Papers of Dr Fred Reid

Documents relating to Dr Reid's involvement with the National Federation of the Blind of the United Kingdom, Association of Blind and Partially Sighted Teachers and Students (ABAPSTAS), Association of Disabled Professionals, Disability Alliance, Open University, Royal National Institute for the Blind and Warwickshire Association for the Blind.

Fred Reid was born in Glasgow in 1937. At the age of fourteen he went blind and finished his schooling at the Royal Blind School, Edinburgh (an experience described in his novel 'The Panopticon').

He studied history and law at Edinburgh University between 1958-1962, graduating with first class honours, and obtained a doctorate from Queen's College, Oxford, in 1967. Between 1966 and 1997 Dr Reid lectured in history at the University of Warwick.

Prompted by his own experiences, "at a very early stage [he] resolved to speak up for the rights of blind people". Dr Reid served as President of the National Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted from 1972 to 1975 and as a trustee of the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) from 1974 to 1987 (and again from 1999 to 2006). In 1970 he helped to form the Association of Blind and Partially Sighted Teachers and Students and edited its Bulletin for several years.

Dr Reid was also actively involved in the organisation which campaigned on behalf of the rights of disabled people in general, serving on the executives of the Disablement Income Group (DIG) and the Disability Alliance.

[Information from www.fredreid.co.uk/biography.html , accessed on 13 June 2013]

This collection is available to researchers by appointment at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. See http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/using/

Link to full catalogue: http://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/REI