Berit Stueland became Berit Moore later Berit Thornberry (1937 – 2012) was a Norwegian born activist for sex education and disability rights. She translated a copy of

The Little Red Schoolbook ''The Little Red Schoolbook'' ( da, Den Lille Røde Bog For Skoleelever; en, The Little Red Book For School Pupils) is a book written by two Danish schoolteachers, Søren Hansen and Jesper Jensen, first published in 1969. It was subject to muc ...

into English which was declared obscene and with

Megan du Boisson Megan du Boisson (née James; 31 July 1922 – 10 May 1969) was a British campaigner for disability rights, and founder of the Disablement Income Group. On her unexpected death in 1969, ''The Times'' wrote that "it was her doing, more than tha ...

she founded the Disablement Income Group

Life

Stueland was born in the Norwegian port and city of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

in about 1937. Her childhood was during the second world war and her father was a member of the Norwegian resistance. He was also a church minister and her mother was a teacher. In 1958 she decided to become an au pair in England and at a youth group she met her future husband, Brian Moore. They had two children and shortly after the second was born in 1961 she was given a diagnosis of

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

. Megan du Boisson had also been given a similar diagnosis.

and Moore wrote a letter to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' on 22 March 1965. At the time, social security payments to disabled people depended on the cause of that impairment. People injured in war or in the workplace were entitled to significantly more support than the "civilian" disabled. Married women were very poorly served. The Disablement Income Group (DIG) was founded in 1965 by what was called two "housewives". The group's co-founder Megan du Boisson died in a car accident while driving to attend the 4th AGM of DIG. Du Boisson's role was taken by Mary Greaves. Her obituary reported that she had given the phrase "Does he take sugar?" to a BBC producer and this had then been used for the title long running radio programme about disability issues. She came to notice again when she translated a copy of

into English in 1970. It was published in 1971. The book as said to be seditious and was judged obscene as it dealt with sex and authority in an open way. During the seventies she married again and she was working with the charity Child Poverty Action Group.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stueland, Berit 1937 births 2012 deaths People from Bergen Norwegian disability rights activists Norwegian people with disabilities Norwegian women activists People with multiple sclerosis Activists with disabilities