Twenty years ago I went to Uganda with Action on Disability and Development (ADD), which was funded by Comic Relief, to see how best to support disabled people. They were at the bottom of the pile of people struggling to survive after years of civil war. The new government of President Museveni wanted to give special attention to women, young people and disabled people in its new model of society. So, after long discussions with disabled people, we decided to tackle the problem by supporting the development of a rights-based disability ‘movement’.