windows.
0:26:48 > 0:26:53He said, "What did you last fly, Mike?" I said, "Tiger Moth in 1952."
0:26:55 > 0:27:00The '80s and '90s saw many attempts to bring in civil rights,
0:27:00 > 0:27:05resulting in a limited 1995 Disability Discrimination Act
0:27:05 > 0:27:10which was heavily criticised by disabled activists.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12There is no enforcement procedure,
0:27:12 > 0:27:19so we'll have a bill that won't work, no-one will take any notice of. They will laugh!
0:27:19 > 0:27:24These attempts to secure rights were a sign of one simple fact -
0:27:24 > 0:27:29many disabled people now see access as the issue of their lives.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33I was at school, and I was doing some work.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38I moved my head to write something and I had an incredible pain
0:27:38 > 0:27:43and there was a horrible crunching noise.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46I thought, "I'd better go home now."
0:27:46 > 0:27:53After that, I had to lie down all the time. Up till then I'd been sitting up. I could use my computer.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58I could use my car by getting in it with my parents.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03Lying down, it was different. I had to find new ways of doing things.
0:28:03 > 0:28:09Access is fundamental, and it's the fight for access that dominates disability in the '90s.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13..Westminster Bridge, underneath a bus.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16- What've you done? - Chained myself to the bus.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21No group illustrates this more than the Direct Action Network,
0:28:21 > 0:28:27those disabled people prepared to break the law to gain access.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32We're not interested in sympathy. All we want is to get on the bus.
0:28:32 > 0:28:38'DAN, the Direct Action Network, takes our issues onto the streets.'
0:28:38 > 0:28:44The public sees us out of the context of being socially dead, of being invisible.
0:28:44 > 0:28:52We can't be ignored. It's made one of the biggest impacts in the last decades on thinking on disability.
0:28:52 > 0:28:58It's true to say DAN doesn't represent all disabled people
0:28:58 > 0:29:02and it's also true that DAN is not liked or approved of
0:29:02 > 0:29:08by many traditional disability organisations, and politicians.
0:29:08 > 0:29:14But it's one of the things that I think disabled people can be proud of.
0:29:14 > 0:29:19Occasionally, you get to the point where it compromises your safety
0:29:19 > 0:29:23and it can be...scary.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29One occasion, we brought morning rush-hour traffic to a standstill.
0:29:29 > 0:29:34One way to hold a bus is to post people at the back and front of it,
0:29:34 > 0:29:40then the drivers turn the engines off and go away and wait it out.
0:29:40 > 0:29:45There was one of us - a guy called Steven who uses crutches -
0:29:45 > 0:29:49sitting on the front bumper of the bus,
0:29:49 > 0:29:53and I think he was cuffed to it by the wipers.
0:29:53 > 0:30:00After quite a long wait, the bus driver had been pacing around, getting angrier and angrier.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04He eventually jumped on and started the engine.
0:30:04 > 0:30:12He put the bus into gear and started moving up the hill with people still attached to the bus.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15Some people don't want to handle it.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20They don't want their lives to stop because a disabled person is saying,
0:30:20 > 0:30:24"Why can you ride on a bus and I can't?"
0:31:01 > 0:31:06I remember getting arrested on a demonstration in Leeds,
0:31:06 > 0:31:11and they sent the meat wagon - I wasn't using a wheelchair -
0:31:11 > 0:31:14and they said, "Get in the van."
0:31:14 > 0:31:21I said, "I can't. The step's too high." So they sent a car and it was a two-door car.
0:31:21 > 0:31:29I made the copper sit in the back. I said, "I've got to sit up front. It's the only seat I can get into."
0:31:29 > 0:31:33The magistrate seemed to be very sympathetic.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38I spoke on my behalf and I said, "I should know better at my age.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43"I'm an old soldier and I'm here to support the group.
0:31:43 > 0:31:49"And we believe in access and civil rights,
0:31:49 > 0:31:54"and if I've got to break the law, I'd break it again."
0:31:54 > 0:31:58When I go on a day of action, I see two things -
0:31:58 > 0:32:06the system being quite shocked at disabled people demonstrating on their own behalf and taking power.
0:32:06 > 0:32:13A demonstration makes the demonstrator feel like a thorn in society's side.
0:32:13 > 0:32:20I go as it's something I believe in and I'm happy to stand up and be counted within, and it's powerful.
0:32:20 > 0:32:27It's so easy to forget about disabled people. We've been so invisible throughout history.
