In the organizer's words:

"Being disabled is beautiful!", "Better alive than normal!" or "Nothing about us - without us!" - these exclamations are characteristic of the strong self-confidence of disabled people. However, the departure from being the grateful object of care to the goal of autonomy and self-determination required struggles that are in danger of being forgotten. Breaking through the usual perspective of the "special career" from the special school to the special cemetery required courage and staying power. After all, entrenched structures of segregation, diverse discrimination and everyday disenfranchisement were part of the unquestioned tradition of dealing with people with disabilities.

"Frech und frei" tells of the resistance of a developing self-determined life movement since the mid-1970s. It tells of the permanent confrontation with established norms, values and body ideals, which often still bore the imprint of the National Socialist past. It recalls demonstrations against anti-disability court rulings and stage and town hall occupations. It documents protests for the barrier-free use of buses and trains and traces the resistance against new "euthanasia" demands and selection through human genetic techniques. It outlines the rocky road to disability rights being incorporated into the German constitution and warns of the threat of a rollback due to the rise of radical right-wing thinking.

Moderation: Philipp Seitzer (Menschenstadt Essen)