Our movement needs leaders

The disabled people’s movement needs more than one figurehead, says Andy Rickell. Now it’s time for our many talented leaders to start talking to each other

The election of Barack Obama as a black and progressive US President has prompted two thoughts. Firstly, it brings to mind the speeches of Martin Luther King as the leader of the US black civil rights movement.

Secondly, Obama’s progressive manifesto for US disabled citizens talks about the US showing world leadership on disabled people’s rights. The idea of rights movements needing leadership needs debating.

I have heard it said that the disabled people’s movement is weak because it has no obvious leader. Let me challenge that assumption.

Firstly, the idea of the single leader is generally a myth. Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela were indeed leaders, but the movements they were part of had several leaders, some of whom disagreed fundamentally with them.

Secondly, to be an effective single leader, that person must utterly embody the issue that gives them the personal authority to lead. King and Mandela came close as epitomes of their whole communities – clearly “black”, and emphasising universal rights and liberation.

There is less common identity among disabled people, outside the six per cent of them who identify with the social model. To be an effective disabled leader, the person cannot rely on identity, and must concentrate on a message that speaks to all disabled people – universal rights and equality, not different services, needs or impairments. We need diverse leaders who can share this common message.

Thirdly, we need to unpick what a “leader” is. In my opinion, it is anyone who shows “leadership”. And leadership is surely about having the courage to be first to challenge the status quo, to put principle and values ahead of personal reputation and advancement, and to speak up and speak out. This means that people in power and authority in the disability world aren’t necessarily leaders, and equally just because someone has no formal position, they may still be a leader.

If we therefore ask ourselves whether the disabled people’s movement needs leadership, the answer is a definite yes. The movement continues to need disabled people at all levels with the personal courage to champion disabled people’s rights, even when it is personally difficult for them to do so. What then needs to happen is that those leaders get the support and training to have the skills with which to wield their leadership effectively, building alliances with other disabled people at local and national level.

Do I think there are multiple leaders within the movement? Most definitely, and it has been my privilege to meet a large number of them operating at local and national level, particularly while at the British Council of Disabled People. Are our leaders being effective? I think there is room for some closer working between those people who are leaders, but true leaders of the movement have such commonality of purpose that, given the opportunity, we cooperate very well and to the same agenda.

Would we benefit from appointing a single figurehead? No, but it would be good to create a forum where leaders and leadership can build a more cohesive structure. Perhaps it’s time for the key organisations to think how that might be done.

• Andy Rickell is a disability rights campaigner