Criptos reward Disabled People for contributing to the movement they own. The Kitemark protects that movement from organisations that adopt its language without its principles.
Criptos are the VDPM's digital currency. The name is a political reclamation, like crip theory and crip pride before it, taking a word used to diminish Disabled People and turning it into something that represents power and ownership.
Criptos are not speculative. They are earned by participating in the movement you own. Completing the Independent Living Challenge, referring other Disabled People, contributing to peer support, attending governance meetings, these are all ways to earn Criptos.
In the VDPM's Phase 1, Criptos are an internal record of participation. When the blockchain infrastructure launches in Phase 2, they will be transferable to a digital wallet. In Phase 3, founding members will be able to exchange Criptos on an open platform.
Criptos are not voting tokens. One member, one vote, always, regardless of how many Criptos a member has earned. Voting rights cannot be bought. They can only be earned by becoming a member.
Reclaiming the word. Rewarding the movement.
Take the Independent Living Challenge and register as a founding member to earn your first 14 Criptos.
When someone you refer completes the challenge and registers with your name, you earn 14 Criptos.
Peer support, governance participation, campaign activity. More ways to earn Criptos will be revealed as the movement grows.
Criptos are recorded and held by the VDPM. Every founding member's Cripto balance is logged and will be honoured when the blockchain launches. This phase is likely outside FCA regulation as an internal token system.
When the VDPM's blockchain infrastructure launches, founding members' Criptos will be transferred to individual digital wallets. Members will be able to send and receive Criptos within the movement.
Following FCA registration, Criptos will be exchangeable on an open platform. The value of Criptos will reflect the value the movement generates through consultation fees, Kitemark licensing, training income, and partnerships.
The Kitemark is one of the VDPM's most important tools. It provides a publicly verifiable standard that distinguishes organisations with genuine structural commitment to the social model and to Disabled People's control from those that have adopted the language of the movement without the substance.
This matters. The proliferation of organisations that call themselves user-led, Disabled People-led, or co-produced while remaining governed and controlled by non-disabled professionals, funders, or provider interests has caused serious damage to the movement. It confuses the public, misleads policymakers, and drains resources from genuinely member-owned organisations.
The Kitemark is not the VDPM offering to validate other organisations. It is a tool the movement is developing collectively, and we want the input of direct action organisations, academics and Disabled People in shaping its criteria.
Get involved in shaping the KitemarkThe majority of trustees, directors and senior decision-makers must be Disabled People. This is structural, not aspirational.
The organisation must demonstrate genuine commitment to the social model in its governance documents, its language, and its practice.
Members must have genuine power to hold the organisation to account, including the power to remove directors and change priorities.
The organisation must demonstrate independence from social care providers, NHS bodies, and other organisations with a financial interest in how Disabled People's needs are defined.
Governance decisions and financial information must be publicly available and accessible to members in plain language.
One of the most damaging developments in the disability sector in recent decades has been the proliferation of organisations that have adopted the language of the Disabled People's Movement while operating in ways that are fundamentally at odds with its principles.
These organisations use terms like user-led, co-produced, and nothing about us without us in their mission statements and funding bids while being governed by non-disabled professionals, delivering services on behalf of local authorities, and treating Disabled People as beneficiaries rather than owners.
The VDPM Kitemark is designed to address this directly by providing a clear, publicly verifiable standard that allows Disabled People, funders, policymakers and the public to distinguish genuine movement organisations from those that have borrowed the language without the substance.