The Chronically Sick and Disabled Act 1970 – the world’s first piece of disability rights legislation - passed into law 40 years ago this month. According to its architect, Alf Morris, the act almost didn’t make it into law because of government opposition but he remains proud of its legacy.
The act has been emulated in a number of other countries and has been followed in the UK by a number of other steps to enhance disabled people’s rights.
Community Care columnist and disability activist Simon Heng has described the act as an "act of emancipation", leading to the death of "care prisons, asylums and institutions" and the birth of personalisation and direct payments. Leading disabled people see it as a landmark but have also hailed the role of the disability rights movement in achieving positive change over the past four decades.
However, they also warn that there are many challenges left to tackle for disabled people: poverty and hate crime are rife while social care remains severely rationed.
This reflects what our legal expert, Ed Mitchell, describes as the unfulfilled promise of the 1970 act.
Among many other measures, it placed a duty on councils to provide community-based care services for disabled people in need.
However, councils were permitted to take into account their resources in deciding on whether disabled people were in need – restricting access for many.
On a statistical level, equality for disabled people remains a long way off (see below). But with four decades of disability rights behind us, it is clear that while this continues many people – disabled and non-disabled – will be prepared to struggle to narrow the gaps that remain.