Disability History Month launches
Disability History Month starts today. Running from 16 November to 16 December, this month is an opportunity to come together to increase our understanding and to show our support for disability equality.
Look out for Old Joe's colour change to mark International Day of Disabled People on the evening of Sunday 3 December.
Plus, throughout December, the Staff Disability Hub will be available on SharePoint. The Hub is an information resource for staff and managers at the University on key issues such as making reasonable adjustments and supporting neurodiversity.
Each year, the theme for Disability History Month changes so that we can explore different issues. The University will be exploring this year’s theme ‘Disability, Children and Youth’ with a comprehensive programme of events.
Highlights for staff include:
Friday 17 November, 13:00 to 14:00 (Online)
Staff are welcome to join the University Graduate School (USG) to discover how academics and postgraduates are making a difference in disability and research at the University of Birmingham, exploring current research into disability and neurodiversity, inclusive research design, and being a disabled and/or neurodivergent postgraduate.
Tuesday 28 November, 13:00 to 14:00 (Online)
Discover the intersection of disability, disaster recovery, and international development at a unique event hosted by Dr David Cobley. David will explore disability-inclusive approaches to disaster recovery drawing on his research on Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Wednesday 29 November, 16:30 to 17:30 (Online)
Prithvi Perepa will be drawing on his professional experience, as well as evidence from research, to highlight the different experiences that children and young people from minority ethnic communities have and will encourage the participants to reflect on how current practices could further disable these children.
Monday 4 December, 17:00 to 20:00 (Muirhead Tower, G15)
Come along to this thought-provoking and engaging event of discussions and film screenings; one a short documentary, the other a full screening of ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon,' followed by a talk from Stuart Murray, Professor of Contemporary Literatures and Film at the University of Leeds and author of Disability and the Posthuman: Bodies, Technology, and Cultural Futures.
Tuesday 5 December, 13:00 to 14:00 (Online)
Staff at the University are welcome to join our new Digital Accessibility Manager, Jennifer Curry Jahnke, as she walks us through 10 quick things we can do to make our digital content more accessible.
Tuesday 5 December, 19:00 to 20:30 (Online)
Join the Barber Institute of Fine Arts this Disability History Month for an experimental online drawing and creative writing workshop celebrating neurodiversity, creativity and the power of thinking differently.
Friday 8 December, 18:30 to 19:45 (Online)
Staff are welcome to join this session enabling positive experiences for children and young people with severe and profound learning disabilities.