Interview with David Mills

“See I didn’t really, when I was at school, one of the things I couldn’t do was write: but of course I could read all right. Someone at the centre I went to from 1974 onward, helped me to, to learn to write, and I can write a couple of things.…I mean, when I was at school, they gave me a typewriter, because it was easier to write, which is true. Computers: wonderful; because, I mean, I can use a little bit of skills that I learnt with my typing, and just follow my nose.…Then I got this other computer, which I got from Ability Net, and, I’ve got email, and I go on the web. I know exactly what I want.”

Born 17 May 1953

Educated Phoenix Centre, Farnborough, Kent; Vallence School, Westerham, Kent

Tape 1, side 1

Born in General Lying-In Hospital, Lambeth on 17 May 1953. Diagnosed at age of four with cerebral palsy and labelled ‘mentally retarded’. Home tutored from age of six. David has sister who is four years older. Family moved in 1955 to Barnhurst in Bexley Heath, Kent. Mrs Larner tutor in 1959. In 1986, mother died; father died in 1999. Registered as partially-sighted. David didn’t walk until aged seven. Local friend Celia Comber. The Phoenix Centre in Farnborough in Kent. In the winter of 1963, David went to Vallence School in Westerham, Kent, which is residential school run by Kent County Council for people with all types of disabilities. Attitudes of staff. Exams. Feeling of underachievement at school. Ambition to drive. Prospects for relationships. Operations in 1962 and 1967. Curvature of the spine. Surgical boots. Leisure activities. Phab Club in Bexley.

Tape 1, side 2

Went to Phab Club from 1971 to 1978. Church of England. Sister got married in 1972. Meeting Lord Soper in 1996. 21^st birthday cake in the shape of a record player. Aunt’s inaccessible house in Hereford. Pets: a cat and a terrapin. Attitudes of parents to disabled people.

Download transcript of tape 1

Tape 2 side 1

Not offered examinations at school. Playing with his sister. Three days a week doing printing in a hut in Erith with a local group. Using a typewriter at school. Days out to churches and cathedrals, Leith Hill Tower and Malvern Hills. Started to use a wheelchair in 1982. Changing attitudes to disabled people. Phab club committee. Parents’ involvement with the Spastics Society local group from 1957. Phoenix Centre.

Tape 2 side 2

Played concert at an old people’s home in Swanley. Queen’s Silver Jubilee. Brent Centre. Computers. In 1989 David organised an Arts Day at the Beck Theatre [Hayes] and Grassy Meadow Day Centre [Hayes]. Service Users’ Committee. Vice Chair of the London Partnership Committee of Scope. Standing for the Executive Council of Scope. Honeycroft day centre. Ability Net, the computer advice charity. Singing in folk clubs. Made a demo tape in 1991. Freedom Pass gives free travel on London's public transport for people aged 60 or over and for some disabled people. Disabled Person’s Railcard.

Download transcript of tape 2