The fragmented man.

Every member of Society, from the moment he is born, has a vested interest in disability. Those who escape it early in life achieve it by old age which, in itself, is a social and physical handicap. Yet the man-in-the-street or woman on the Clapham omnibus has no constructive ideas, nor indeed thoughts, on the matter. A letter on disability published in the national press evokes no response. Yet, the person who is struck down by a handicapping disability finds it is the most devastating and shattering occurrence of his life a life immediately distorted and intolerably away from the norm. What are society's obligations in general? What are the medical profession's in particular ? I98I is International Year of the Disabled Person, a fact which, in itself, acknowledges that their number merits a whole year of thought and action. Before the I96os, apart from a few dedicated groups striving to help, there was little save an emotional wave of compassion for the war wounded. The 'civilian' disabled hid their disabilities and shame as best they might. Even their neighbours or relatives hardly knew the nature of their disability and, as far as income was concerned, it was vaguely assumed that the Government saw to all that! This income, at first Parish Relief, then National Assistance, finally turned into Supplementary Benefit. It is still with us. It is supplementary to nothing as far as many cripples are concerned. Even the word 'cripple' is being phased out and the cumbersome but kinder 'disabled person' is being substituted. The conscience of society has been moving uneasily. In I965 Megan Du Boisson, a woman in the first stages of Multiple Sclerosis, founded DIG, (Disablement Income Group) a pressure group bent on changing legislation and obtaining for the severely disabled a State income in their own right. She uncovered undeniable poverty, ignorance and despair. She was emphatic in her arguments that society must embrace its disabled members. She was equally emphatic in her insistence that the disabled must come out of their refuges and speak of their difficulties. She asked them to tell their local press; they had to speak of their poverty, their lack of basic and practical help. What they had sought to hide they must now expose. Pride was to be overcome and dignity take its place. This all called for real courage and it was their first painful step in the now continuing revolution, but it was utterly essential if there was to be a better world for the disabled to live in. By 1970 the Government came up with the Attendance Allowance which covered some thousands of disabled people. In the main it was awarded to: