The VDPM is a structural response to the erosion of Disabled People's control over the organisations that were built in their name. Using technology to make democratic governance unbreakable, not aspirational.
The VDPM does not promise democratic governance. It builds it into the structure so it cannot be removed.
Every person who completes the Independent Living Challenge and registers becomes a member with full voting rights from day one.
Every vote on every decision is recorded on the blockchain. No board can override it. No funder can veto it. No government can remove it.
From the local landmark to national campaign priorities to how income is distributed, members make the decisions collectively.
All decisions, all votes, all financial distributions are publicly verifiable on the blockchain. Transparency is structural, not optional.
Every Disabled People's Organisation in history has promised democratic governance. Many have delivered it. But promises can be broken, boards can be captured, and funders can attach conditions that shift control away from members.
Blockchain makes the promise structural. When a vote is recorded on a distributed ledger, it cannot be altered, deleted or overridden by any single actor. The record is permanent, public and verifiable by anyone.
This matters because the history of the disability sector includes too many organisations that began with genuine democratic governance and gradually became dominated by non-disabled professionals, funders, or provider interests. The VDPM is designed so this cannot happen.
Criptos, the VDPM's digital currency, are also recorded on the blockchain, creating a transparent record of participation that no administrator can manipulate.
Learn about CriptosThe VDPM is not an organisation that does things for Disabled People. It belongs to Disabled People. Every decision, every priority, every use of resources is determined by the membership. Non-disabled people may work alongside the movement but they do not lead it, govern it or own it.
The VDPM starts from the position that disability is created by social organisation, not by impairment. Organisations affiliated with the VDPM must demonstrate genuine commitment to the social model in their governance, their language, and their practice, not just in their mission statements.
The conditions that make independent living possible, accessible environments, personal assistance, adequate income, peer support, are not charitable extras. They are what an inclusive society owes every Disabled Person. The VDPM campaigns for these conditions as rights, not as services to be rationed.
An organisation that talks about the social model but does not put resources behind the campaigns fighting for those rights is not living its values. The VDPM has a founding commitment that a defined percentage of income goes to direct action organisations chosen democratically by members.
Each local DPO in the VDPM network has its own identity, its own colours, and its own landmark chosen democratically by its founding members. Together they form a colourful mosaic of locally rooted organisations that act with one powerful national voice.
The VDPM uses blockchain governance and digital currency not because technology is fashionable, but because it provides structural guarantees that traditional governance cannot. Technology serves the movement's values. It does not define them.
The Brighton and Hove Virtual Disabled People's Organisation is the first organisation in the network. Every person who completes the Independent Living Challenge becomes a founding member with a share, a vote and 14 Criptos.