Blind Workers against Charity

Founded in 1893, the National League of the Blind was the first nationwide self-represented group of visually impaired people in Britain. This book explores its campaign to make the state solely responsible for providing training, employment and assistance for the visually impaired as a right, and its fight to abolish all charitable aid for them.

“The book highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of the League’s approach, documenting its successes and the compromises it had to make along the way. … by shifting the lens from charity to activism it has the potential to build a bridge between disability and labour history that may suggest new approaches to those working in these areas … .” (Shurlee Swain, Labour History, Issue 110, May, 2016)

Matthias Reiss is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Exeter, UK. He has published widely on the experience of marginalised groups in history, such as the unemployed, prisoners of war and African Americans. His current research focuses on street protest and social movements from the nineteenth century to the present.