JOIN DANS 16th. National Action in London DAN NEWSLETTER SPRING 2002 DAN is back in the smoke to bring home to the government that INSTITUTIONS are not SOLUTIONS. We are demanding that the government works with DAN to draw up a "Freedom Bill" that will remove the barriers that force disabled people to live in institutions. We want to meet with the Government Now so that our people can be set free. We want to know who are allies are? Who will work with us to draft a comprehensive Bill that removes All the barriers for All disabled people. We will put this to all major parties and all politicians. In the 21st century hundreds of thousands of disabled people are still in some sort of institution. Older people are left to rot in hospital, people with learning difficulties are confined to day centres for the rest of their lives, many of us are still living in residential care having our human rights abused in every way on every day. Some of us are still living in the proverbial attic at home. DAN is the only national group which is trying to raise this issue bringing light to the dark places and situations that our people are forced to live. We are calling on all disabled people not to leave people in institutions behind and to support and help our campaign. The major Charities won't support us, they run the institutions! The local council won't support us..they don't have to! Many disabled people living in institutions won't support us..they're not allowed to and they can't get out! Not convinced? Read the stories in this issue. We will be publishing many more. Anyone who has a story please send it in. It's up to every single one of us to commit to this campaign for what is your freedom worth if you know that someone just like you is being left to rot? For details of how you get on the action READ ON. THE NEXT NATIONAL ACTION IN LONDON LONDON CONTACT ANDY GILL 0208 343 7402 or 0785 514 3075 WHEN 24th, 25th and 26th April 2002 Please note:- The first action starts on Wednesday 24th April. We are meting at the coffee shop outside Westminster Abbey at 2pm. A van will be available if people need to stash their luggage. We will be calling on this action for an early meeting with Tony Blair. On the other two days we will be meeting at 9.30 outside the Hotel. WHERE All three days will be in the London area. If you can't make the meeting in the morning you can find out where we are by calling the action mobile 0793 033 7863 and we'll tell you where we are. The Hotel phone number is 0207 902 1600. Before the Action you can ring the National Office to get updates. ACCOMMODATION We have booked rooms for Wednesday and Thursday night only. The cost of the rooms will be 35 per person per night sharing or 70 if you want your own room. By staying only for 2 nights and starting the first action straight away we hope you appreciate the saving! We need your money by 24th March no later. Please make cheques payable to DAN and send them to the National Office address at the bottom of this page. If you cant pay till later contact the National Office on 0121 247 4424 There are 12 accessible rooms at the hotel. If you need rooms for the Tuesday or the Friday please contact Andy Gill in London There is no parking space at the Hotel but there is free parking at the Royal Festival Hall about 5 minutes away. We will be able to direct you there. There is also limited accommodation offered by London DANNERS for those who can't afford the Hotel if you want more information contact Andy Gill in London the National Office. ASSISTANCE We are hiring 3 generic personal assistants. They will be available for the three days and will be trained in all aspects of assisting disabled people. We also have DAN members who are willing to provide some assistance like pushing and helping you to fight your way to the bar. We need all the drivers we can get if you want to help us with this contact Andy Gill in London. If you would like to offer your assistance we'll probably take you up on it so call us on 0121 247 4424 at the National office (address details on back page) TRANSPORT AND OTHER HELP We try to ensure that no one is barred from taking part in National Actions for any reason. The biggest barrier we have found is money! If you are experiencing hardship or just can't afford it please contact us and we will try to work something out be it local fundraising or direct assistance with costs. National DAN has some funds to assist groups of DANNER's travelling together, (maybe picking someone up on the way). There are also local groups of DAN working already to get a vanload. Get in touch with us and lets get rid of the barriers. We hope to have a sign language Interpreter for the 3 days. MEETINGS All meetings will be in the Bar area in the Hotel. This is a public space and will limit what we can say especially if the police have checked in! Meeting rooms are just out of our league in London 1,000 a day! To try to ensure that everyone has a say and knows what's going on each person will be given a colour on the action. If you don't get a colour ask! This colour will relate to three people who will communicate your ideas, concerns and issues and will pass information to you in a discreet way. This will, in practice, mean meeting in the larger