Disabled People's Direct Action Network protest flyer

Yellow 'Protest flyer' made by DAN (Disabled People's Direct Action Network) publicising their Rights not Roses protest at Leeds Station, March 1994. 'Why We Are Angry - British Rail's Garden is an Insult!' reads the protest flyer. This protest was in response to the opening of a garden at Leeds Station - DAN were protesting aginst the use of £40,000 funding to create this garden, while numerous platforms at the station were still inaccessible to disabled people, disabled passengers had to use the goods lift, and often had to travel in the guards vans of trains. Members of DAN disrupted the opening of the garden, and handcuffed themselves to a scheduled train due to depart Leeds for London. The flyer asks that the public 'support our action even if your journey has been disrupted this once' and make the protest even more effective by 'using the goods lift rather than the stairs... [to] bring home to BR [British Rail] how unsuitable and inaccessible their facilities are'. This object directly speaks to the way disabled people have been affected by inaccessible rail transport and facilities, and the action that has been taken to protest against this.Gill Crawford, the donor, was a founder member of DAN and organiser of the Leeds action.

This flyer relates to a protest by the Disabled People's Direct Action Network (DAN) that took place at Leeds Railway Station in March 1994, protesting about the lack of access for disabled people at the station - while British Rail were intending to spend £40,000 on a station garden. Gill Crawford, the donor, was a founder member of DAN and co-ordinator for DAN West Yorkshire, the organisers of the Leeds Station action. This object directly speaks to the way disabled people have been affected by inaccessible rail transport and facilities, and the action that has been taken to protest against this. It also acts as a call to action for non-disabled travellers, and speaks to the way travellers may have been affected by protest action.