Dr. Margaret Blackwood
1924-1994
Campaigner for the rights of disabled people
Catherine Margaret Blackwood was a campaigner for the rights of disabled people, founder of the Disablement Income Group (DIG) in Scotland, and of the Margaret Blackwood Housing Association (MBHA) now one of Scotland’s leading housing and care providers.
Margaret was born in Dundee and went to school in Edinburgh. While at secondary school in 1938 she was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, a progressive disease with no cure. She left school in 1943 and then spent the next twenty years in despair - All my dreams were taken from me.
In 1965, having moved to Edinburgh with her parents, she learned that in Surrey Megan Du Boisson had set up DIG to campaign for a National Disability Income. This inspired her to establish DIG (Scotland) in 1966. She lobbied Scottish MPs, organised a Marchon Wheels protest along Princes Street, Edinburgh to demand equal opportunities, and addressed a rally in Trafalgar Square, London - We exist. Help us to live was the cry. According to the Edinburgh Weekly (1968) she had turned from a vegetating invalid to a warrior in a wheelchair. The campaign was successful; in 1970 the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act, which introduced financial benefits for disabled people including mobility and attendance allowance, was passed.
Margaret continued to campaign for people with mental or physical disabilities to be able to live independently within their communities, with the same rights , voice and opportunities as the able-bodied i.e. to live life to the full. She founded the MBHA in 1972 to help disabled people live in accommodation designed around their needs . The first home opened in Dundee in 1976. In 1977 she established the Blackwood Trust to provide personal care for those with special needs. Now MBHA provides 1600 homes, four registered care homes, care at home and housing support. She campaigned relentlessly for innovation, change and new technologies for disabled people.
In 1978 she married fellow disability rights activist Charles McGrath, while he was in an intensive care unit. Charles died two weeks later.
Margaret was awarded an honorary doctorate from Aberdeen University and an MBE.
Liz Jogee
Sources:
Leighton, P. Margaret Blackwood McGrath. Profile 2000
Blackwood, Margaret. Autobiographical article. In Open Door: Dec. 1991
Darling, S. Funeral tribute Margaret Blackwood McGrath an appreciation (quoting from Edinburgh Weekly May 1968) 1994
Robertson, Colleen.Report for AGM of MBHA 17 th September 2014
Ewan, E and Innes, S and Reynolds, S (eds.). The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish women. EUP 2006
Obituary In The Scotsman 29 th January 1994.