bedrooms at the hotel but should also improve the communication at the action itself where things can change and develop very quickly. We know this is not ideal and all of us have to try to ensure that we take every opportunity to communicate when we can. ROBERTS STORY The major reason for my decision to leave residential care, occurred on a afternoon, when I was in my bedroom. Bare in mind that these rooms were of a large proportion. I was working on the computer on one side of my room and during this exercise I slide out of my wheelchair. Unfortunately, the beeper, which called the care staff, was in the other side of the room. I was therefore stunk face down on the carpet floor of the bedroom, after about three hours (it seemed much longer) of trying to crawl across the floor, I only managed about 3 inches, and one of the care staff came and found me. Through this experience I gained carpet burns on my face, elbows, knees and groin. Needless to say I was unable to go to the toilet during this time and I was lying in my own piss when rescued. As I'm sure you can imagine I had plenty of time to contemplate my situation whilst lying in that position. I decided there and then that I wasnt going to allow this type of event to reoccur and decided it was time to move out into the community and take my chances in the big wide world of Birmingham. Rob Punton WE NEED MONEY NOW! DAN always needs money to support people who want to take non-violent Direct Action. The money is used to help people out with accommodation and travel as well as to publish this newsletter. We also use it to provide personal assistants and sign language interpreters to make the actions we take as comfortable as possible. DAN has no paid staff we all do it cos we believe in Free Our People. We want to stage a national meeting this year so that DANNERs can come together and plan the future and learn from each other. We need money to do this. Your donation however large or small is vital to DANs future. We could spend 100,000 easily. If your not well off (and who is?) you could try to get someone else to donate or donate your time. We always need personal assistants, drivers and sign language interpretation. Whatever you've got to offer you can contact the national office at the address on this page. All donations should be made out to DAN and sent to the National Office NATIONAL OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS 254 Pineapple Rd. Stirchley, Birmingham B30. 2TY. DAN THE DISABLED PEOPLES DIRECT ACTION NETWORK Phone: 0121 247 4424 Fax: 0121 247 6888 Email: freeourpeople@blueyonder.co.uk LOOK AFTER YOURSELF The first rule on a DAN action is to look after yourself as much as you can so that you can look after other people. If you can bring your own PA bring them. If you have an ally who is a sign language interpreter bring them. Bring warm waterproof clothing. Think about food and bring snacky stuff with you. A thermos flask is a good idea. Bring stuff to make your own placards. I f you can manage without help manage. If you can't work with us to get what you really need. If you want to make a contribution towards the action make it. If you can't or need support tell us exactly what you will need. Bring your batteries and your hoist if you need to. Bring your mobile phone. If you have an accessible vehicle we need it! LOOK AFTER EACH OTHER A DAN action is different because unlike a conference where the "organizers" are expected to look after the attendees we are all one and therefore the second rule is to look after each other. This means sharing your thermos with the person who hasn't got one. Helping someone get a drink that hasn't got their own personal assistant, perhaps using your vehicle to help get people to the spot. Sharing what you've got with someone who hasn't got what you've got. Bring that extra sweatshirt in case someone needs it. Bring that space chair if you have it. Buy that extra bottle of water just in case. If someone wants something explained to him or her explain it. On the action be aware of what's going on make sure no one is isolated, make sure that no one is an outcast. Make sure that those people on their first action don't get violent, watch for situations that could boil over. Most importantly get to know each other and find respect in every individual in DAN who are willing to do this difficult thing called an action. There are not many of us so it is important that we value the commitment of each individual. DANS FREEDOM BILL For the Last three years we have been campaigning around our core demands to free our people. DAN is now calling on the government and all the people who represent us to meet with DAN and other organisations of disabled people to draw up a Freedom Bill which will include all the legislation required to Free our People. If we can get politicians to commit to working with us on this Bill we can truly hold a national campaign around its passage. Bringing all our issues around free our people together under one bill could be an inclusive way forward. We will plan a major conference later this year to put together everything we need in the Bill but you can send us your ideas Now! Step one in the campaign then is to get MPs to work with us to draft the Bill. This