Lecturers from the Department of Disability and Education are hosting a collaborative workshop designed to challenge disability stereotypes through art.
Drs Marie Caslin, Ella Houston and Erin Pritchard have joined forces with DaDa Fest young leaders to explore how disabled people have been represented in TV, art, film, books and magazines.
Young people with disabilities aged between 11 and 25-years-old are invited to take part in a workshop taking place on Saturday 3rd November at the Bluecoat, Liverpool.
Designed to provide an opportunity to share experiences and meet new people through exploring preconceptions about what disability is and means to different people, the workshop will feature professional artists. The artists will help attendees create pictures that express thoughts on how disabled people are shown in culture, and these will be displayed in Liverpool and on social media.
Dr Caslin said: “During the workshop, young people will be able to think about how disabled people have been shown in culture throughout history. We will ask some questions, for example: ‘Can we laugh at disability? Why? How?’, ‘How do you think this [cultural representation] might make people act toward disabled people?’ and ‘If you wanted to make a piece of art, song, book, advertisement about disability - what would you focus on?’.”
The event is part of the Festival of Social Sciences - a national week-long event run by the Economic and Social Research Council - which features more than 300 events across the UK, and part of DaDa Fest 2018.
Running from Thursday 1st – Thursday 8th November, DaDa Fest 2018 centres around the theme of Passing: What is your legacy, and will see events take place at more than 50 venues across Merseyside.