Chapter 9 continued

During the course of conducting oral history interviews for this book, there have been as many different views, recollections and perceptions expressed about the BDRC as there have been individuals taking part.

It is of value to re-emphasise the unique journey taken by the changing collective of, largely disabled people, who have driven forward the BDRC from the development of the idea by Bob, Maria, Katherine, Robin, Tracy, Terry and colleagues in the late 1980s and to recognise that it was not always a smooth road and that the organisation’s history involved times of personal trauma, passionate, critical and sometimes acrimonious argument and inevitably at times, the parting of ways.

But without this passion and at times strongly expressed difference of opinion, the BDRC might never have happened and its history would certainly not have been so engaging. A natural consequence of people reflecting on the past is also that people invariably arrive back at the present and begin to consider the potential of the future.

So there have also been many ideas offered to us about the future direction of the centre which will be fed back to the Management Board.

As we enter 2010, it is exciting to see that new seeds are being planted for services and developments which may correlate closely with Bob’s unwavering social model critique.

Funding from the Equality and Human Rights Commission is set to fund an awareness raising project around disability discrimination across the wider West Midlands County and BDRC also sits in a potential lead role in developing the new Birmingham Disability Network, which may be the more appropriate forum to take on discriminatory structures, culture and attitudes across Birmingham.

Another important development in 2009 has been the launch of a Service User Group in the Centre which meets regularly to feed views and issues back to the staff and board of the organisation.

In November 2009. BDRC hosted a Leadership Training course run by the national organisation Disability LIB which is supporting infrastructure and leadership development for user-led Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) around the country.

The development of Disability LIB itself was closely linked to the publication of the research report Thriving or Surviving: Challenges and Opportunities for Disabled People’s Organisations in the 21st century by Scope on behalf of the Disability LIB Alliance in February 2008.

The training event was presented by Mike Adams, Chief Executive of the Essex Coalition of Disabled People and a former trustee of Disability West Midlands in the 1990s. Attendees came from DPOs all over the country.

Without exception, all of the DPO representatives talked about the same issues around leadership, direction, management, procurement, branding, relationships with local authorities and the balance between campaigning type activities and delivering contracted services.

Whilst there is no single working model of a DPO in Britain and each one delivers different services and positions itself uniquely, there is much commonality and Birmingham Disability Resource compares well with kindred organisations. Measured against the standards, values and recommendations emerging from Disability LIB at the end of 2009, the organisation is definitely thriving as opposed to just surviving, though the line can still seem like a thin one!

As the BDRC moves forward into the second decade of the new millennium, it will, without doubt, have to continue to consider how it achieves the balance between the very valuable support it offers to individuals through its information and employment services and the macrocosmic issues around disability discrimination, barriers, attitudes, equality training, access promotion, consultation, independent living, strategic networking and general debate, especially around radical or innovative agendas.

It may be that during this development process it is found that some of these things are better done by the Birmingham Disability Network, by the existing Service User Group, by working with other organisations or by facilitating new ones and throughout all of this it must continue to develop professionally and maintain both core and project funding in a changing financial landscape as we all emerge from the global recession.

As the Biblical proverb goes, “the wise person built their house on the rock” and the history of the BDRC demonstrates that it has clearly been built on a combination of both firm ideological and professional foundations which it still maintains. But most importantly... this house is accessible and open to all!

So to coin a familiar Brummie term... Forward.