is our target for the London Action. We also need to get money for resources to do this from the government. Once we have got this demand met step two will be to work together to draft the Bill this could be done with the national centre for Independent Living and BCODP. Step three will be to campaign and lobby MPs and the government to pass the Bill. I suspect there will be loads of action around this. Step four will be to ensure that the Bill is enforced and implemented in every town and city in the country. We know that legislation doesnt solve everything but imagine what a Bill we drafted with political support could do. Imagine! Here is a draft letter which you can send to your MP to enlist their support now. DRAFT LETTER FOR MPS Dear ******* We are campaigning for disabled peoples right to live in the community and not in institutions. DAN would like to work with you to draft legislation that would remove the barriers to our freedom. We want you to work with DAN and other organisations ran and controlled by disabled people to introduce a Freedom Bill in the House in this parliament. Included in this legislation would be :- A statutory duty on Local Authorities to develop Independent Living Services controlled by disabled people. This would include the creation of transitioning service so that we can reach into institutions and support people getting out. A duty on social landlords to build accessible affordable housing. We would also like to outlaw housing that is linked to services as it ties people down and gives no choice and control. An outlawing of the charging for services policy and means testing. A procedure that would allow disabled people to take their care packages from one Authority to another without assessment. Organisations of disabled people should be allowed to inspect and audit residential care and nursing homes and report independently to government. These are just examples of what a Freedom Bill could contain. We need your support and guidance in drafting this Bill and introducing it into Parliament. Have we got it and what specifically can you offer? Yours, ********** Please copy this letter and send it to your MP. KEY PRINCIPLES DAN supports the anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic agenda and will not tolerate racist, sexist or homophobic behaviour or language on the action. We also do not tolerate the use of alcohol or illegal drugs during the action. DAN is a non violent organisation which will not support the use of violence by any individual on a DAN action. THE VISION The Vision is a 60 page document which describes what we believe an Independent Living Centre should look like. This includes core services, key jobs and some costs. It is this vision which we are fighting for in Birmingham. If you would like a hard copy it is 5 or free if we can email it to you. Beware it does take a while to down load. We also have a core components of an Independent Living centre document created by Birmingham People 1st. This cost 2 including postage. Interested contact the National office make cheques payable to DAN. CHARGING FOR FREEDOM IN HARINGEY Loads of disabled people in the London borough of Haringey are being taken to court over the Councils Charging policy. Haringey is one of the worst authorities in the Country. Many disabled people in the borough are risking their lives rather than have the services that would set them free. Its only a matter of time before someone dies as a result of this says Richard Bullard the local DAN organiser. Hang on Haringey DAN is coming to town in April to demand an end to the charging in Haringey and a complete amnesty for those who cant pay/wont pay. Now where have I heard that before? CAMPAIGNING WORKSHOPS - BE THERE! BCODP and DAN are working together to hold ten workshops around the country on campaigning. This is a great opportunity to spread the word about Free our People. and recruit new DANNERs National DAN is also getting paid to run a workshop at each event which will go towards the Autumn action. It is also an opportunity for DANNERs and potential danners to get together and discuss the campaign so get along to the event nearest you and tell people about it. Look forward to seeing you there. Its free too! ADVERTISEMENT The British Council of Disabled People are running a series of seminars on campaigning themes which include:
The first of these seminars is to be held in the South East region on 27th February 2002. Other areas include:
