Finding collections relating to d/Deaf, disabled and neurodiverse people

One of the aims of our project is to make collections relating to d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people more visible – and to share some of the objects our Fellows and Trainees are discovering.

Some will have quite obvious connections to disabled people’s lives – a walking stick, some braille or images of disabled people. But we will also be exploring less obvious connections too. Sometimes the significance of an object is its owner; its part in a bigger story, or the way someone with lived experience of disability has responded to it. In this way we hope to broaden the ways that d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent stories are told.

Collections

PHILIPS HEARING AID (Hearing aid)

Rights information: Copright: Black Country Living Museum

Description

This hearing aid is made of a biege plastic. There is a clear discoloured hook on the end. On the back there is a compartment for a small battery: this has MTO engraved. On the inside side of the hearing aid the words 'Philips HP8251 Made in Holland' in orange. There is also '30336' in black. These have partly faded.

This hearing aid is a HP8251 model. It was added to the collection as part of a selection of hearing aids which were owned by a lady who lives in the Black Country.

- Claudia Davies, Curating for Change Fellow, Black Country Living Museum