The VDPM is grounded in peer-reviewed research published in Disability and Society. The academic work and the activist work are not separate. They inform each other.
This article examines the landscape of organisations claiming to represent Disabled People, drawing a clear distinction between genuinely Disabled People-led organisations with structural commitment to the social model and those that have adopted movement language without the governance structures to support it. Drawing on the history of the Disabled People's Movement in the UK, including the work of the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation and the Disabled People's International, the paper argues for a new frontier in user-led advocacy: organisations that are not merely responsive to Disabled People's views but are structurally owned and governed by them.
This article explores the use of artificial intelligence as a tool for generating disability scholarship, examining both the opportunities and the risks. The paper argues that AI can lower barriers to academic participation for Disabled scholars who face structural obstacles to traditional academic production, including inaccessible research environments, inadequate personal assistance, and the additional time costs that impairment can impose. At the same time, it examines the risks of AI reproducing dominant non-disabled perspectives and the importance of critical engagement with AI outputs from within a social model framework.
This article examines the Brighton and Hove Federation of Disabled People as a case study in the drift from genuine Disabled People's organisational principles, drawing on Companies House and Charity Commission records. It compares early Disabled People's Organisations with organisations that have adopted movement language without genuine commitment to its principles, and argues for a Kitemark system to distinguish between them.
Dr Harvey Cowe holds a PhD in philosophy from Sheffield University with a focus on disability studies. His doctoral research examined the philosophical foundations of Disabled People's Organisations and the social model of disability.
He has served as a trustee of two Disabled People's Organisations in Brighton, bringing academic analysis and activist experience together in the governance of organisations committed to the principles of the movement.
The VDPM is the practical expression of this dual commitment. It is not a research project about Disabled People's organisations. It is an attempt to build one that lives up to the principles the research describes.
Dr Cowe is also a guest editor and contributor to Disability and Society, the leading peer-reviewed journal in the field, and is beginning a degree-level course in epistemology.
All references follow the Taylor and Francis Journals Standard Reference Style Guide: Chicago author-date (Version 2.0, 30 May 2023).