ABSTRACT
One of the consistent themes in the British disability rights movement has been a vehement opposition to charities which claim to represent and support disabled people. Many of the early activists of the Union of Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) had come from the Le Court Cheshire Home in Hampshire. UPIAS itself had arisen in opposition to more mainstream charities and pressure groups run by non-disabled people. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, demonstrations against charity fundraising – for example, the 1992 Block Telethon direct action – were important political events in the development of a disability rights consciousness, bringing together disability activists, and challenging traditional responses to disability. Key slogans of this period, seen on banners, placards, t-shirts and in the protest songs of Johnny Crescendo and Ian Stanton were ‘Rights not charity’ and ‘Piss on pity’.