For more details contact Vicki or Sandy at the BCODP offices on 01332 295551. Come and fight for our rights! BRIEF HISTORY OF DAN EARLY DAYS DAN was founded in 1992 following the massive demonstrations against ITV's Telethon and building on the Campaign for Accessible Transport (CAT). Lots of discussions took place over the next year but when an ex Tory MP who had talked out a Civil Rights Bill for disabled people had the gall to stand in a bye-election in Christchurch it was just too tempting. DAN called its first National Action in Christchurch. All day from 7am. to dusk we hounded Tory candidate Rob Haywood. Everywhere he went we went and so did the press. We ended by marching up and down the High street. He lost 40,000 votes and disappeared without trace. WE WILL RIDE Finally after lots of discussion DAN decided to focus on accessible public transport as our national campaign and the bus and train strikes began. In Leeds we high-jacked Jimmy Saville opening a garden for the handicapped (really) on an inaccessible station with inaccessible trains. We cuffed ourselves to a train and blocked the line for the afternoon and then went and caught buses in Leeds centre. Later in '94 we hit Downing Street and the next day the whole action was arrested for blocking the Mall..dont mess with Queenie! DAN was getting very high profile publicity and disabled people's issues were moving off the charity pages and into the political columns. Civil rights for disabled people was emerging as a massive campaign by the whole movement over the next two years we called over 40 many actions at short notice including trying to crawl into parliament which received worldwide attention. In the end we got rid of the minister for disabled people and won if you can call it that the DDA. In 1995 we went to Cardiff for our first international action we closed down railway stations held up trains and blocked main bus station in Cardiff town centre. Following this action some DANNERS made their first court appearance. This action was featured on a special on BBC 2. Later that year DAN had its first real victory in Birmingham where following 3 days of protest the authorities diverted 130 million pounds from inaccessible buses to accessible ones. In '96 DAN went to Nottingham where we grid locked the whole city at 8 am in the morning. In the afternoon we went to the train station and negotiated that the Robin Hood Line be made accessible. The following day the police were heavy on us and locked half of us in a car park the other half however escaped to gridlock the city again. '97 saw DAN back in London this time to get meetings with ministers. After a first day of two actions where some were arrested twice the police got heavy and were outside the hotel the whole time. We sent half our group off as a decoy onto the Mall whilst the other half slept. At 1pm. the real group caught a tube train right under London transport headquarters whilst the rest surrounded the Station. The station was closed for hours. WE GOT OUR MEETINGS Later that year we went to Bristol with thousands of postcards Princess Diana died a week before the action but we still closed down the headquarters of the local bus company and got a meeting with their head office. We also got tremendous public support with a petition signed by over 3000 people, which we later delivered to Downing Street in our own inimitable style. In 1998 following the publication of the governments so called Consultation document on accessible public transport we were back in London. We went to the DETR and had a barbeque with the consultation documents in their foyer! I guess we really are fire risks! After this we daubed the DETR building with red paint and then blocked the streets outside.only then did the police arrive. The next day the police were right on our tail and so we did a 5-mile march under police escort all over London. We met with the Liberal Democrats who promised to support our campaign finally we lost the police and blocked Trafalgar Square at rush hour. Following this action we found out that all new buses and trains were to be accessible and that inaccessible buses were not being made any more. After long debate it was decided that from here on in local dan groups could carry on with we will ride but Nationally we should move on to "Free Our People" to get our brothers and sisters out of institutions and into the community to play their full part. We'd been campaigning for 5 years on "We will Ride." And we'd learned many lessons. Not least that even with direct action it can take time. Also that you have to become experts in the fieldwhat we don't know about ramps on buses!!! Also that you have to break up your demands into achievable chunks and finally unfortunately you have to go to meetings. "We will Ride" was a simple campaign with simple demands that everyone could understand. Free our People was going to prove more complex and I believe that without "We will Ride" we wouldn't have been experienced or sophisticated enough to even attempt "Free our People." FREE OUR PEOPLE The campaign started in 1999 in Bournemouth at the AGM of the Association of Directors of Social Services. We asked them to endorse our demands, which surprisingly they did. We followed this up in London and targeted Leonard Cheshire the National Home Care Association and other professional groups. In 2000 we went to Newcastle and occupied Gateshead council demanding that the council provide services to ensure that disabled people could live independently. In 2001 we were back in London with Leonard Cheshire this time covering his lobby in red feathers (their Symbol). Leonard Cheshire symbolises the enemy in this campaign as they continue to open institutions worldwide. We also went to Whitehall and threw brown paint (shit) and toilet rolls all of the DSS which wanted to charge us for going to the toilet. These charges are to be non-means tested later this year. We also went to the party headquarters to enlist support; as usual the only party that seemed interested