disability-history-timeline-2013

Achievements of disability rights campaignersAchievements of disabilityrights campaigners16201845Petition of thePoor Distracted ofBedlam to the Kingof England about theappalling conditionsthey suffer.The Alleged LunaticsFriend Society isestablished byJohn Thomas Perceval(1803-1876), theson of a British primeminister who spenttime in an asylum.He later writes two books about his timein asylums. The Society takes up the casesof over 70 patients and, in the process,exposes abuses in several asylums,including Bethlem Hospital. Percevalbecomes a formidable campaigner forlegal reform of the lunacy laws and bettertreatment for people with mental illness.1890Deaf people form the British Deaf andDumb Association to protect and promoteBritish Sign Language. A steering group setup to establish the constitution includessix Deaf men and six hearing men. Thereare objections to the inclusion of the word‘dumb’ in the organisation’s title, thoughthe name lasts until 1970.18