Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation

The Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) was an early disability rights organisation in the United Kingdom. It established the principles that led to the development of the social model of disability, wherein a sharp distinction is made between impairment and disability. From the organisation's policy statement: "What we are interested in, are ways of changing our conditions of life, and thus overcoming the disabilities which are imposed on top our physical impairments by the way this society is organised to exclude us." (UPIAS founding statement)