was the Liberals. Later in 2001 we went to Birmingham and Coventry campaigning for an independent living centre supporting the 2 years of campaigning by the local group. The centre opens in April this year, a significant victory. Some of us also marched naked through Coventry against the charging for services policy and the lack of proper consultation the council had with disabled people. Meetings were set up. THE FUTURE "Free our People" will not be won in a single action or in a year. It will take all our effort and commitment to see us through the years ahead. We are still learning how to be most effective and how to use Direct Action strategically to ensure that all our people are free. After a dip in membership towards the end of the "We will Ride" campaign, membership is now increasing again and the actions are becoming more and more exciting. DAN has organised over 80 actions over the years and not once have we been violent. We won accessible transport we got the DDA, we stopped the governments proposals on benefits and we will Free our People. Get involved and be part of this wonderful unravelling history. DANS 15TH NATIONAL ACTION IN BIRMINGHAM AND COVENTRY The National in Birmingham was powerful as Danners brought attention to the need for an Independent Living Centre in Birmingham and demonstrated to Coventry that charging for services was wrong and inhumane to disabled people. The first Day we held a rally in the mourning and give attention to the disaster on September 11. We told stories of the relationship between Dan and ADAPT our sister organisation in America and signed a condolence Book held in the council. We had a small rally and people told stories about friends in institutions or the effect that spending big money on a war will have on our community. By about 1:00 pm. we had it with the nice stuff and we were ready for a hard-hitting Action. We marched quite a distance from downtown Birmingham to a so-called independent living centre ran and controlled by OT's. Danners demanded the building and just to show we meant business we took it. Taking it was easy because there was quite a few People First Danners who joined us that day and made us look real mean. We were powerful enough to get a negotiation going with Social Services but they refused to meet our demands for money, to bring together the 600 disabled people in Birmingham who wanted a IL to tell them to their faces that they wanted an ILC. Social Services had provoked us by giving misinformation to their user groups and used that trick they always play, you know the one, split us as a community. Anyway the demands were not met and we were not about to take crumbs! We keep the building for quite some time but when People First Danners started to leave some of us thought why don't we all go together in the same powerful way that we took the building? On Tuesday we hit the council again to demand a meeting with council leaders Albert Bore or Susanna Mc Cory. Danners were still mad as hell from the day before so we went into the council building strong, powerful and angry! We managed to get inside the council buildings main entrance and, wouldn't you know it, a long staircase was inside as well as outside. The Danners began to climb out of the their chairs and crawl up the steps. There was a lot of yelling, Police were hanging around us telling us you shouldn't do this you won't get a meeting this way. Guess what we got a meeting! Hey the people united will not be defeated. The Last Day of the Action we hit Coventry and held a rally at the Lady Godiva statue in the city centre. A hundred local disabled people joined us and testified about how charging for services affected them and there friends of course these true stories got people angry and many of the local disabled community had never done an action before, marching to the council they looked like it was something they did all the time. Tom Commerford and Robin Surgeoner helped get us attention from the Press people when they led the march to the council naked, except for the long hair wigs. Danners had no problem taking over the Council that day. After many hours got a meeting on charging for services. One Danner from Coventry said he had been in meeting before, but this was the first meeting were he really had power. For Coventry this was a big step because now they could follow up and take action for themselves quite a few said they would be at the next National. It was a great three days and our next national might even be greater. Let's keep fighting to free our people. COMMUNITY ADVOCACY Community advocacy is the tool used and developed by ADAPT in the US to go into residential care and set people free. Cassie James who developed the course has now adapted it for Britain, The Community AdvocacyCourse covers Independent Living, our history, what really happens in institutions, listening, and how to set people free. Its a brilliant course which helps people commit to Freeing our People and activism. The first part is run over 4 days and nights! For up to 15 disabled people. The cost of the course is between 10,000 and 12,000, peanuts to your local Council. Demand it now, campaign for it and get on it. For more information contact the National Office the