Beyond Samosas and Reggae - what a great title for a book. The book is subtitled “A guide to developing services for black disabled people”. It was published in 1995, and is only 48 pages long, but it must be hard to get hold of because I could only find one (used) copy available on Amazon and that was going for £88.

A paper by the same author with the title I’m Not Asking to Live Like the Queen (SCIE 2005) outlined the wishes of service users on the future of social care for adults.

The author is Nasa Begum and in 2008 she appeared on the BBC programme Don’t Get Mad Get Dom with Dominic Littlewood which showed British Airways refusing to let her on a flight from India because she was unaccompanied. She fought successfully for BA to recognise her right to travel independently.

Sadly, Nasa died on 24 May 2011. But as a writer, researcher and campaigner Nasa was very clear on a one message, which lives on.

People who have a disability do not need help but simply an equal opportunity. Nasa’s hard work campaigning for equality should be inspiring as we seek to make equal the rights and opportunities for everybody in today’s society.

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