Over the past decades, many gains have been made in how disabled people are perceived and treated by society. However, biomedical perspectives have also endured, and as Tony Heaton (CEO of SHAPE and project advisor) talks about in this short interview, whilst there have been many gains in disabled peoples’ rights, progress has not been linear and the recent period of austerity and government cuts continues the need for activism and debate. He sees projects like E&E as essential to developing collaborative practice between museums and disabled people, to work together to challenge society’s attitudes, but also to working with medical professionals and students to change ways of thinking that see disabled people as ‘medical specimens’ rather than people.

In this post-show discuss from the performance in 2016 at the Royal College of Physicians, Jenny Sealey (Artistic Director Graeae theatre company) discusses the political role of the arts in discussions on disability rights.