The Bevica Foundation has shaped society since 1872
Pastor Hans Knudsen was a true philanthropist who, in partnership across organizations and people, created the societal changes he saw as necessary.
The history of the Bevica Foundation begins with a retired priest named Hans Knudsen who, one autumn day in 1872, gathers a small group of influential men at the Royal Shooting Range on Vesterbro in Copenhagen with the primary purpose of “giving people with mobility disabilities the greatest possible independence and independence”. At that time, no one in Danish society had a responsibility to help people with mobility disabilities.
At that time, there was no significant focus on the development of aids, treatments or other measures that could help the individual. As a person with disabilities, you were left to your own fate, and unable to fend for yourself, you could only get help through the provisions of the Poverty Act. However, the consequence of receiving poor relief entailed the loss of rights, such as the right to vote.
In other words, as a person with disabilities, one was heavily dependent on others, and equality and equal opportunities were an unknown phenomenon. However, Hans Knudsen, together with a small group of influential men, succeeded in founding the Society for Disability, which would later turn out to be the beginning of a real social service in Denmark and thus a significant turning point for people with mobility disabilities.
The Society evolved over time to encompass almost every link in the effort to provide people with mobility disabilities with optimal opportunities for an equal life.
Here on the site we have collected some of the foundation's milestones and similarly major upheavals in society.
Hospital business was developed, which later became a public task and taken over by the public, educational institutions and employment projects were created, aids developed and researched, and fertile ground was created for the establishment of knowledge and interest organizations.
The Society for the Disabled, which later became Society and Home for the Disfigured (Sahva) and today the Bevica Foundation, was founded on the philosophy of “self-help”.
Today, the Foundation focuses on the concept of universal design as a lever to meet Denmark's obligations under the UN Convention on Disability and the transversal principle of the UN World Goals Leave No One Behind.
We have collected the history of the foundation on the left, other relevant societal milestones we have collected on the right.
The Society for the Disfigured is founded by Pastor Hans Knudsen
Pastor Hans Knudsen, together with a group from the Copenhagen bourgeoisie, founded the Society for Vanför Vanför. From the beginning, cooperation with others was established with the aim of giving the greatest possible autonomy and independence to people with mobility disabilities.
Societies marked by inequality
Society is characterized by great inequality. Movement disabilities are treated medically and considered primarily as the individual's problem. There was no help to be had from the community for people with disabilities at that time.
Johanne Petersen comes to the Society for the Disfigured
Early on it was established that education was as important as treatment, and in 1875 Johanne Petersen came to help with that task. Until her death in 1922, she ended up having great importance for further development. Among other things, she is behind a number of schools and workshops, which throughout time train children and adults in skills that enable them to live an independent and independent life. Johanne Petersen also started Hjemmet for Vanin 1893 — partly for her own funds — and in 1895 moved both her home and school business under the same roof in Toldbodgade. The success led to the construction of Geelsgårdskolen many years later.
The insane get their own organization
In September 1925, Landsforeningen af Vanis established as an interest organization for the disfigured. The task was to make visible the disfigured in society. Over the years, the organization has been of great importance to the disability cause in Denmark. Today, the organization exists under the name Dansk Handicap Forbund. Since its inception, close ties have been maintained with the Society and Hjemmet for Van, and the Danish Handicap Association continues to be represented on the foundation's board with one seat.
The state takes over some of the tasks
Before 1933, there was no real disability care, but with the Social Reform of 1933, it becomes a state duty to provide treatment for people with disabilities, and the framework for assistance is considerably expanded. The Society and the Home for the Disabled, as the foundation is now called, will be recognised by the state and will receive many more development and operational tasks from the authorities.
Denmark hit by polio epidemics
At the beginning of the 1950s, Denmark was hit by serious polio epidemics, especially affecting children. Due to the lack of facilities for the treatment of the affected children, the Society and the Home for Vanbuy a former seaside hotel in Hornbæk and convert it into a hospital for polio sufferers. Many years later, the place comes to serve as rehabilitation for spinal cord injured run by the Region.
Geelsgårdskolen becomes a reality
Due to high demand for the Society and Hjemmet for Van's school provision, a modern school building was built in 1955, which was specially designed for the disabled: Geelsgårdskolen. Today the school is run by Region Hovedstaden.
The Disability Fund is established
With the aim of “supporting efforts to help people with disabilities in Denmark to the extent that such assistance is not provided by the public authorities”, the Disability Fund will be established in May. The then chairman of the Society and the Home for the Disabled had a seat in the working group that laid the seeds for the foundation.
Egmonthøjskolen sees the light of day
In 1956, Egmont High School was established in buildings acquired from the Society and the Home for the Disabled. The buildings were extremely inaccessible to people in wheelchairs, which is why a new and highly accessible college was inaugurated in 1961. The high school has since been expanded in many stages and today can accommodate 200 students with and without disabilities.
Foundations for Hans Knudsen's Medal are instituted
The medal will be given for the first time to the former Minister of Justice K. K. Steincke. It will be replaced by the Bevica Foundation's Accessibility Award in 2010.
Kommunalreformen Allows Special Care to Counties and Municipalities
With the municipal reform of 1970, special care for people with disabilities is outsourced to counties and municipalities. In time, the Society and the Home for the Disabled will transition hospitals, clinics and schools to the public.
The relational disability concept is gaining ground
The relational disability concept is institutionalized as the WHO adopts an international classification of disability and disability, which dictates that disability = disability + barriers. In doing so, they take a step away from the medical understanding of disability, where the gaze is directed at the individual and one is focused on fixing the problems the disability presents to the individual.
