Visible? A History of the Disability in NI

The Visible? Project started as a wish to record the oral history of disabled people who have been involved in the fight for disability and human rights in Northern Ireland. There are some great resources out there that look at the broader history of the disability rights movement, but none that are specific to Northern Ireland. Given our unique context here we wanted to explore what impact it had on the development of a rights based approach to disability.

The aim was to record the voices of those who have been involved so that we could hold onto them now but also so that in the future, we realise the considerable energy and time that has been given by these people so that we enjoy some of the rights we now have. We wanted to ask people in their own words to talk about how things have changed (if at all), how did they change and did all those changes make a real difference.

Harry Reid who curated the project talks in the video below of why the Visible? Project is important

The voices are from across different areas of Northern Ireland, some people younger than others and some people more involved than others. It doesn't include everyone we had on a list or people what were suggested to interview. We had a small budget to develop this resource and we know that there are many people 'missing'. We want to add to it over time and welcome contributions to the site.

The timelines that accompany the project are only a small reflection of key developments in the disability rights movement in Northern Ireland. It helps to give context to the video pieces and to understand how it fits within the political context in Northern Ireland.

Visible?
The title of the project - Visible? - came about as the project developed. The increased visability of disabled people in all aspects of society is seen as one of the key drivers in bringing about change. The question mark was added as the question is still there - just how visible are we in our society and are we at risk of becoming invisible once again as we experience a retrogression of our rights?

The hope is that people will use the stories and timelines to understand how change came about and learn from the stories of others. It's also an appeal to younger disabled people to become activists and be the next generation to bring about change for disabled people here. It's particularly important now as we see the decimation of hard fought for rights - whether it is social security, social care, education or work - the rights that the people in these video's fought for are being diminished every day.

In the words of Terry Pratchett:

“If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are, and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going. And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.”

Thank you to Harry Reid who led on the project and did all the research and many of the interviews. Sigrid Rausing Trust for funding the project. Most importantly thank you to all the people that contributed to the video's and took part in the project.