The British Council of Organisations of Disabled People (BCODP) was a radical national voice of disabled people for legal, social and cultural change in Britain from 1981 to 2017, with a high profile in the 1980s and 1990s.

Origins

BCODP was founded in 1981, the United Nations

International Year of Disabled Persons The year 1981 was proclaimed the International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP) by the United Nations. It called for a plan of action with an emphasis on equalization of opportunities, rehabilitation and prevention of disabilities. The slogan of I ...

(IYDP).

Vic Finkelstein Victor (Vic) Berel Finkelstein (25 January 1938 – 30 November 2011) was a disability rights activist and writer. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa and later living in Britain, Finkelstein is known as a pioneer of the social model of disability a ...

was especially keen to build 'a mass movement' of disabled people in Britain. * "On 13 June 1981 in London a meeting was organised between UPIAS he_Union_of_the_Physically_Impaired_Against_Segregation_(UPIAS).html" ;"title="Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation">he Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS)">Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation">he Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS)and eight other national organisations controlled by disabled people, plus a further five organisations being willing to be involved. Its initial name was the National Council of Organisations of Disabled People, soon becoming [BCODP]" (page 15). It was one of a new type of organisation at the time, being radically different to the established big disability charities in two ways: these charities claimed to speak for disabled people, and they were often impairment-specific (such as for blind people, for people with health condition X, for deaf people, etc). BCODP followed the new

Social Model of Disability The social model of disability identifies systemic barriers, derogatory attitudes, and social exclusion (intentional or inadvertent), which make it difficult or impossible for disabled people to attain their valued functionings. The social mode ...

which said that what people with impairments had in common was that they were disabled by society, not by their impaired bodies. There had been some previous pan-impairment groups of disabled people in the 1960s, but these tended to focus on one aspect, such as the

Disablement Income Group The Disablement Income Group (DIG) was a British disability pressure group formed in 1965 in Godalming, Surrey. It is considered to be one of the first pan-impairment pressure groups in Britain, and was created to campaign for the introduction of a ...

and the

National Campaign for the Young Chronic Sick The National Campaign for the Young Chronic Sick (NCYCS) was a group of disabled people and allies in the UK Labour Party in the 1960s who campaigned for independent living for disabled people at a time when the official provision was to live a lif ...

Research committee

BCODP linked with th
Centre for Disability Studies
at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

to provide the organisation with high-quality research capacity, and in particular to support the case for new

anti-discrimination legislation This is a list of anti-discrimination acts (often called discrimination acts or anti-discrimination laws), which are laws designed to prevent discrimination. Australia *Anti-discrimination laws in Australia ** Age Discrimination Act 2004 **Anti ...

(ADL) for civil rights for disabled people. BCODP was prominent in the campaigns and protests which led to the (flawed)

Disability Discrimination Act 1995 The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (c. 50) (informally, and hereafter, the DDA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which has now been repealed and replaced by the Equality Act 2010, except in Northern Ireland where the Act ...

Independent Living committee

An early focus of the work of BCODP was around Independent Living with the first meeting of this committee in 1982. It started to source funding from the UK government's Department of Health for staff and events costs, and established the National Centre for Independent Living (NCIL) which became an independent spin-out organisation from 2003 to 2006.

Name changes

In later years BCODP went through two changes in its name and structure, first in 1997 becoming the British Council of Disabled People (still known as BCODP), and in 2006 becoming the United Kingdom's Disabled People's Council (UKDPC). The organisation was formally closed down by the Charity Commission in 2017, having made it last member of staff redundant in 2013.

References

{{Reflist Disability rights organizations Disability organisations based in the United Kingdom