Nothing about us without us exhibition

29 November 2022

This year Shaping Our Lives is celebrating twenty years of being a constituted organisation and we’ve been looking back at the journey we’ve been on. So we were excited to find out about this new exhibition at the People’s History Museum (PHM) in Manchester looking at the history of the fight for Disabled people’s rights, a fight we have been proud to be part of.

Open until 16 October 2023, the landmark exhibition: Nothing About Us Without Us explores how disabled people’s rights have been fought for over centuries and the activism that has driven this march forward. The exhibition creation has been led by four community curators who all identify as disabled people.

Nothing About Us Without Us highlights the campaigns and actions carried out by disabled people to break down barriers to achieve an inclusive society and includes protest material and objects, such as banners and t-shirts; many of these collected from disabled activists and disabled led campaign groups, with very few pieces having been previously exhibited.  As community curators Anis Akhtar, Hannah Ross, Ruth Malkin and Alison Wilde have brought their own experiences, connections and extensive research to the project. 

Ruth Malkin, Community Curator for People’s History Museum, says, “Nothing About Us Without Us has been one of the most life affirming, positive work experiences of my life (and I’m getting on a bit!). It has been truly empowering to work with a group of incredible disabled people to tell the story of our community’s history. 

“People coming to the exhibition will get a sense of the incredible disabled people past and present who have tirelessly campaigned and raised awareness to make life better for all disabled people both now and for the future.  They will get a sense of just how far we have come as a society from the days when disabled people had no choice but to enter a workhouse and beg to stay alive.”

Anis Akhtar, Community Curator for People’s History Museum, says, “This is about our history and one that hasn’t been told in this focused way before; many younger people won’t be aware of some of the marches and campaigns that have taken place. I want people to come and celebrate, to build a picture of the history of Disabled People’s Movement and to go away with an understanding of disability activism past, present and future. Some of the past issues are still happening today, but unless you understand the history progress will never be achieved.”

Nothing About Us Without Us will be the most accessible exhibition that has ever taken place at People’s History Museum.  With the support of the community curators, steering group and PHM team, a range of accessible formats have been created to enable visitors to engage with the exhibition in different ways. This includes Large Print guides of the exhibition text, a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted and captioned film of the exhibition content, an audio narration of the exhibition content and braille transcriptions of the exhibition content, including short image descriptions of all the objects on display. The museum’s quiet space will also be available for visitors to use when needed. BSL and audio description tours of Nothing About Us Without Us will take place, as well as a number of accessible events in the coming months.

To find out more visit phm.org.uk.