Paul Hunt (activist)

His father improvised his first wheelchair and he continued living at home for a few months, but soon he was moved to stay full-time at the Queen Mary's Hospital in Carshalton where he took his 'O level' exams two years later.

Papers in his archived Collection show he is negotiating for "patients" rights with the Chair of the Management Committee of Le Court in July and August 1958.

Judy Hunt noted later (archive papers) that in the early 1960s Paul had a particular interest in the Civil Rights Movement run by Black people in the US, and that he found this analysis of discrimination and oppression to be a useful social tool.

Paul Hunt edited a book - Stigma[10] - with chapters written by twelve disabled people which was published in 1966 by Geoffrey Chapman.

[12] Paul Hunt wrote Chapter 5, Disablement, in the book, The New Poor: Anatomy of Underprivilege, edited by Ian Henderson and published in 1973.

[13] Talking about the recently passed Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970, the private member's bill promoted by Alf Morris MP, Paul Hunt wrote: Paul Hunt was a founder of the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) in 1972 and led the thinking in developing the social model of disability, as it became known.

[14] His letter published in The Guardian newspaper on 20 September 1972 proposing a union of disabled people against segregated living was a political turning point.

[15] In 1973 he wrote a nationally published article against the building of more Young Disabled Units (YDUs) in hospital grounds instead of accessible flats and houses with support.

The papers of the Judy and Paul Hunt Collection are in the process of being added to the Disabled People's Archive in Manchester, UK, to be based at Archives+.