Disability

MS 1579/2/15

Disability

1992 - 2006

Copyright: Barrow Cadbury Trust and others

Partially Closed (Data Protection Act)

Organisations involved: Barrow Cadbury Trust, Barrow Cadbury Fund Ltd., Disability Programme.

Previous titles and/or title variations: n/a.

Related grant categories: equal opportunities, inclusive communities.

Dates of use: 1993/1994 to 2002/2003.

Cadbury Trusts grant subject filing reference number(s): 3 (informal).

The disability grant category emerged from equal opportunities work carried out in the early 1990s by the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust. Prior to the merger of the trusts in 1994 equal opportunities grants were made in three key areas: race, gender and disability. This last component was advocated by Eric Adams and adopted as an independent classification following the merger. The new disability heading incorporated ongoing disability themed grants from the defunct equal opportunities category. The Disability Programme was created to supervise grant making in this area under Relevant Trustees Edward Cadbury, James Cadbury and Roger Hickinbotham.

In 1994 trustees articulated their commitment to disability issues as follows,

Trustees seek to foster an inclusive and integrated society with particular emphasis on the needs of those with learning difficulties. Their prime concerns are the promotion of advocacy, independent living and work and training opportunities.

This emphasis on learning difficulties remained consistent throughout the existence of the category.

Disability Programme grant expenditure increased gradually in line with other programmes between 1993/1994 and 2002/2003. During its first year the Trust allocated £192,000 to twenty-one grantees, among them Action on Disability and Development, the Circles Network and Vision Homes Association. By 1998/1999 this figure had risen to £359,240 distributed to twenty-six recipients. During its final year the Disability Programme made £585,000 in grants to twenty-four grantees. Substantial and recurrent grants were made to the Circles Network, the Alliance for Inclusive Education, Parents for Inclusion, Network 81 and various Martin Yates independent living projects. While the figures above denote Trust expenditure, the Fund continued to play a modest supporting role for technically non-charitable disability grants.

The first grant files under the disability heading appear in the mid-1990s. However, existing grants transferred to the category often retain their original, pre-merger file references. The preponderance of disability grants were administered by Eric Adams who took a great interest in the work of the Programme. Some of these files are labelled with filing reference numbers. It appears Adams used the number '3' as an informal reference for disability grants or grant organisations formerly supported under the equal opportunities heading. For instance, the reference 'EA/3/10(d)' appears to refer to Eric Adams/disability or a former equal opportunities grant/the tenth disability grant organisation (in this case the Circles Network)/disability. Numerous variations in file referencing appear among disability grant files. Copy minutes from the Disability Programme may appear in grant files in addition to relevant Trust or Fund minutes.

In 2003/2004 the disability category was deleted as part of a further reorganisation of grant categories. Most grants under this heading, together with some of those from the Gender Programme, Racial Justice Programme and Community Organising Programme were transferred to the new Inclusive Communities Programme.