ABSTRACT
The events leading to the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) dramatically raised the growing profile of disabled people in Britain and prompted media and public recognition that there was a 'disability movement', even though that movement had been in existence for some time. The movement had been seeking comprehensive civil rights for disabled people through a series of Private Members' Bills proposed by the then opposition Labour Party. These attempts were consistently opposed by the Conservative government but such was the heavy cross-party and public support in favour of legislation, that it was forced to make a reluctant U-turn. The limited and piecemeal D D A which was eventually introduced fell far short in its provisions from the Civ i l Rights (Disabled Persons) B i l l preferred by the disability movement. But the fact that it was enacted at all signalled a profound change in the political agenda on disability. 'A very able pressure group' was the headline of an article by Victoria Macdonald in the Sunday Telegraph which referred to the wind of change' that the government had somehow missed'. 'The most remarkable point' Macdonald continued 'was the Government's belief that the civil rights bi l l could be shelved without such a fuss; for the growth of the disability pressure group - indeed the growth in the numbers of "disabled" - is one of the features of British life in the past 20 years' (15 May 1996).