contact details are on page 16 of this newsletter. We are also following this course up with a course on active listening over 12 weeks. More details of this from the National Office and in the next newsletter ADAPT AT LAGUNA HONDA OK the good news the largest residential home in the US is being demolished in San Francisco cos it s not earthquake proof. Now the bad news theyre rebuilding it! Laguna Honda is the biggest pink house on the hill Ive ever seen housing over 1000 of our sisters and brothers. ADAPT went to Cisco to tear down the walls of Laguna Honda for ever. It began at Laguna Honda 600 disabled people marched up to the front door following a rally in a small park nearby. An absolutley outstanding speech by Stephanie Thomas from ADAPT was followed by The Ballad of Josie Evans played by Johnny Crescendo. This was a solemn and frightening moment looking up at this massive building which took half an hour to march round silently. The next three days of the action were spent downtown around the various buildings responsible for the rebuild City Hall, the Federal Building and so on. Instead of trying to get in ADAPT sealed off all the roads to these buildings. They were trapped and they did have to get used to it. Over a hundred disabled people were arrested and later released. The mayor Willy Brown wouldnt meet but the Federal people agreed to meet with ADAPT. Not a total Victory but sometimes things are so terrible making a point is worth it. Folks are still in Laguna Honda but through the great media coverage the public are engaged in the issue. Tear Down The Walls! MANCHESTER HOUSING ACTION Its Official Manchester has no accessible housing available . DANNERS from Manchester and all over the country staged a 3 day sit in in the councils housing office. Council officials colluded with the police and refused P.A.s and sign language interpreters in. DAN stayed and supported each other. The issue of affordable accessible housing reach the whole of the region through the excellent media coverage. DAN scored major victories with meetings with the main players and from that a commitment to work to get something done about this appalling situation. Well see but if we dont well be back..get used to it. NORTHEAST DAN BUILDS COMMUNITY Hard work is being done in the North East on the Free Our People campaign. We have helped set up the Gateshead Disabled peoples Network but the network has reps. from Disability groups from all over the North East. We are working with Gateshead Council on best Value plans and we are going to be forcing changes to improve the services for our Brother and Sisters. In Newcastle there are big problems with privatisation of the Home Care services and a campaign is set up. Both Gateshead and Newcastle Councils are bidding for the European City of Culture and we are forcing them to spend the same time and effort on improving the lives of our Brothers and Sisters. The Network have welcomed our demands and ideas in our Free our People campaign. We now have a stronger voice in the North East to take our campaign further. Thanks to Our Brothers and Sisters for coming to the North East in 2000. People are still talking about our action. Lets take it further. In solidarity Tom Comerford DAN North East. DAN ON THE NET Dan mail is an email group for supporters of Dan to join sent a blank email to danmail-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Action notices are at http://www.johnnypops.demon.co.uk/poetry/articles/ We are trying to get a really good web page up soon any help would be greatly appreciated. ALANS STORY I remember the awful food and other patients beating each other up whilst the staff looked on. I remember them deliberately putting people together who physically tore each other apart. I remember the shrinks altering my notes of the patients meeting. I remember the chilling awareness that I could be here for the rest of my life if the shrink said so. Most of all I remember a DANNER coming everyday to visit me and challenging the staff and supporting me. Thats how I got out. Most of the other inmates in the psychiatric ward didn't get many visitors. Institutions are not solutions. NETWORKING Who is DAN? You are DAN? Who is the organiser? You are the Organiser? Whos responsible? All of us. The news isnt getting out. Copy the newsletter, email it on. Tell your friends, use your networks to network the network. Dont rely on someone else lets spread the word and free our people. Go to disabled people wherever they are and work together to remove the barriers to them getting involved in the fight for all our freedom. Call the National office for support but support each other. Demand resources to organise the campaign. Get on that phone, get on that text phone, do what you can and dont be afraid to stick you head up. Tired already...Remember our sisters and brothers in institutions lying in shit, controlled totally by the professionals, abandoned, homeless, abused every minute of the day, brainwashed and guilt ridden. Take action, organise, get help, demand support. The only bad action is no action. Still Tired? Dont mourn organise! Dont moan organise! Working together can be hard but it is the only way. Stay together. The people united will never be defeated. |