Ron Mace defines universal design
American architect and wheelchair user Ron Mace defines the concept of universal design that later becomes a central focus of the Bevica Foundation's work. The original definition of the term reads: Universal design [is] the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extend possible, without adaptation or specialized design.” Later, Mace develops the concept together with a wide variety of professionals with the 7 principles and 8 objectives.
Society and Home for the Disabled becomes Bevica Foundation
The foundation divests the primary business of Sahva A/S and changes its name from the Society and Home for Vanto the Bevica Foundation. The Fund's main activity is the distribution of funds to projects that promote the quality of life of people with reduced mobility. The Fund's activity is primarily application-driven, but there is also a desire for more outreach efforts aimed at the fund's primary target groups and with a particular focus on research — but also other projects.
Denmark ratifies the Disability Convention
Denmark ratifies the UN Convention on the Disability of Persons with Disabilities and thus undertakes, among other things, to “promote research and development in universally designed goods, offers, equipment and facilities”. The explicit requirement of the Convention on Disability to develop and use universal design will later become a fundamental part of the Bevica Foundation's work. The ratification of the Convention on Disability will also be a breakthrough for the relational concept of disability in Denmark, and there is a beginning and broader recognition that it is in meeting the framework that a disability arises.
The Accessibility Award is awarded for the first time
The foundation established the Bevica Foundation's Accessibility Award in 2010. In the same reshuffle, the foundation establishes Fundats for Hans Knudsen's Medal, which was established by Sahva in 1961. The Accessibility Award will be awarded for the first time in 2011 to then-mayor of Høje-Taastrup Michael Ziegler. The award will be dropped again in 2019 after careful consideration. In 2021, the Bevica Scholarship Programme will be established as a result of that process.
Fund sharpens strategy
The Bevica Foundation's strategic efforts will be sharpened around three broad themes: Work, Health and Accessibility.
A new way of working
As a result of the work of the past year, it is decided that the Foundation's efforts should be problem-driven, proactive and in partnership with relevant organisations and knowledge institutions. In this context, it is decided that the fund will no longer be driven by applications and the first steps towards cooperation with the Royal Academy — Architecture, Design, Conservation will be taken. The collaboration will finally land the following year and will become a role model for the subsequent partnerships with DTU, Design School Kolding and AAU Innovation.
The Royal Academy and the Bevica Foundation enter into partnership
The Bevica Foundation and the Royal Academy of Architecture, Design, Conservation are partnering to implement accessibility and universal design in research and teaching focusing on people with mobility disabilities.
The UN Global Goals become a common marker
The UN Global Goals become a common benchmark The UN launches the 17 World Goals and the cross-cutting principle of Leave No One Behind. Denmark, together with the other countries of the UN, commits itself to actively work towards achieving the objectives. The SDGs and their commitments will be an important guide for the Bevica Foundation's strategic work.
SDGs and universal design become central to the Bevica Foundation
The Transversal Principle of the World Goals Leave No One Behind becomes a key and key value in the Fund's strategic work: it is decided at the same time that the Fund, in its work with other parties, can embrace all persons with disabilities rather than a slightly narrower focus on mobility, which, however, remains the Fund's primary target audience. The decision is entirely in line with the philosophy behind universal design's focus on the varying functional abilities of the body throughout a lifetime.
Universal Design Hub to be established
The Bevica Foundation's efforts are concentrated in three main tracks, which are based on the Leave No One Behind agenda of the world goals and universal design, and the Universal Design Hub and the research network will be established. The aim is to strengthen the interdisciplinary field of research on universal design, disseminate knowledge and make universal design relevant. The target audience of the work is those who set the framework for the life lived: politicians, scientists, engineers, architects, designers, students, craftsmen, opinion-makers and more.
The voice of young people from the life lived becomes central to the work
The Bevica Foundation enters into a 5-year operating agreement with the interest organization Association of Young People with Disabilities (SUMH). With the agreement comes a commitment to young people to deliver voices and lived experiences into the Foundation's work and other partners and partnerships.
Bevica Foundation creates the conversation
On 21 October 1872, retired pastor Hans Knudsen meets with 15 people from the Copenhagen bourgeoisie at Skydebanen on Vesterbro in Copenhagen. The small group, which, in addition to the pastor, consisted of doctors, pharmacists, and businessmen, founded the Society for Adopting Disfigured and Mutilated Children, with the aim of providing adequate means of assistance and, moreover, providing for the education of the children in crafts or other positions which enabled them to support themselves.
Bevica Foundation celebrates 150th anniversary with focus on human vision
The Bevica Foundation celebrates its 150th anniversary and focuses on human vision. In connection with the anniversary, the Bevica Scholarship Programme is launched, which in its first roll runs from 2023-2024. The programme replaces the Bevica Foundation's Accessibility Award, which was awarded for the last time in 2019. The Bevica Scholarship Programme is awarded every two years.
Bevica Scholarship Programme gets underway for the first time
The first winners of the Bevica Scholarship Programme, launched in conjunction with the foundation's anniversary in 2022, will be sent out into the world. The aim of the program is to generate knowledge, activate the Foundation's interdisciplinary research network, create new collaborations with educational institutions and support the Foundation's strategy of ensuring universal design as a fundamental knowledge topic in the curricula of the country's educational institutions.
Denmark faces criticism from the UN
The United Nations Committee on Disability issues a number of criticisms of Denmark and the conditions of people with disabilities. Among other things, the Committee specifically criticizes Denmark's implementation of universal design in services and public transport. In addition, the Committee criticises the level of knowledge in the civil service and the general understanding and attention to the rights of persons with disabilities in the population. In light of the criticism, the Committee recommends, among other things, that Denmark disseminate and promote the understanding of universal design.