National Museums Liverpool Blog - access for all

Our new Equality and Diversity policy is available to read or download from our main site.

Our runners-up certificate

You might remember that we asked you to vote for our Engaging Refugees and Asylum Seekers programme in the DSC Social Change Awards. Unfortunately we didn't win, but were runners-up which out of 380 proposals and a longlist of 90 is still pretty good. We were also given a certificate featuring a rather fine cartoon from The Spectator and Private Eye cartoonist, Grizelda. Well done to the Papworth Trust who did win the category and 'thank you' to everyone who voted.

Curator Ashley Cooke gives a tour of the Ancient Egypt gallery with BSL interpretation.

Here's Treasure House Theatre Co-Ordinator Jo Connor, to tell us about last week's DaDaFest events at the World Museum!

Last Saturday, the World Museum held a number of inclusive events as part of DaDaFest 2009. Led by Treasure House Theatre demonstrator Paul Netterfield, visitors enjoyed an afternoon of events based on the World Cultures gallery.

The aim was to provide accessible events for visitors from the local deaf and disabled communities and their families. It included a new show from our adult drama group volunteers. The show followed Dr Huw (Dr Who, get it?) as he visited the World Museum to discover more about Earth's various cultures both past and present. He explored the Egyptian and Ethnographical collections and their collectors. Actors from the group also played the parts of the various collectors who had contributed their objects to the museum in its 150 year history.

Our curators also got involved, with Oceania collections curator Lynne Heidi Stumpe, helping out with research and leading one of the tours. Curator of Ancient Egyptian collections Ashley Cooke, also led a fascinating tour around the Ancient Egypt gallery. We were also lucky to have a number of volunteers who helped out on the day, handing out programmes and creating the background for the show amongst many other things.

All of the tours, shows and events on the day included British Sign Launguage (BSL) interpretation to make them more accessible to all. The day was a great success with over 300 hundred people visiting and participating in our DaDaFest events. We hope to see you all again for next year's festival!

Do you have a passion for museums and galleries?  Are you interested in helping us improve access to our venues for Disabled and Deaf people? 

If you are and you do have the time to commit to it, then National Museums Liverpool would love to hear from you.  We are looking for people who consider themselves to be disabled people to join our Museums Advisory Group.

You will be expected to attend up to 6 meetings in a year.  Members are reimbursed for access costs when attending meetings and receive an attendance allowance. A BSL interpreter is present at all meetings.

If you are interested please contact Mo Smith at World Museum.  Mo is the National Museums Liverpool contact for the group.

• You can phone on 0151 478 4302
• Write to: Mo Smith, World Museum, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EN
• Email using this contact form.

There's more on accessibility at our venues on our main site.

Participants in our Engaging Refugees and Asylum Seekers project.

Good news. Last night our Engaging Refugees and Asylum Seekers project was given a Commended Award in the regeneration category in the Yorkshire Bank 150th Community Awards. More on the project on our Education and Communities pages.

This Saturday (24 October) World Museum is running several events designed for our visually impaired visitors. Each is based around our highly successful 'The Beat Goes On' exhibition and covers the people, objects and stories behind Liverpool music history.

Events kick off at 12 noon (there's a full list of sessions on the exhibition events page), and you'll need to collect tickets from our information desk as places are limited. For more information contact the information desk on 0151 478 4353.

As you may know, this weekend sees the Slavery Remembrance Day festival - there's more on the background to the event on our main website. A good number of the weekend's events are supported with British Sign Language, including Diane Nash's lecture. There's a good mix of activities, dramatisations, discussions, lectures and performances. A full list of the supported events can be found on our BSL interpretation events page.

Detail from Holman Hunt's 'The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple'

There's an interesting article on the 24 Hour Museum site by Jacob Simon from the National Portrait Gallery on the portrayal of disability in art. Several of the artists mentioned also feature in our collections including Zoffany, Hogarth and Reynolds.

This got me thinking about the portrayal of disability in our own collections, and wondering how much attitudes have changed in the time since these magnificent pieces were painted. Just off the top of my head I can think of the blind man in Holman Hunt's 'The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple' (see image), and three depictions of Nelson (by West, Drummond and Maclise) who at the time of his death was missing an eye and an arm.  

Benjamin Robert Haydon considered himself near blind but still managed to produce several works including 'Christ Blessing the Little Children' which was commissioned to decorate a chapel for the blind (this linked page includes his son's description of Haydon wearing several pairs of spectacles at once).

There is also the theory that JMW Turner had increasing problems with his sight as he aged - colour blind from an early age and then cataracts in later life (check out this Guardian article). Works like The Falls of the Clyde might be seen as the result of a condition, though we probably wouldn't describe Turner as disabled.  

I guess the most famous modern representation of disability in art is Marc Quinn's wonderful statue, 'Alison Lapper Pregnant', which stands in Trafalgar Square. It seems that attitudes really have changed.

Should also mention, in case you've missed it, that National Museum Liverpool is hosting events as part of this year's DaDa Fest. More details on the North West Disability Arts Forum website.