Paul Darke

Paul Darke (born 20 January 1962) is a British academic, artist and disability rights activist. Darke is an expert on disability in film and politics.

Paul Darke
Born1962
Camberley
Alma materUniversity of Warwick
Keele University
University of Wolverhampton
Political partyLabour Party
Spouse(s)Claire Darke

Early life and education

Born in Frimley, Camberley, Darke attended special education boarding schools in Kent and Hampshire.[1] He left school with little to no qualifications. In interviews, he credits an encounter with a fellow patient who was a psychologist during an unforeseen stay in hospital, to return to education.[2][3] He also met his future wife, Claire, who was working there as a nurse.[4]

After a few years out of education, he went to study at the then Wolverhampton Polytechnic at the age of 23, doing a computer access course for the disabled.[5] He gained an MA in American Literature from Keele University. In 1999, he completed his PhD on the portrayal of disabled people in film at the University of Warwick.[6]

Academic work

Darke's work on disability and film had a major impact on academia and society.[7] He invented the term 'normality drama', to describe a film genre which focuses on the life and experiences of a disabled protagonist. His theory is that normality drama uses abnormal— impaired—characters to deal with a perceived threat to the dominant social hegemony of normality.[8] He has written about movies such as The Elephant Man and Whose Life is it Anyway, as well as television shows such as Family Guy calling Seth Macfalane's show a 'bold step forward in the canon of disability works'.[9] He regularly contributes to broadcast media.[10]

He has received a Wingate Scholarship and a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Scholarship to research disability and culture in western societies as well as exploring disability access to pilgrimages and shrines.[11][12]

Activism

Darke is the founder and director of Outside Centre, a disability arts organisation based in Wolverhampton. It created the first ever Disability Film Festival in the United Kingdom.[13] Outside Centre also worked to improve the health of local disabled people through a health and well-being programme.[14]

He is also an artist and filmmaker. He produced 'Motion Disabled', an art installation using motion capture technology to represent real disabled people that was shown in over 20 countries.[15][16] In previous roles, he held the role of director at the West Midlands Disability Arts Forum, and worked with Disability Arts in Shropshire for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.[17] He published a book about the London Paralympic Games from a disability art perspective.[18] In addition, he helped launch the UK Disability History Month and has written Disabiliy Equality Training for the United Nations.[19][20]

He is a philatelist, holding the largest recorded collection of disability themed stamps in the world.[21][22] To further document disability history, he is a producer at the Invalid Carriage Museum.[23][24]

In 2017, Darke created and organised Wolves in Wolves, the largest public art exhibition which took place in Wolverhampton.[25]

Darke is a significant voice and active member of the British Labour Party advocating for disabled people's rights. He is an active supporter of Momentum and has hosted events at The World Transformed and the Labour Party Conference.[26][27] He has previously called Labour politician David Blunkett 'in denial of his impairment as an experience' and has criticised the outsourcing of work capability assessments to Atos alongside Disabled People Against Cuts.[5][28] He has also worked with the European Network of Independent Living to support disabled people's human rights and submitted evidence to parliamentary committees.[29][3] He has been included on the list of the UKs most influential disabled people.[30]

Whistleblower

In 2001, Darke ran a website criticising charity Leonard Cheshire to highlight their role in institutionalising those with disabilities and neglecting those in their care. He bought the domain name www.leonard-cheshire.com after resigning from the role of national advocacy officer and their public affairs committee.[31] Among other things, he stated that 'the main reason you cease to be a Leonard Cheshire service user is death' and that charity donations would pay for 'private medical insurance of senior directors and management get-togethers costing £10,000 a weekend'.[32]

After a heated debate on BBC Radio 4, as well as 50,000 hits on the website, Leonard Cheshire submitted a complaint to the World Intellectual Property Organization.[33] WIPO ruled that Darke has no right or legitimate interest in the domain name; and that it has been registered and used by him in bad faith.[34]

As of today, the domain name is unused. Leonard Cheshire have subsequently changed their name to Leonard Cheshire Disability. The case is now citied in legal textbooks.[35]

Personal life

He is a wheelchair user who has spina bifida.[3] His wife, Claire Darke, is the mayor of Wolverhampton,[36] they have a son.[37]

