N.Z. link with Dundee home

Press, 30 December 1976, Page 13

N.Z. link with Dundee home

London correspondent A chance remark on a television programme nine years ago by the then Lady Fergusson has resulted in the opening of a 35-unit home for disabled people in Dundee, Scotland. “It was in 1967, shortly after we got back from New Zealand,” said Lady Bailantrae. “My husband was being interviewed about his spell in New Zealand as governor-gen-eral.

“I was asked whether I would be keeping in touch with people in New Zealand, and I spoke about the trust (the Laura Fergusson Trust) and its work for the physically disabled. “Within minutes we had had a phone call from Dr Margaret Blackwood of Edinburgh, and that’s how it all started. It was quite accidental, really — I thought it was a voice test.”

Dr Blackwood, a force’ ful campaigner on behalf of the physically disabled in Britain, has suffered from muscular dystrophy since she was a child.

“We need something like this in Scotland,” she told Lady Bailantrae — and shortly afterwards Lord and Lady Bailantrae visited Dr Blackwood in Edinburgh to discuss the possibilities.

“We looked into it for a year, rather than start up yet another organisation,” said Lady Bailantrae. “But there was a need for accommodation for people who were disabled but who could still go out and earn a living just like anyone else.”

Largely as a result of work by Dr Blackwood, the Chronic Sick and Disabled Persons Act, 1972, placed a statutory obligation on local authority social work departments to identify and care for

the needs of the physically disabled. About the same time the Scottish Trust for the Physically Disabled was established, with Lord Bailantrae as the chairman, and Lady Bailantrae a trustee.

Drawing heavily from the experience of the Laura Fergusson Trust in New Zealand, the Scottish 'rust began its work as an advisory, planning and consultative body, working in partnership with local authorities.

Last month the Queen Mother opened Blackwood Court, in Dundee — the first of the homes planned by the trust. It was built at a cost of $680,000 from the Government, and another $25,000 provided by the trust itself. The home includes 21 single and 10 double units, four family units, and a warden’s house. Two other homes are being built in Scotland —

a 39-unit complex at Peebles, near Edinburgh, and a 35-unit home at Wishaw, in Lanarkshire. Plans are well advanced for a 59-unit home in Edinburgh.

Blackwood Court, said Lady Bailantrae, was a pioneer project in Scotland, providing specially adapted accommodation without round-the-clock medical attention.

A warning system alerted the warden, however, if help was required.

“We have had a great deal of advice . and help from New Zealand,” she said. “They were able to give us a list of do’s and don’ts, — and their experience has been invaluable. “It has been helpful, too, for people here to know that the same problem is being tackled on the other side of the world.”