Let's Talk Disability – Beyond Visibility: Embedding Disability Inclusion in Cultural Spaces
Download MP3In this powerful episode of Let's Talk Disability, Professor Jackie Carter welcomes two inspiring guests from the University of Manchester’s cultural institutions: Rosie, a Visitor Team Assistant at the Whitworth Art Gallery, and Ciaron Wilkinson, Head of External Relations at Manchester Museum.
Together, they explore the lived experiences of disability and chronic health conditions, focusing on Rosie’s journey with chronic migraines and her advocacy for access and inclusion. Ciaron shares insights from a leadership perspective, reflecting on how cultural institutions can embed disability inclusion into their practices—not as an afterthought, but as a foundational principle.
Topics include:
Together, they explore the lived experiences of disability and chronic health conditions, focusing on Rosie’s journey with chronic migraines and her advocacy for access and inclusion. Ciaron shares insights from a leadership perspective, reflecting on how cultural institutions can embed disability inclusion into their practices—not as an afterthought, but as a foundational principle.
Topics include:
- The social vs. medical model of disability
- Invisible disabilities and the importance of visibility
- Creating inclusive spaces in museums and galleries
- The “passion penalty” in the cultural sector
- Empowering disabled voices
- Building community and fostering open dialogue
This episode is a heartfelt call to action for organisations to move from dialogue to deeds, ensuring disability inclusion is everyone's responsibility. Whether you're a university staff member, student, cultural worker, or ally, this conversation will challenge, inspire, and equip you to think differently about access and inclusion.
Home - The Migraine Trust
🔗 Subscribe for more episodes that centre lived experience and drive change.
Creators and Guests
Host
Professor Jackie Carter
Academic EDI Lead for Disability, member of the Shaw Trust Power 100 for 2023. Author of Work Placements, Internships & Applied Social Research. Prof of Statistical Literacy. FaCSS, NTF. 1-in-20 Women in Data. Late Bloomer. @GM4Women
Guest
Ciaron Wilkinson
Senior leader in one of the UK's largest university museums, an institution committed to building understanding between cultures and a more sustainable world.
Guest
Rosie Woolaghan
I am an artist and creative facilitator born and raised in the north west of England. My personal practice explores my relationship with my body and environment as a person who lives with chronic pain. Through this, I hope to foster conversations about how disability touches on the simple aspects of everyday life. Outside work I have a strong interest in history and the natural world, in addition to being an advocate for neurodiversity and communication though creative facilitation. I am actively enriching my vocabulary around accessibility on an intersectional level, and am well suited to roles requiring a dependable, organised, personable individual.
