Housing for the Disabled

A training film, made in Cumbria, Gwent and Peckham Rye, revealing government thinking in the early 1980s

Gwent, Allerdale (in Cumbria) and, in particular, the Habinteg Housing Association estate in Peckham Rye all feature in this government training film. At a time of evolving policy both on disability and housing, it was used to raise local authority staff and contractors' awareness of issues around accommodation designed for wheelchair users and other disabled people, and various government-supported schemes.

From the very busy stables of World Wide Pictures, this item is a good example of the changing character of commissioned film in the early 1980s. Training films from this period would often borrow the look, feel and format of TV documentary: filmed on 16mm, a low-key combination of voiceover, location footage and interviews applied to the overall topic and to case studies. What we're shown is clearly intended to represent best practice - it was inconsistently applied elsewhere. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.