Why the BBC drama Then Barbara Met Alan brought tears to my eyes | Frances Ryan

To see on primetime television the activists who fought for disability rights in the 1990s was a profoundly moving momentBefore we even reach the opening titles of Then Barbara Met Alan – the BBC’s one-off drama depicting the fight for the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which aired on Monday night – Barbara has graffitied “piss on pity” on a bus stop and turned down going for a drink with Alan because, in her words, she’d just end up getting drunk and giving him a blowjob. It is an instruction to the audience from the off to reject their preconceptions: this is not disabled people as you might think.The story of how disabled activists – led by Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth – used direct action to lobby for the UK’s first disability civil rights law is one you’d be forgiven for not having heard before. Disability history is not taught in schools. It is not dramatised for entertainment and is rarely the subject of documentaries; on the odd occasion that the subject is on British screens, it’s likely to have been from the US – as in the 2020 documentary Crip Camp. As a result, I’d wager most of the British public think disability rights were introduced in the 1970s along with other anti-discrimination laws, like those legislating against sex and race prejudice, and came about by benevolent authorities gifting rights to the grateful disabled.Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist and author of Crippled: Austerity and the Demonisation of Disabled People – now... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2022-03-22 06:00:48 UTC ]
News tagged with: #monday night #bus stop #disabled people #direct action #british public #guardian columnist #audiobook

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Why the BBC drama Then Barbara Met Alan brought tears to my eyes | Frances Ryan'


Wheelers exit Lonely Planet as BBC assumes full control

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 18/02/2011 - 16:55 Lonely Planet founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler have ended their ties with Lonely Planet, the guidebook publisher they founded in 1973. BBC Worldwide acquired 75% of the publisher in 2007 for £89m, and has now paid a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #guidebook publisher #lonely planet #remaining shares


Hearst sets eyes firmly east with Lagardère deal

The decision by the owner of Cosmopolitan to buy Lagardère's international portfolio, and the rights for Elle, reflects the shifting sands of the magazine marketplace. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Macintyre to chair BBC Samuel Johnson Prize

Publication Date: Tue, 15/02/2011 - 09:47 Operation Mincemeat author Ben Macintyre is to chair the judging panel for this year's BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. The panel also comprises historian, writer and broadcaster Amanda Vickery, Prospect's editor-at-large David Goodhart,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #judging panel


Barbara Cartland is latest author to be wooed by digital

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 11/02/2011 - 07:59 The estate of the romance writer Barbara Cartland has fallen to the embrace of digital, in a move that sees her print publisher suffering a painful rejection. About a quarter of Cartland's extensive ouevre is to be published... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #barbara cartland #latest author #published digitally #ebook format


Hearst walks away from BBC Magazines deal

Hearst Corporation, parent to the National Magazine Company, has confirmed for the first time it is no longer in talks to buy BBC Magazines following its Lagardère move. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hearst corporation


Tablet sales will hit 1m in France this year - GfK

Written By: Barbara Casassus Market research firm GfK has predicted that 1 million tactile tablets will be sold in France this year. A total of 435,000 worth 220 million euros were sold here in 2010, a strong start for the new market. Although tablet sales for Christmas were reported not to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #tablet sales #strong start