Interview with Anne Pridmore
“Well, the district nurse could come any time between eight o’clock and midnight. Well no, it’s not a flexible lifestyle to have so you had to stay in, and the first time the district nurse came, she came at eight o’clock, and I went to bed. Well, I couldn’t stay in bed from eight o’clock till nine o’clock the next day, without wanting to go to the toilet, so this was a big issue for me. So I taught meself to get in and out of bed. It was quite dangerous because I was in the wheelchair, I had to stand up and hold on to the bedrail, swing round, and I had to lift my legs into bed, and it would take five or more attempts to get them in. Anyway it was better than being dictated to, so mostly I would let them come and get me undressed, but then I’d go to bed when I wanted to, but it was difficult to have any sort of social life, well it was impossible.” Born 29 October 1939
Educated school for physically handicapped at Bromley Hall
Tape 1, Side 1
Born in 1939 in Stockport. First child. Difficult birth. Visits to health professionals: professor of brain surgery, physiotherapists, orthopaedic hospital for about 18 months aged five. Learning to walk. Splints. Harsh regime in hospital – no food taken in. Bed wetting. Restrainers. First orthopaedic operation at nine to lengthen the tendons in the back of my ankles - 49 stitches in each leg. Operation repeated at 13 - wore callipers. Late in life was residential home visitor to four men with cp who were in a psychiatric ward till their late 50s. Arthritis. Father went to war the year Anne was born – not a close relationship. Grandmother lived with family. Getting married. Fighting to go to mainstream school. Youth clubs. Full-time employment at 14 for 25 years. Business school to learn shorthand, book-keeping, typing. Taking a degree in aged 40+ after husband left. Death of grandmother. She kept a sweet shop in Stockport during the war. Air raids and rationing. When Anne was 10, mother had another baby who had cp and hydrocephalus and died. Mother adopted sister Catherine, 11 years younger. Inclusive education. School discipline. Friends.
Tape 1, Side 2
Anne fell into river with three-wheeler. Wearing out shoes because of dragging feet. Keeping hens in wartime. Food. Pocket money of half a crown. Going to the cinema. Youth clubs. College for disabled people in Devon. Boyfriends. Accounting course. St Lloyds College for the Disabled. Shopping in Exeter. Food terrible. Going to the pub in invalid cars. Drink driving. Working at a construction company who made golf buggies. Started at 15 at an engineering works as an invoice typist. Worked at pharmaceutical then a ship-building company. Audio typing at an electronics company, working on an accounting machine. Became an audit clerk. Attitudes in the 1970s. RSA in book keeping and typing. Periods and sex education.
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Tape 2 side 1
In hospital at age five for 18 months. Plaster of Paris splints. Wearing callipers with two walking sticks. Special school emphasis on physiotherapy and getting children to walk. Returned to mainstream education. Met partner on book-keeping course in 1961 at St Lloyds College, a training college for disabled people. Anne got a job doing wages in an engineering firm in Stockport. Partner came from Market Harborough and was one of 9 children with 8 sisters. First time Anne met his family at sister’s engagement party. 1964 wedding. Honeymoon in Blackpool. Moved to Market Harborough to live with mother-in-law. He had MS and worked in an accounts department with the Rutcliffe and Wycliffe Society for the Blind. Moving into their own bungalow but neighbours were all old people - Anne was 23 and the nearest in age was 65. Incontinence. Bath night on a Friday. Mealtimes. Outside toilet. Worked full time until 1979. Playing bridge. Happy marriage for 21 years. Open University. Brian said that he wanted to leave Anne. Marriage guidance. Social Services.
Tape 2, Side 2
At 44, Anne had to organise care from a hairdresser who was paid £12 a week. The district nurse would come between 8pm and midnight. Difficulty getting in and out of bed. On income support. Rigid care plan. Getting a dog in 1984. Bath nurse. Hysterectomy. Lack of care for disabled people in hospitals. Husband was main carer. Studied psychology at Open University. Leicester Education paid fees. Summer school. Depression. Degree. In 1991, Independent Living fund provided 14 hours care per week. Met Jane Campbell who was already buying in her own care. Wrote to Director of Social Services in Leicestershire to complain about indirect services. Set up Independent Living project through an organisation of disabled people in Leicester, Fair Deal. It took 7 years to get 24/7 care. Became chair of Fair Deal, an advocacy and empowerment organisation, and chair of Leicester Centre of Independent Living. In 1986, went to Parkhurst Hotel in Sandringham run by Leonard Cheshire. Relationship with man with MS who lived in Houghton Regis in a John Grooms flat. Agoraphobia.
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Tape 3 Side 1
Disability politics. Moved to the Leicester Centre for Integrated Living and got involved as a representative for the British Council of Disabled People for 5 years before becoming chair of the BCoDP. Rachel Hurst from Disability Awareness in Action asked Anne to be a rep on the European National Council and then chaired ENC for 6 years before going back to BCoDP. Only acknowledged what it was really like to be a disabled person at 44. Happy memories of school. Lonely teenage years. Attitudes disable people. Anne was Sunday school teacher in home town and in Market Harborough. Attending church. Jane Campbell, the guru of independent living. Difficulty for charities to get good trustees. Charity law. Elected as the National Council in the UK Forum delegate to Europe. Manifesto for disabled women and children. A women’s committee run through BCoDP by email. UN Convention on Human Rights. Disability issues are different for women. Employing Personal Assistants for 13 years. What makes a good PA. Abuse - theft and mental abuse. Anne taken to tribunal (without legal aid) and lost £7,000. Support organisation paid on its indemnity insurance. Case went on for 2 years and Anne went back onto anti-depressants.
Tape 3 Side 2
Six-month trial periods for PAs. One woman had a problem with standing transfers. Travel all over Europe. In Scandinavian countries no 24-hour care funding unless on life support. Croatia has Direct Payments. Organisations for disabled people get all of the funding - British Council for Disabled People is hard up because it campaigns against the government. Very big Spanish charity for blind people. Scope’s change of image and its residential homes and special schools. Scope reserved posts for disabled people. Scope’s CEO, trustees and staff. Volunteering. BCODP women’s committee. Disabled dating agency. Longest relationship was for 2 years and the others 6 to 12 months. All of Anne’s partners have been non-disabled.
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Tape 4 Side 1
Good self-image due to her mother’s nurturing. At school, the only disabled child but rarely excluded. Left school at 14 to go to business school. Until 1984, when her husband left her, she had no contact with any other disabled people. It wasn’t until her friends had boyfriends that she began to feel excluded. Attending St Lloyds, Exeter at age 21 was a revelation. Disabled People’s Movement. Writing for the disability press. Few stories for children featuring disabled people. Importance of inclusion in early years. Complex family relationship. Mother’s feelings about disability. Anne’s relationship with her adopted sister.
Tape 4, Side 2
Adopted sister visited twice in 20 years. Wedding became a “tragic but brave” newspaper story. Has lived in old people’s accommodation since the age of 23. Full care package. Increased involvement in the disabled movement including Fair Deal and Leicester Centre for Independent Living. Became involved with BCODP in the 90’s and is now acting chair. How BCODP has changed. Scope’s Independent Living Zone. Ran a peer support group for 2.5 years called Peer Point. Independent living and inclusive education. Experiences with former carers and PA’s. Chair of the UK Forum. Disabled Women’s Committee. European Disability Forum. 11 years undergoing medical procedures. Social model of disability.
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