Maggie Davis and her husband Ken followed the

Independent Living Independent living (IL), as seen by its advocates, is a philosophy, a way of looking at society and disability, and a worldwide movement of disabled people working for Equal opportunity, equal opportunities, self-determination, and self-respect. ...

Movement, opening a housing scheme in the UK at Grove Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield in 1976. They, along with other members Paul Hunt and

Vic Finkelstein Victor Berel Finkelstein (25 January 1938 – 30 November 2011) was a disability rights activist and writer. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa and later living in Britain, Finkelstein is known as a pioneer of the social model of disability and a ...

, of the

Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** Union (U ...

(UPIAS), initiated the ideas that led to the development of the

social model of disability The social model of disability identifies systemic barriers, derogatory attitudes, and social exclusion (intentional or inadvertent), which make it difficult or impossible for disabled people to attain their valued functionings. The social mod ...

History of Grove Road

In September 1972, Maggie and Ken established a cooperative to buy land, commission architects and design their own housing scheme, consisting of six flats three of which are wheelchair accessible. This was to be known as the Grove Road Housing Scheme. After four years, on 13 September 1976 they moved into Grove Road, which was designed specifically to enable them to have independence. In order to find accessible fixtures and fitting for their new home, Maggie and Ken had to source a kitchen sink from Sweden, which had enough room for a wheelchair under the sink, lowered work surfaces and ceiling hoists to enable access from the bed to chair to bathroom. Through working with the architects, they were able to ensure that the building and adaptations met their needs and enabled them to no longer be reliant on non-disabled people helping them. The idea behind the housing was to enable three homes for disabled and three homes for non-disabled residents in the building, with the non-disabled residents providing support and assistance to their disabled neighbours if required.

Legacy

Information and research on the Grove Road Housing Scheme and Maggie and Ken Davis is now held at the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(RIBA) Archive, and the 'History of Place' website, a project funded by the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

. Their story was showcased in 2018 at the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, London in their 'Without Walls: Disability and Innovation in Building Design' Exhibition.

References

British disability rights activists Disability rights activists {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Maggie