The Disabled Photographers' Society

More About The Disabled Photographers' Society

• A Brief History
  
  The Society was formed in 1968 by Arthur Scrase, Chairman of the Ham Photographic Club (now long disbanded). Three ex-servicemen living in at the Royal Star & Garter Home, Richmond had an interest in photography and, although severely disabled, they were able to attend meetings with the help of St. John's Ambulance staff, who brought them along to the meetings. However, owing to the severity of their disabilities, they were unable to operate conventional cameras.
  
  Another photographic society in the area was the Richmond & Twickenham P.S. who, at times, provided lecturers and judges for the Ham club. One of these lecturers, named Harry Wells, was an engineer, who ran the apprentice programme for C.A.V. Ltd. at Acton, London. Harry offered to try and find a way to adapt a normal camera for disabled use and began work on the project with his apprentices. The camera selected for modification was a Konica C35, a compact film model with auto exposure.
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• The Constitution
  
  In common with most societies, clubs and institutions the disabled photographers society has a set of rules, or constitution, within which the elected committee runs the society, in the best interests of its members. The founders of the DPS laid down the original constitution in 1968 and it has been amended several times during the forty-year history of the society.
  
  The first amendment we have a record for was in 1973, when the society was known as 'Photography for the disabled'. Changes made included the name of the bank used by the society and the month in which the AGM was to be held. Some more small amendments were made in 1996, by which time the current name for the Society had been adopted.
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• Volunteers - Do you have skill, expertise and some free time?
  
  The DPS relies upon volunteers for 100% of its activities, as we are not allowed, by our constitution, to employ paid staff. We have a very diverse membership, drawn from all areas of society and we have numerous people within our ranks who have a great variety of skills, in addition to photography. Many of our members already assist the DPS as committee members or as volunteers at various events.
  
  This does not mean that we do not have a need for additional help on a regular or intermittent basis!.
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• Complaints
  
  The DPS aims to provide service of a standard acceptable to all our members. If we fail to do this we want to know about it. This will enable us not only to deal with the specific problem, but also to avoid it happening again. This complaints procedure sets out how to take up matters if you think the service you have received from the DPS is unsatisfactory.
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