The world’s oldest organisation for disabled people – the National League for the Blind and Disabled (NLBD) – is continuing to fight for its members in its 125th year.
This week the NLBD, which now forms part of the Community trade union, took its fight for improved access to urban spaces for blind and disabled people to the Scottish Trade Union Congress. The union has been challenging Glasgow’s SNP-run city council over recent changes to the layout of the city centre, and tabled a motion to Congress calling on council leaders to urgently review the city’s cycle lane strategy.
The motion highlights that new ‘shared space’ layouts – which encourage roadways and public spaces to be shared between pedestrians and road users – have had a detrimental impact on blind and disabled people, with kerbs, pedestrian crossings and textured surfaces being removed in order to make room for new and wider cycle lanes.
The motion presented by NLBD chair and Glasgow city councillor Robert Mooney (pictured above) also notes that the removal and relocation of pedestrian crossings has meant pedestrians have to walk across cycle lanes before they can access safe crossings – meaning that collisions can only be avoided if pedestrians hear cyclists.
Jennifer Dean, Community’s Head of Equalities, said:
“The right to movement is a basic human right and the NLBD and Community’s fight to remove barriers to urban spaces for blind and disabled people raises the stark reality that our cities and towns are becoming inaccessible for many people. It is deeply wrong that vulnerable people are no longer able to safely navigate roads due to a lack of foresight, understanding and consultation during planning. Bicycle lane planning must be reviewed and changes implemented to remove the barriers people are facing and ensure everyone can access our cities and towns safely.”
Steve Farrell, Community’s Regional Secretary for Scotland, said:
“Ill-conceived roadway changes, particularly around cycle lanes, have made Glasgow city centre dangerous for blind and disabled people; vulnerable residents who feel they are having to take their safety into their hands as a result of the council’s poor urban design. Our members in the NLBD know first-hand experience that this kind of inadequate infrastructure is discriminative against disabled people who should be able to move around their communities without fear. We will continue to fight against these ill-considered changes until decision-makers at the council and in Holyrood take notice.”
Campaigning is nothing new to the NLBD. Registered as a trade union in 1899, the NLBD rose to national prominence in April 1920 when it organised a ‘Blind March’ (pictured above)to protest the poor working conditions and poverty experienced by blind people. The march, which saw over 250 blind people march on London from across the UK, culminated in a demonstration in Trafalgar Square which was attended by over 10,000 people.
Following the march, NLBD leaders met with Prime Minister David Lloyd George, whose government would go on to pass the Blind Persons Act of 1920 – the first disability-specific legislation to be passed anywhere in the world. The act reduced the pension age for blind men from 70 to 50; required local authorities to ‘promote the welfare of blind people’ for the first time; allowed blind children to take the same exams as sighted children; and regulated the operation of charities for blind people. The legislation would be superseded by laws passed by the post-war Labour Government and the 2010 Equality Act, but it still remains on the statue book in the Republic of Ireland where it passed into law two years prior to the country’s independence from the UK.
The blind march, and its clarion call of ‘Social Justice Not Charity’, would inspire a generation of campaigners for fairness and equality, including the Jarrow Marchers of 1936.
125 years on from the founding of the NLBD, its vice-chair Steven McGurk is now President of Community – the union the NLBD became part of in 2000.
Community President Steven McGurk said:
“The NLBD has a rich history and tradition of campaigning that continues to this day, both in Glasgow and in branches across the UK. The message of the march for the blind – ‘justice not charity’ – is just as relevant today as it was then. Blind and disabled people want dignity at work, and dignity in the communities they live in. As part of Community, the NLBD will continue to challenge injustice wherever it festers, and will never shirk away from speaking truth to power. It’s so important that we amplify the quiet voices which are too often crowded out of the conversation.”
Community will be presenting a further motion on ensuring that shared spaces are accessible to all at the TUC Conference on the 24th and 25th May.
Whether on the streets of Glasgow or the corridors of power in Westminster, this 125 year-old organisation will continue to fight for blind and disabled people for many years to come.
You can watch NLBD Chair Robert Mooney’s address to Scottish TUC Congress on YouTube here (38:28 -42:01).
Pictured above:
- Glasgow City councillor and NLBD chair Robert Mooney speaking at Scottish TUC Congress this week.
- Photograph of participants in the 1920 Blind March on London with ‘Justice Not Charity’ banner
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