Chapter 5 - continued

One of the early members of the BDRC board was Derek Farr. Even those who share Robin’s perception that a powerful sense of organic dynamism had gone with the passage of control of the project from the Rights Group to a more pragmatic committee of disabled people functioning in close partnership with the local authority, acknowledge the contribution and commitment made by Derek Farr.

Robin describes Derek as “a fantastic character” and Andy Beaton, who joined the BDRC board initially as a representative of Birmingham City Council, conveys the importance of Derek’s role in establishing the middle ground as far as service delivery and funding were concerned:

“Derek Farr, as Treasurer and Chair, moved the centre along the route of a service delivery model whilst he was always very strong about the campaigning side of it and respected other people’s views on that which may be different to his own. However he wanted to see the centre move forward.

“He brought something to the centre which I think is essential. Probably more essential nowadays with the move towards sustainability and more self-sustaining trading. Derek brought business skills having run his own business and I think it was on that premise that he took on his roles. Derek was a very committed individual.

“You wouldn’t always agree with him, but you could never take away what he put into the centre and he had a massive positivity towards his role.”

Having a strong interest in computer technology, Derek Farr was highly innovative in ensuring that its use was fundamental within the delivery of services at the BDRC. His achievements included the development of the organisation’s website at a time when other voluntary and community sector groups were only just discovering the potential of things like the internet and email.

It was Derek who had the foresight to attain the URL “www.disability.co.uk” for the organisation several years before other community groups would realise the expediency required to bag the best website names.

Derek was also instrumental in establishing an ICT room in the building which would, for a while, operate as a Cyber Café type of facility for disabled people wishing to access the internet and learn about ICT. Long after Derek’s death, perhaps his legacy is the fact that a room remains in the Centre to this day which is well-stocked with computers and is used for both training and job search opportunities.

A very early Chair of the BDRC was Mary Smith, a retired nurse from Sutton Coldfield, who had previously been instrumental in establishing a forum of disabled people in north Birmingham.

Like most disabled people Mary was committed to making society generally more equalitarian and accessible, though it is fair to say that she was one more of a growing number of disabled people attracted to the BDRC from across Birmingham who did not come from the rights perspective. Terry Vincent recalls this challenge to widen the membership:

“I would do my best constantly to explain BDRG’s perspective. Apart from the fact most people coming to the DRC were not political and did expect some ‘services’, we were not in agreement with the national disability rights movement on the issue of terminology and I would find myself in intense discussions with activists and new members about how we defined ourselves and why.

“Mary Smith was having none of it because, she was of a certain generation, a certain mind set and a certain value system that it sort of meant nothing to her. But, I genuinely felt (and to this day still do), that really it is not for me to say ‘you don’t speak the party line so you can’t come in’.

“So we, at the DRC, were much more welcoming and open-armed than BDRG would have been because you would have found it too uncomfortable to stay at BDRG. But obviously the DRC was for people with disabilities and not just people with disabilities who agreed with a particular standpoint.”

An early project based at the BDRC which Mary was instrumental in driving forward for a number of years was the Birmingham Information Federation. Launched at the Birmingham Medical Institute in Edgbaston in March 1992, the BIF was a pilot project funded by the Department of Health through the National Disability Information Project.

BDRG founder Bob Findlay worked for the BIF for a period alongside George Rowley, a former senior manager with the Automobile Association. George continued to work at the Birmingham Disability Resource Centre long after the closure of the BIF project, running an equipment pool for disabled people and then playing a lead role in setting up and running a new training organisation at the centre called Enable.

George recalls his work as a trainer and coach with Enable:

“I worked with people who, for one reason or another, had been given the labels of not being able to do stuff, like education or employment. People are really interesting and helping them gives me a buzz. Seeing people reach their full potential and goals is really satisfying.”

From an interview between George Rowley, Clenton Farquharson and Pete Millington published in Pinpoint magazine / New Year 2002 edition

A few years later, George’s experiences working for BDRC and Enable would inspire him to set up a training business called Gallant2000 in partnership with Clenton Farquharson and Christine Sarginson. For his part, Clenton’s collaboration with George in the fields of equal opportunities, diversity and Neuro Linguistic Psychology began at the Birmingham Disability Resource Centre whilst he was using the services of Enable.

Clenton went on to become a board member of BDRC and, more recently, became the representative of Equality2025 for the West Midlands region.

His particular perspective as a black disabled person, as well as his experience as a service-user whose personal experience of disability had begun in adulthood, gave Clenton valuable subjective insight and the motivation to support other disabled people and to challenge and educate service providers, not just around disability, but around wider diversity issues:

“I had the experience of being attacked and stabbed numerous times. This led me to acquire my disability. Since this time I have gone through an emotional roller coaster, firstly of feeling absolutely desperate, that my world was at an end and that I was completely useless.

“But, over the last few years, this has completely turned round and I now have a mission to promote Equal Opportunities and Diversity. I have enormous passion and emotion for this subject.”

From an interview between George Rowley, Clenton Farquharson and Pete Millington published in Pinpoint magazine / New Year 2002 edition