1970

What: The act was introduced by a private members’ bill and was an attempt to standardize local authority services under Section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948 and to make them mandatory. It applied a duty to local authorities to know who in their area required support and to make arrangements, such as public toilets, access to university and school buildings, badges for vehicles, and special education. The Act also more explicitly acknowledged that disabled people may also require care in their own homes, rather than the original NAA 1948 that provided for disabled people in hospitals and institutional settings. 

Why significant: Colin Barnes described the CSDPA 1970 as merely listing the services that local authorities could provide, qualifying that services should be provided when ‘necessary’, ‘practical and reasonable’ (Barnes and Oliver, 1991).