0:32:27 > 0:32:35All of a sudden, we're making our presence felt. We're being very high profile and confrontational.
0:32:35 > 0:32:41We're saying we're not prepared to accept socially dead status any more.
0:32:56 > 0:33:01Disabled people no longer accept exclusion.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04And as the 20th century closes,
0:33:04 > 0:33:09disability is increasingly defined as an issue of access, rights...
0:33:11 > 0:33:13..and humour.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16Strangely, to begin with I didn't feel disabled,
0:33:16 > 0:33:19but people stare at me, some rudely.
0:33:19 > 0:33:24A taxi driver - they're wonderful things -
0:33:24 > 0:33:29a black-cab driver, I was in the back of his cab...
0:33:29 > 0:33:34"Where are you going, then?" So I said, "Kensal Rise" or where it was.
0:33:34 > 0:33:39And he looked back and he said, "Where's your mince pie?"
0:33:39 > 0:33:44I said, "Sorry?" "Mince pie - your old eye!"
0:33:44 > 0:33:49I said, "Actually, it's not there. There's no eye, no mince pie."
0:33:49 > 0:33:52He went, "Oh, cor blimey, what happened?!"
0:33:52 > 0:33:57I said, "It's surgery." "Surgery? What's the matter?"
0:33:57 > 0:34:00I said, "It's cancer."
0:34:03 > 0:34:07I've got on my web page these two counters.
0:34:07 > 0:34:15The one is how many days since I've had sex and the other's how many days I think I've got left to live.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20They're both just for fun, but the one about death upsets people a lot.
0:34:20 > 0:34:26They don't like thinking I might die of what I've got one day. It makes them uncomfortable.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29I got married in 1987.
0:34:29 > 0:34:36I hadn't worn my legs from when I was 19, and I decided I wanted to walk down the aisle.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40I went to Roehampton to have some new legs made.
0:34:40 > 0:34:47And the fitter said to me, "What height do you want?" Cos you can choose what height you want to be.
0:34:47 > 0:34:52And I said, "I'll stay the same height."
0:34:52 > 0:34:56And my husband said, "No, she wants to be a bit smaller.
0:34:56 > 0:35:01"I want her to be a ½ inch smaller than me so she won't tower over me."
0:35:01 > 0:35:07So I was reduced from five foot six to five foot four and a half.
0:35:11 > 0:35:16I had a girlfriend when I was 21. She visited for a week.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19The first night, we slept together
0:35:19 > 0:35:27and the following day I said to Mum we were having a relationship and how wonderful it was going to be.
0:35:27 > 0:35:33Later, Mum took me aside and said, "You realise you can't have sex?"
0:35:33 > 0:35:38Unfortunately, because I was angry about that,
0:35:38 > 0:35:45I said, "Well, I just HAVE." Which isn't something you should really tell your parents.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49I think that upset her and probably wasn't my greatest plan.
0:35:51 > 0:35:57Kids have looked at me, which I don't mind - kids are OK - cos kids are just fascinated.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01I usually say, "I'm a pirate" and they're OK.
0:36:01 > 0:36:09I think my agent was talking about I'd be very good at playing villains or science fiction or something,
0:36:09 > 0:36:13somebody with scars and an eye patch.
0:36:13 > 0:36:19We're going to a photographer I know to have me photographed as I am.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21I like wearing make-up going out.
0:36:21 > 0:36:27It can be a bit difficult because I'd wear it all the time,
0:36:27 > 0:36:32but if I'm going shopping, I think my carers feel a bit strange
0:36:32 > 0:36:36about pushing me around Tesco's wearing eyeliner.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40So, usually, I just do it to go out at night.
0:36:40 > 0:36:46They're very good about it. They haven't thought me too weird. They find it quite amusing.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00With Disability Pride, as with a lot of things,
0:37:00 > 0:37:05it's not "Hey, wow! Look at my arms, aren't they fantastic? Nay, better than yours!"
0:37:05 > 0:37:10I'm just saying they're equal, but different.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13To me, they're just as important as yours are to you.
0:37:13 > 0:37:19Don't look at them as inferior, different, negative, bad or something you don't want to look at.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23Cos here I am and you've got to deal with me, and that includes my arms.
0:37:23 > 0:37:28And I'm proud that I'm saying to you you've got to deal with my arms too.
0:37:28 > 0:37:33That's Disability Pride. I'm not ashamed of my difference.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd