What an *excellent* Disabled Historians Doing Disability History Zoom meeting tonight about museums and disabled representation.
(I was dressed for it and everything rather than covering up my jammies top with a cardigan 😜)
- Really interesting points raised about the heritage sector’s reliance on volunteer labour, the widespread expectation for disabled labour to be free, and how badly that intersects with the barriers disabled folk in particular face with ridiculously strict requirements to keeping benefits.
- Really interesting discussion about the backlash faced by an exhibition that acknowledged Henry VIII as a disabled person later in his life late last year, despite literally everyone knowing he had chronic pain from his leg ulcer and how much that impacted him as he aged, and how this feeds into the wider issue of “so many disabled experiences being disregarded or unrepresented because they don’t fit the abled idea of what disability is.”
- Really excellent points made about how many museums *only* focus on accessibility when thinking about disability. Which is really important, of course, but does feed into the “so many places will have accessibility for audience but not for speakers or performers” issue, because they can *just* get their head around disabled people listening, but not disabled people speaking or leading. Because they don’t believe disabled lives or disabled viewpoints have relevance or value.