Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People was established in 1985, following 4 years of hard work by a group of disabled individuals from Greater Manchester. This involved meeting up with other disabled people around the UK who were setting up similar organisations, working out what GMCDP would do, writing a constitution and bringing together more disabled people from the Greater Manchester area.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, we networked with disabled people's groups from around the UK and the world, organised conferences, and campaigned for access to housing, public transport and adult social care provision.
We set up and published the nationally renowned Coalition Magazine, which was a space for debate about issues important to disabled people.
In the pre-internet days, it was very hard for disabled people to find information, so we produced and distributed factsheets and information bulletins to keep disabled people up to date with relevant information.
In 1990, we launched our first project specifically for young disabled people under 25 years old. We have continued to run young disabled people's projects up until 2020.
We set up the very successful Disability Action Training Project, providing training to disabled and non disabled people in the 1990s up until the 2010s.
In the 2010s, alongside other local disabled people's organisations, we set up the Greater Manchester Disabled People's Panel. The Panel aims to ensure that disabled people are involved and represented in all aspects of running and planning for the future of the city region.
We established the Disabled People's Archive which contains documents and other material from the history of both our organisation and the disabled people's movement more widely. Content is held at Archives+ at Manchester Central library and also available on the Disabled People's Archive Website.
We continue to campaign for access, rights and the full inclusion of disabled people. In 2022, we were part of the successful national campaign to keep rail ticket offices open
This video showcases some of our history during the 1980s and 1990s.
There are more videos about our history on the Disabled People's Archive YouTube channel.