References
  1. "A profile of the Mayor and Mayoress of the City of Wolverhampton". www.mayor.cityofwolverhamptoncouncil.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  2. "BBC - Ouch! (disability) - Interviews - 13 Questions: Paul Darke". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  3. "Meet Dr. Paul A. Darke, (UK)". ENIL – European Network on Independent Living. 2009-12-04. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  4. "Just the Ticket". The News (Guildford). 24 May 1985.
  5. Times Higher Education. "Blunkett is in denial of his impairment as an experience". Times Higher Education.
  6. Darke, Paul Anthony (1999). The cinematic construction of physical disability as identified through the application of the social model of disability to six indicative films made since 1970 : A day in the death of Joe Egg (1970), The raging moon (1970), The elephant man (1980), Whose life is it anyway? (1981), Duet for one (1987) and My left foot (1989) (phd thesis). University of Warwick.
  7. Lewis, Ingrid; Canning, Laura, eds. (2020). European Cinema in the Twenty-First Century: Discourses, Directions and Genres. Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-33436-9. ISBN 978-3-030-33435-2.
  8. Darke, Paul (1998). The disability reader : social science perspectives. Shakespeare, Tom, 1966-. London: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-5360-0. OCLC 747110723.
  9. Darke, Paul (2013). Different bodies: essays on disability in film and television. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-6535-4. OCLC 870297741.
  10. "The Deep Dive - Episode 8: Dr Paul Darke On Cinema, Popular Culture And Disability".
  11. "Artist Detail". www.wingate.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  12. "Exploring disability access to pilgrimages and shrines | Winston Churchill Memorial Trust". www.wcmt.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  13. BBC. "Disability film festival begins". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  14. "West Midlands Communities for Health Network Projects Evaluation" (PDF). West Midlands Communities for Health Network. 2011. p. 96.
  15. Mckeown, Simon. (2010). Motion disabled : exhibiting difference. Simon Mckeown. ISBN 978-0-9565348-0-4. OCLC 751699921.
  16. "REF Case study search". impact.ref.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  17. Darke, Paul. All swim in the river of life and lean towards salvation : experiencing the 2012 Paralympics from a disability art perspective. Darke, Walker,, Darke, Marie Claire,, Jolly, Debbie,, Whitehurst, Ann. Wolverhampton. ISBN 978-0-9565348-9-7. OCLC 908396408.
  18. M21 : from the Medieval to the 21st century : live art interventions by disabled artists in the birthplace of the modern Olympic Games, May 2012, Damian, Diana,, Geliot, Emma,, Invalid Film Crew,, Live Art Development Agency,, DASH (Organization), [London], ISBN 978-0-9561342-9-5, OCLC 892134455, retrieved 2020-09-23CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. "UKDHM – Successful day Conference and Launch of UKDHM on Portrayal of Disability in Moving Image Media". Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  20. Carr, Darke, Kuno (2012). Disability Equality Training: Action for Change. Kualar Lumpur: MPH Publishing. ISBN 978-967-415-859-0.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. "Stamps". www.digital-disability.com. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  22. "Bounce! arts festival weekender program 2014". Issuu. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  23. "Home: Invalid Carriage Museum". invacarmuseum.org. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  24. "Invalid Carrriage Register: Fighting Disabled People's Exclusion - 2018". www.invalidcarriageregister.org. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  25. Labhart, Jessica. "Final chance to say farewell to Wolves in Wolves". www.expressandstar.com. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  26. Furley, Paul M. "THE Disability Event of the Labour Conference Fringe". www.thinkingliverpool.com. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  27. "Labour conference: Fringes hear call for ideas on how to resist years of oppression". Disability News Service. 2018-09-27. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  28. "Open Letter on Atos 'Healthcare' to the BMJ and RCN – DPAC". dpac.uk.net. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  29. "House of Commons - Culture, Media and Sport - Written Evidence". publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  30. "The List". Disability News Service. 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  31. Hague, Helen (2001-05-02). "Wiped out". the Guardian. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  32. Clark, Laurence (2003). "Leonard Cheshire vs. The Disabled People's Movement: A review" (PDF). University of Leeds: Disability Archive UK.
  33. Lake, Howard. "Leonard Cheshire Foundation in domain name dispute". fundraising.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  34. "WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2001-0131". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  35. Reed, Chris, 1956- (2004). Internet law : text and materials. Cambridge University Press. p. 97. ISBN 0-521-60522-9. OCLC 1170452061.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  36. Keen, Liam. "New Wolverhampton mayor hails 'great opportunity to celebrate city'". www.expressandstar.com. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  37. Thandi, Gurdip (2019-05-17). "New mayor looking for 'girl power' in year of office". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
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