Disability Hackney was created as a pilot project in 1998 by the London Borough of Hackney (LBH) and Hackney Council for Voluntary Service (HCVS), because of local concerns about the lack of an effective body to coordinate disability issues across the borough.
In 1999 LBH commissioned Greater London Action on Disability (GLAD) to conduct a feasibility study and consultation on the establishment of a disability umbrella organisation.
The feasibility study indicated that in a local authority where there is no such umbrella organisation, services for disabled people would be poorer, because service providers in the statutory and voluntary sector would encounter difficulties in consulting with service users with disabilities. As a result, the needs and opinions of service users with disabilities would be overlooked.
Simultaneously, a bid was being developed by Hackney Council for Voluntary Services (HCVS) for funding from European Social Fund (ESF) for project to work on access issues. The aim of that project was to train a group of disabled people as access consultants to give advice and guidance on access issues.
The bid for the access project was approved, but unfortunately, the money ring fenced for the establishment of the umbrella organisation by LBH got lost in the spate of local authority cuts to the voluntary sector in 1999.
Therefore, in February 2000, the stakeholder for both the access project and umbrella organisation decided to merge both projects. This is because they believe that one will not be viable without the other.
In 2001 Disability Hackney was established as a registered charity (1089805) to work with local partners, particularly Health and Local Authorities. In December 2003 Disability Hackney was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee (5005176).
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