ABSTRACT
On the 19th of September 2011, one day before Budget Day, many people with disabilities demonstrated in The Hague against the budget cuts in social and health services that were planned by the Dutch government. Among the protesters was a group of disability activists operating under the name Terug naar de bossen (Back to the woods). The name of this group refers to the situation before the 1990s, when many people with disabilities were housed in institutions in the countryside. Since then, many people with disabilities have left these institutions and have taken their place in society. This recent activism has emerged because “this state of equality is threatened by measures of the government” (www.terugnaardebossen.nl, 2012). Terug naar de bossen places itself explicitly in the tradition of disability activism as it was developed during the 1970s (www.terugnaardebossen, 2012). But, as was the case 40 years ago, Dutch disability activism is not very strong and does not receive much attention in the media. Why this is the case is one of the issues that we want to explore in this chapter.
