12th April, 2023
This presentation is based on my recently finished research project called “Work without bosses, homes without landlords, and nothing about us without us: Researching disabled people’s involvement in co-operatives in the UK”. This research found notable synergies in terms of ideas and principles between co-operatives and the Disabled People’s movement, despite there having been little formalised connection between them in the UK, unlike some other countries.
Co-ops were also found to have an important material role in challenging disablement in many areas of everyday life, including but not limited to employment and housing, for many disabled people. This is small-scale at present, but has the potential to be become much larger, particular if greater dialogue and connection between co-ops and the DPM are established. However, co-ops are not a panacea – there are limits to the scope of their intervention, and actually existing co-ops often subscribe, intentionally or otherwise, to disabling ideologies.
In this talk I will present perspectives from disabled co-operators interviewed in my research, examine the commonalities between co-ops and the DPM, and suggest some practical steps for harnessing the potential of the co-operative form for disabled people’s liberation.
Steve Graby is an independent scholar-activist in the field of Disability Studies and the Disabled People’s Movement. Their PhD thesis, ‘Personal Assistance: The Challenge of Autonomy’ led to their current ISRF-funded research on disabled people’s involvement in co-operatives (of all kinds) in the UK. Their other research interests are neurodiversity, the social model of disability and its intersections with queer and trans-inclusive feminist theory, anarchism and psychogeography.
