The first party, the International Year of Disabled People, and the Festival of Mind, Body and Spirit
The first 'Outsiders' party was held at 48 Boundary Road in London, a revolutionary new residential establishment, purpose built for its disabled residents to run themselves. The party was a blast, attracting almost two hundred people: members, friends and people who were simply stunned and excited that such a club could exist. Many people came along just to celebrate our existence.
All this was costing very little. Members paid a small annual fee, and the club was run from my home. We met regularly in a restaurant where everyone paid their own bill. Parties held at Boundary Road didn't cost anything since people bought their drinks at the bar. The only cost was printing and postage. It was much too exciting to worry about all the time it was taking, and Vieta and I had plenty of time anyway. David, by this time, had lost interest, but Nigel was very supportive, although he was setting up his own tape magazine for blind people, Soundaround.
1981 was the International Year of Disabled People, and many of our disabled members were upset by the events being planned, with a 'wheel them out, give them tea and sticky buns, then wheel them back again' attitude. We decided to compensate for this, with three major projects.
First, we had a stand at the Festival of Mind, Body, Spirit at Olympia. We hung semi-translucent drapes around our stand, so people could just see inside. Visitors to the festival were treated to wheelchair rides and other experiences of disability, before they were invited to come inside and mingle. Many of those people joined up and some have stayed really supportive members ever since. It was a great moment for integration. We had lip reading classes and many disabled people who had never been able to articulate their frustrations did so with others who witnessed the pain of socialising when you're disabled, first hand.
We also mounted an art exhibition. Entitled 'Emotions in Focus', we collected art from all over the world which expressed the desires of people with disabilities. We got financial support from the Arts Council to produce our catalogue and help with the judging, and the Round House Gallery offered us their space. 'Outsiders' members contributed to the organisation and design. It was our greatest gesture to IYDP, counteracting that 'tea and sticky bun' aspect, by putting on an exhibition of International art which was, by and large, erotic. Some of the exhibits were highly controversial, in particular, pieces from Simon Parritt (now Director of the London Institute of Human Sexuality, a post which resulted directly from his involvement in the exhibition), which included erotic photographs of his disabled body and a 'spastics collecting box girl' which was transformed to show that some girls with disabilities start their menstruation much earlier in life than other girls. We had exhibits from famous disabled artists including Victor Willing and Steve Dwoskin. The exhibition gained much press, most of it patronising, but many of the visitors claimed they gained enormous personal insight. The exhibition went on tour around the UK, but everywhere we went, we seemed to get more and more censored. It was, nevertheless, a historic venture. Artists included people from Japan (where disabled people seldom get out of institutions) and people from Germany who had been injured in WW2. One of the artists, Pauline Leatherdale, died before the show opened, and so the exhibition became part of her funeral procession. It was profound.
The final contribution to IYDP was the presentation of two papers at an International Congress of Medical Sexology, held in Israel. One was presented to the main conference on our behalf by Dr Raymond Goodman, because it coincided with the Festival of Mind, Body, Spirit in London. After the festival, I flew straight out to Tel Aviv to present a more detailed paper to the Post-Congress Symposium on Sexuality and Disability. Wendy Greengross, founder of SPOD, stood up to salute the brave efforts of 'Outsiders'. The Symposium gave me enormous optimism.
I decided that so many of the members needed help with their personal lives, that I should get some professional training. Going on a course would also give me a chance to see how to run one, so I could learn how to train others to run 'Outsiders'. I took the two-year course in Human Sexuality at London University, from St George's Hospital, and obtained a diploma. I am now a qualified sex therapist, and offer my time freely to any member who requests it. 'Outsiders' does not supply surrogate sex workers, but I am looking at ways of getting an independent service set up within other professional organisations.