Hallé Orchestra, guide dogs, and Lords mark 40th Anniversary of law for disabled people

Liberation for all


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26 October 2009

A turning point for the world’s disabled people will be commemorated in a special service in Manchester Cathedral at 7.30pm on Friday 6 November. It commemorates the 40th anniversary of the introduction by Alf Morris MP of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Bill, and its endorsement by the House of Commons at Second Reading. This world-leading legislation changed the lives of millions of disabled people in the United Kingdom, and has been followed by many other countries.

Conducted by Canon Gilly Myers, Precentor of Manchester Cathedral, this national service of thanksgiving will thank all those who worked to secure the Bill’s passage in Parliament and all those who have worked since then for people with long-term illnesses and disabilities.

The service will bring together a host of people, disabled and non-disabled alike, who have witnessed the ground-breaking social progress the Act has achieved. Alf Morris, Rt Hon Lord Morris of Manchester, and other dignitaries will be present. Several members of the House of Lords will speak of their own experience of disability and of the Bill. Organizations representing and working for disabled people will attend. These include Skill (the National Bureau for Students with Disabilities), Sense and the Seashell Trust.

Candles will be lit by people with disabilities in thanksgiving and hope for further advances. The Cathedral choir will be joined by the Chetham’s Chamber Choir and Manchester’s world-renowned Hallé Orchestra. Under Christopher Stokes, Organist and Master of the Choristers at Manchester Cathedral, passages from Joseph Haydn’s Creation will be played. Alf Morris commented: “This service will be a deeply evocative moment for me since it was here in Manchester that my Bill was born and bred. That it became the model for disability legislation worldwide is a tribute to this city. I am delighted that so many of the orchestra’s members wanted to take part.”

The Precentor or the Cathedral, Canon Gilly Myers, said: “Alf Morris, now Lord Morris of Manchester, has been a tireless and tenacious champion of disabled people. His outstanding contribution to the empowerment of the powerless has been recognised again and again, both nationally and internationally, and is an example to us all.

“The Act for which we give thanks has, indeed, changed lives and lifestyles, but Lord Morris and the many organisations represented at the service would bear witness to the fact that continuing work needs to be done, both in the supporting of people with disability and in the education of those who, in considering themselves to be ‘able’ and ‘normal’, harbour prejudice against others who are different. We have much to celebrate, indeed, but there is no room for complacency”

There will be a signed song by residents and staff from the Seashell Trust’s Griffin Lodge and York House, including many who are deafblind or have profound communication problems.

Canon Chris Ford, Vicar of St Mary the Virgin, Davyhulme, will preach.

In 1969, Alf Morris, then Labour MP for Manchester Wythenshawe, won first place in the ballot for Private Members’ Bills in the House of Commons. Strongly against the wish of the then Social Services Secretary, Richard Crossman and his Department, he chose to introduce a far-ranging Bill for chronically sick and disabled people. Drafted in less than three weeks, the Bill secured a Second Reading on 5 December 1969 and became law, in dramatic fashion, just ahead of the dissolution of Parliament for the General Election of 1970.

The Bill was the first of its kind in the world and has been copied or adapted by many other countries. Since its passage official statistics show that it has helped over sixty million people – more than the present population of this country. Its principal provisions were: 

  • rights of access for disabled people to the built environment, including schools and universities
  • the world’s first statutory provision for purpose-built housing for disabled people and help in adapting their homes
  • practical help as of right for disabled people in their homes, including the installation of telephones for those house-bound, and access to transport and other services outside the home
  • the world’s first recognition in law of autism and dyslexia
  • the world’s first legislation for the needs of children who are both blind and pre-lingually deaf
  • the world’s first Institute of Hearing Research 


Rt Hon Lord Morris of Manchester reads the final words of his speech commending his Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Bill to the House of Commons on 5 December 1969.

“Mr Speaker, if we could bequeath one precious gift to posterity, I would choose a society in which there is genuine compassion for long-term sick and disabled people; where understanding is unostentatious and sincere; where needs come before means; where if years cannot be added to their lives, at least life can be added to their years; where the mobility of disabled people is restricted only by the bounds of technical progress and discovery; where they have the fundamental right to participate in industry and society according to ability; where socially preventable distress is unknown; and where no one has cause to be ill at ease because of her or his disability.”

This speech was chosen among the great speeches in the House of Commons in the recent Centenary Volume of Hansard 1909-2009.

Skill (www.skill.org.uk) is a national charity promoting opportunities in post-16 education, training and employment, for young people and adults with any kind of impairment.

Sense (www.sense.org.uk) is the leading national charity that supports and campaigns for children and adults who are deafblind.

The Seashell Trust (www.seashelltrust.org.uk) is a “cradle-to-grave” organization offering high-quality services, provision and care for children, young people and adults with hearing, visual, multisensory, and complex communication and interactional difficulties. (Formerly known by name of the Royal School for the Deaf, Manchester, one of the oldest schools for deaf children in Britain.)


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