Seeing beyond the stigma
Occasionally I get a chance to work on projects that don’t really feel like work. This was one on those.
Seeing Beyond the Stigma is an exhibition about people at The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital and their experiences of disability, both seen and unseen. I wanted to share a little bit about the creation of this exhibition to provide some context for anyone interested in it.
Co-production: how we worked together to create an exhibition
We secured funding for this project from the WDES Innovation Fund.
The NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of metrics NHS organisations capture to compare the workplace experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. WDES data is important because it can help us remove barriers and increase employment opportunities for disabled people.
The WDES Innovation Fund was established to help support this work, a fund we were able to access following a bid from our Trust Disability Forum.
When considering how best to fulfil our brief, we knew that stories had to central to our project. Stories are foundational in change and fundamental for inclusive cultural development – we are narrative creatures, we understand the world – and one another – through stories.
Fortunately for us, our Trust Disability Forum is full of passionate advocates, each with a unique story about disability and it’s impact in their life. They (and others) graciously agreed to be subjects in this portrait exhibition and ‘Seeing Beyond the Stigma’ was conceived.
Supporting participation
Given the sensitivity of our subject matter, we wanted to ensure that our participants could share their stories comfortably – but this isn’t always easy with a professional studio set up and a big camera in your face.
We shared the sorts of questions we wanted to ask before they arrived to give our participants time to prepare. We arranged taxis for those who needed them and ensured their line managers were happy to give them space away from work. We made cups of coffee and told jokes and tried to keep the environment light. This helped everyone feel at ease. This sort of logistical planning is often over-looked but really matters.
We also chose to record the stories ourselves (whereas we hired a photographer for the portraits). Because we know, and work with the people in our exhibition, we felt they could share more openly with someone they already had rapport with. We’re lucky enough to have a professional videographer in the team, so while he filmed I tried my best to facilitate. We began with the filming so to get the ‘tough bit’ out of the way in the hope that our participants would then be a bit more relaxed for their photo shoot – and it seemed to work.
The stories they shared were touching and insightful and unique. We got lucky in the diversity of experience and the exhibition is richer for it, featuring stories about seen and unseen disability as well as contrasting those with life-long disabilities and those who encountered disability later in life.
The common synoptical thread which emerged was the need for understanding – just for others to pause and think about how another person may be experiencing the world. I think we can all be guilty sometimes of lacking empathy when we’re busy or when our views are challenged, it’s good to be reminded that we are all different – and organisations work best when we embrace our difference and value inclusivity.
Visual language and aesthetics
The visual aspect of the exhibition is quite simple. The choice of black and white is deliberate; it’s long been the aesthetic language of documentary photography and and conveys dignity and artistic intent.
We spent a lot of time considering the best way to realise this exhibition in both physical and digital formats. We chose to display it externally to give it maximum exposure to both staff and visitors to the site. It’s location in one of our popular green spaces is deliberate, people can sit and look at it and enjoy it in a conducive environment. Each portrait also contains a QR code allowing viewers to move into our digital environment seamlessly and get even more from the exhibition.
The physical exhibition space is wheelchair accessible and we included a Braille introduction for those who need it. We’ve also added captions to our videos and used high contrast text throughout. We knew it was important to make this exhibition as accessible as possible.
The result
Our ambition was to create an exhibition which explores the impact of disability and promote a culture of openness, respect and compassion and I think we’ve done that. It’s received positive feedback in the Trust and outside of it. The strength of this exhibition lies in it’s honesty which I think we only managed to capture because we co-produced it with participants at every stage.
Ultimately, building an inclusive culture is not a static process – things like this help but they are one part of of an ongoing effort to remove barriers, tackle stigma, provide support and sustain inclusivity. The next stage for us is to initiate conversations around the points made in these stories and use them as a catalyst to drive meaningful change.
Projects like this take a lot of work. Big thanks to Pete Law, Victoria Scott, Clare Mair, Clair Ford, Vickie Pring, Ade Wressell and all of our participants.
