Facebook’s The Daily Haiku calls for a response to laughter within the weekly theme of senses. What Laughter Smells Of The taste of laughter Is salty from the tears cried Rolling over lips The sight of laughter Is hilarious today And for evermore The feel of laughter Is an ache in the stomach Which I have to hold The sound of laughter Is hale and oh so hearty Chuckles are quieter The smell of laughter Is often non existent If you don’t piss pants Richard Downes 27th July 2020 The post Haiku; What Laughter Smells Of appeared first on Disability Arts Online ..read more

Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and princip ..read more

Our friends at Inclusion London have launched a a #NoMoreNoShows campaign to ensure that candidates for the upcoming general election attend disability hustings, rather than sending replacements or not turn up at all! No Show This followed an event when three candidates to be the next mayor of London refused to explain why they failed to turn up to a packed hustings event that would have allowed disabled people from across the capital to question them on their policies. Just one of the four candidates invited, Zoë Garbett, for the Green Party, turned up to answer questions at the sold-out ev ..read more

I read with sadness, and a reminder of my own experiences after my father had passed, the reports that Kate Garraway has been receiving ‘unsettling’ post addressed to her late husband, Derek Draper. When you register a death at the local Town Hall (as I had to pre-Covid with my dad in 2019) you had to sign with a specific ink pen (which caused my left-handed brother some stress). Although we both had Power of Attorney for my Mum & Dad, and were equal executors of the will, because my brother had signed the death certificate, the crematorium would later only talk to him if we wanted to get ..read more

I am confronted with thousands of photographic slides. Some are in cases and trays designed for storage, others are in envelopes and cardboard boxes, while a great many are simply heaped in the archive boxes where I find them. Some of the cases and boxes are labelled, but many are not. These slides are a large part of the archive of artist Audrey Barker, held at NDACA, the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive at Buckinghamshire New University. I’m here for a couple of days to start my research about Barker (1932 – 2002), who I consider to be a pioneering disabled artist. This resea ..read more

The Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill has moved to the House of Lords for scrutiny following completion of the Report stage and third reading in the House of Commons. Welfare Snoop Various Civil Rights groups, including the Public Aware Project have been briefing MPs that the Bill will weaken important data protection rights and safeguards, reducing transparency and putting individuals at greater risk of unfairness and discrimination. The main cause for concern is Clause 34 which will give the government the right to inspect the bank account of anyone who claims or who is c ..read more

‘Riponopoly’, or ‘I thought you were going to look over that job!’. A board game, in development, based on, seven stories of disabled people who encountered the criminal justice system in Victorian Ripon. Rules of play are as follows, players start with 10d and are given a number of keyholder cards.  These relate to locations on the board, ie The Workhouse, The Town Hall, The House of Correction, that when other players land on, they must pay money to the player who is the ‘keyholder’ of it.  Longest first name goes first. Roll the dice, and in turn, go round the board picking up ‘f ..read more

‘BARKING’ is a beautifully dark and, very human graphic novel by Lucy Sullivan drawing on lived experience of mental health.  Its black inky visual style is severe, and aligned with the human storyline.  Sharp and powerful, ‘BARKING’ speaks of the broken system, trauma and survival in an authentic voice. As Lucy says in the postscript. ‘I took my worst self and scariest days, combined them with that of my friends and poured them in to the scrambled, scratchy forms of Alix and her Black Dog. There is so much that went into them both. But mostly it’s me in there. My fears, my stresses ..read more

The Together! 2012 Pop-Up Poetry Club offers a FREE weekly poetry workshop for Disabled people from 10:30am to 12noon on Wednesday mornings. We read, write, and talk about poetry over a cuppa. There is a theme each week, chosen by Clubs Programme Leader Alison Marchant. We meet by Zoom. Contact info@together2012.org.uk for more information and to join us. The theme for Wednesday 28th February was “Shoes”. A pencil drawing of a pair of red shoes with leopard print insoles. Robert Punton: My shoes I have never made a single step, So, it is useless to look for my footprintsT ..read more

Day of Access is an online resource offering prompts and exercises for arts and crafters whilst on covid social isolation. I first came across it on DAO but cannot find the article I found it on. Credit to the person who made it more widely available. Task 1; make all kinds of balcony music – prepare a playlist to gt you through the crisis. Maybe we could make the playlist together below until then here is my music.   I Hear You Romeo I hear you Romeo Loitering below the balustrade With lute and knife used as slide Elongating stretching notes Droning on dismal about lost love In delta blu ..read more