Description

This steel artificial arm, with a brown leather shoulder strap and a brown glove covering its hand, belonged to Mr Leigh Webb.
Mr Webb lost his arm while working at Woolton Quarry, Liverpool, in 1963. It was crushed by a block of Portland stone. According to his family, he received no compensation for the accident - he was offered £500 but refused it as he was advised he should receive £4000.
After his accident, Mr Webb continued to be employed by Morrisons, to supervise workers. He also worked in building supervision for the University of Liverpool, the Mersey Tunnel, Tyson’s and Wimpy.
The arm is heavy and made of steel, as Mr Webb was intending to use it to go back to work at the quarry initially. It was manufactured in 1963 and had several attachments (such as a screwdriver, wheelbarrow pusher and a bowling hand) but Mr Webb gave them back as he didn’t use them. Mr Webb owned two prosthetic arms but said that he ‘preferred to do without them’.

Interpretation:
This arm had never been out of storage before, and in its history file, I read that Mrs Webb had visited what was then the Museum of Liverpool Life to see whether the arm had ever been displayed. That was in 2001. It had not.
22 years later, I was really determined to make sure it made its way out there, and, in truth, started to plan one of my Curating for Change displays in part around this arm and the other arm, which had belonged to her mother / his mother-in-law. It was called ‘Assistive Technology: What it Means to Us’ and explored different local people’s relationships to their assistive technology. I wanted to include lots of different, real perspectives from local people, from those who loved their assistive technology, to people who didn’t enjoy using it at all, like Mr Webb.
The interpretation for his label included the following statement:
Leigh told his family that he preferred “to do without,” never used the prosthetic and sent the attachments back to the manufacturer. Whilst assistive technology may help many people, this is a prime example of the importance of personal choice for disabled people - Iris Sirendi, Curating for Change Fellow at Museum of Liverpool