Amanda Wells – Don’t Dis Me Workshop
Amanda’s workshop gave a brief look at disability equality and disability art from her perspective, the workshop included art activities, where we were able to express our thoughts and ideas visually.
We started the workshop by drawing ‘what being disabled means to us’ It was a tricky question to try and answer visually, drawings varied from colourful abstractions to figurative and representational ideas. We shared our ideas and then Amanda shared with us the terms established by organizations which dictate what disability means. A lot of the definitions seemed to mention restrictions in normal and everyday life, yet we began to discuss how the restrictions in everyday life are a due to faults in societal functions and not a part of the person.
We discussed how different disabilities aren’t always visible, I think that education on different disabilities is lacking in schools as there is a lack of knowledge on the topic and this lack of knowledge leads to a segregation and ignorance in society.
We discussed how people with disabilities might be treated, how funding is being cut which will affect their everyday life.
The second activity we did was with the modelling clay, we were asked to create a visualization of a barrier that we might have overcome, however big or small. Some were literal and some more abstract, my own was a basket with blue and white eggs inside with one larger yellow egg, this was a representation of learning to prioritize my jobs, picking out the most important job to do first rather than trying to do them all.
Amanda shared with us a lot of useful information in regard to stereotypes and prejudices in society. It was really interesting to answer questions visually, where images and ideas could take a more symbolic form.
