Chapter 7 - continued

One of Birmingham Coalition’s main campaigning points during the next few years was around Alan Holdsworth’s second primary objective, the opening of a Centre For Inclusive Living (CIL) in Birmingham run by disabled people. Partly reminiscent of the battle for the Disability Resource Centre by BDRG, the final outcome was no doubt different from what was proposed in the original feasibility study.

Once again the intention to move into a city centre based location was compromised by the funding and choices on offer. The new Birmingham CIL eventually opened in autumn 2005 in a suburb some considerable distance from the city centre, this time at Prospect Hall in Selly Oak.

By another interesting coincidence, the CIL opened in office space at Prospect Hall recently vacated by Disability West Midlands which was in the process of closing permanently due to financial problems after 28 years in existence, as was the Coalition of Disabled People after just six years.

Birmingham now had two cross-impairment user-led service providing organisations, the BDRC and the BCIL, which had each been established by campaigning groups, though by 2006 the ‘voice’ organisations themselves were no longer in existence.

In spite of the passions and efforts of, at one point possibly hundreds of disabled people in Birmingham – including key individuals from the old BDRG vanguard as well as many new activists, the Coalition went into fairly rapid demise more or less from the point of departure of Alan Holdsworth from Birmingham City Council.

His departure also heralded the subsequent reorganisation, diversification and, arguably, the diluting down of the Disability Equalities Division within Birmingham City Council itself.

Alan’s own observation about wanting to avoid the perception of ‘super crip’ coming to town to change everything internally, had sadly turned out to look more like a prophecy than the note of caution he had intended. In fairness to Alan many people, from the top downwards and bottom upwards, supported his key objectives.

The reasons for the ultimate demise of the Coalition were complex on both political and personal levels and not least influenced by a change in the administration of the city itself. The Labour party losing overall control of the council in 2003 and total control in 2004 to a Conservative\Liberal Democrat coalition.

To some degree the writing had probably been on the wall all along, especially given the close and continuing connections with DAN, but to coin a phrase “it was good while it lasted!”

An opportunity which arose for the BDRC as a spin-off from the period of intense activity by the DAN in Birmingham can be traced back to the evening of the Independence Festival at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in the summer of 2000.

When the event closed at around midnight, an unprecedented number of disabled people flowed out of the ICC into Centenary Square and on to Broad Street, the city’s golden three-quarter mile of pubs, bars, restaurants and night-clubs, in understandably high spirits. The evening had been a huge success for Birmingham’s disabled community, being the crowning event of a whole weekend of arts-based activities.

With the passing of the midnight hour, many of the disabled attendees were looking forward to jumping into a taxi to take them either home or to their hotels. Unfortunately, however, the second city’s capacity to provide accessible taxis was woefully unable to deal spontaneously with more than one or two wheelchair users and other potential passengers with mobility impairment.

By 3 o clock in the morning, emotions on both sides were running high as dozens of disabled people were still waiting for taxis to take them home and even taxi drivers who could have accommodated disabled people were refusing to do so.

With so many DAN activists present, a spur-of-the-moment demonstration was inevitable and the night culminated in the temporary closure of Broad Street.

Throughout the following week there were on-going protests outside of the TOA Taxis headquarters in Harborne and a great deal of media attention with local DAN members such as Christina Chidzomba and Tom Comerford being interviewed.

The immediate consequence of the great taxi debate was a conference held on December 4, 2000, at the Centennial Centre in Ladywood where around 100 disabled people met with taxi licensing officers from the council and a single taxi driver’s representative. Perhaps we should not be too surprised at the ultimate irony being that many disabled people either missed the conference or were late because of the continuing shortage of accessible vehicles available in Birmingham.

The outcomes of the conference were that the licensing department promised to make its complaints procedure more effective, to make more information available about accessible taxi companies and to license a wider range of vehicles. A further outcome was to be the launch of compulsory Disability Equality Training for new private hire taxi drivers and BDRC went on to win the contract.

Debbie Nunn was working at BDRC when the taxi training contract was being negotiated. Debbie remembers an atmosphere of tension between local groups during the tendering process with BDRC manager Steve Blick, Janet Higgins, a colleague, and herself, giving a presentation to officers from the council’s Licensing Department alongside local members of the DAN network.

BDRC did not win the bid on the first time of applying, but went on to win it second time around. Here Debbie explains how the training works:

“If you are applying to become a Birmingham taxi driver you need to go through a series of tests to show your competence as a driver to gain your licence or ‘badge’. In addition you have to attend a disability equality training day and pass a written test at the end of the session.

“The training covers the differences between the social and medical models of disability, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, with emphasis on public transport vehicle law.

“The potential taxi drivers are taught how to work with a range of disabled passengers through practical sessions such as how to assist a wheelchair user, guide a blind person, communicate with a deaf passenger and so on. Also how to identify working dogs who accompany disabled people. They are also informed of the range of penalties they can expect if they breach the law.”

Debbie has also worked closely with the Business Services and Employment Departments at the centre to write and deliver training to Birmingham City Council Facility Management Staff, and many other external agencies and companies. The increase in disability equality training opportunities led to the organisation employing another trainer, Elaine Watson, on a permanent contract.

As Debbie explains, the new training opportunities coming from Birmingham City Council help to emphasise the high regard in which BDRC was being held by the local authority.

“We have had really good feedback from a lot of the drivers and we have had a fairly good relationship and link with the city council, because it has been a major funder to the centre through information and employment and the links with Strawberry Studio.”