International Day of Disabled People

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In Uncategorised|14 March 2023|By Roasmund Oats

Manchester celebrated IDDP21 at Manchester Central Library on Friday, 3rd December. A joint event between Manchester City Council, Manchester Libraries and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Participants explored past and present cultures of disability. A series of short talks prepared for UK Disability History Month (see here) was followed by a panel including Young Creatives and Hamied Haroom from the University of Manchester, who discussed their own experiences of disability and perceived impairments.

Linda Marsh discussed the GMCDP’s archive, part of the Disabled People’s Archive at Manchester Central Library. Recently awarded a major grant by the Wellcome Trust this important collection will soon be made available to anyone interested in the history of disability and disability activism.

Videos by the Young Creatives and Music by the Spotlighters provided entertainment.
We were also joined by Venture Arts, who ran a workshop on votives (see here); Seashell Trust; GMCDP; and the People’s History Museum.

 

This event includes videos prepared to celebrate UK Disability History Month, for more information on #UKDHM see here


A small model of a left arm made in bronze, it has aged and has some green marks on it. REL: Votives of body parts were left at temples as people prayed that those body parts would be cured.

Disability in Ancient Rome

Dr Emma-Jayne Graham examines the votives, or models of body parts, made by or for disabled people and explores the experience of disability in the classical world. You can watch her talk here (please note this version has captions only, a BSL-interpreted version will be uploaded shortly).

Dr Emma-Jayne Graham is a Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies at the Open University with expertise in Ancient Rome. She uses archaeological remains to explore ideas about religion and disability in Roman Italy, her most recent book is Reassembling Religion in Roman Italy (2021). As well as exploring classical disability she runs The Votives Project.