The Virtual Disabled People's Movement is a national network of genuinely Disabled People-owned organisations. For three decades, financial dependence on the state forced our organisations to compete rather than collaborate, and to comply rather than campaign. The VDPM breaks that cycle. Member organisations share intelligence, resources and solidarity freely. Criptos replace the funding leash. Democratic governance replaces administrative compliance. And a Kitemark ensures that movement language means what it says.
Share your answers, cast your vote, and become a founding member. Free, and 14 Criptos waiting for you.
The Disabled People's Movement established the principles of independent living. It named the barriers, built the organisations, and won the rights. But those gains are being eroded, and the organisations that were built to defend them have, in many cases, drifted from the principles that created them.
The VDPM is a structural response. Using blockchain technology to make the guarantee of democratic control unbreakable, not aspirational. Using digital currency to reward participation. Using a Kitemark to identify genuine Disabled People-led organisations and expose those that have adopted movement language without genuine commitment.
Build a legally grounded response to disability discrimination, citing the Equality Act 2010.
Open the tool → Twelve pillarsA guided journey through the twelve pillars of independent living, grounded in the social model.
Open the tool →A six-movement journey from the personal to the political, using the social model as your guide.
Open the tool → Five questionsFive questions to expose whether your organisation is one of the fold, or a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Open the tool → Never forgottenThe pioneers who fought so you wouldn't have to. Their names, their struggle, and why it isn't over.
Open the tool → Words matterDisabled People, not people with disabilities. Test what you know, and why the words were never just words.
Open the tool →Every vote is recorded on a blockchain that no board, no funder and no government can alter or override. One member, one vote. Structurally guaranteed, not just promised.
Every member has a share in their local organisation and in the national movement. You are a part-owner, not a service user. Not a beneficiary. An owner.
Members earn Criptos, the VDPM's own digital currency, for completing the Independent Living Challenge, referring others, and contributing to the movement.
A publicly verifiable standard distinguishing organisations with genuine structural commitment to the social model from those that have borrowed the language without the substance.
The Independent Living Challenge generates data about barriers across all 12 pillars of independent living, creating a national picture rooted in the real experiences of Disabled People.
A founding commitment that as the VDPM generates income, a defined percentage goes to direct action organisations chosen democratically by members.
Founded by Dr Harvey Cowe, a wheelchair user of over 40 years, trustee of two Brighton Disabled People's Organisations, and academic author published in Disability and Society.
Built by Disabled People. Tested by Disabled People. Owned by Disabled People.
The Brighton and Hove Virtual Disabled People's Organisation is the first organisation in the VDPM network. The Sunderland Region Virtual Disabled People's Organisation is the second, ending a DPO desert left when the city had no organisation of its own. Every person who completes the Independent Living Challenge and registers becomes a founding member with a share, a vote and 14 Criptos.
The model being built in Brighton and Hove and Sunderland is already replicating across the UK. Each local organisation will have its own identity, its own landmark, and its own colours, forming a colourful mosaic of locally rooted, nationally connected Disabled People-owned organisations.
Each satellite organisation has its own identity rooted in its place. Together they form one powerful national movement.
Each local DPO chooses its own landmark by democratic vote of its founding members.
New statements, campaign wins, and founding member news. No spam, and never sold on.