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

TOWN HALL POOR BOX (Wooden 'poor box')

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Rights information: Copyright: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery

Description

Magistrates Poor Box made from wood, slot on top to place money, locked by key.

The horrific conditions and harsh regimes of the workhouse failed all who were forced to live there. With the state failing to provide adequate care, charities took on a greater responsibility. There were several charities in Hastings during the 19th Century such as the Hastings Blanket Lending Society, the Relief of Distressed Travellers and many more. Charities have provided support for hundreds of years and have supported many disabled people or people with different impairments.

- Jack Guy, Curating for Change Fellow, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery

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Community curation: This small wooden box, although seemingly uninteresting, holds a great deal of history. A history that still affects how disabled people are seen and treated today. Many others and I have been treated as if we are broken or different because we have a disability. We are seen as unable to achieve in society, and when we do, we are praised as an inspiration for overcoming our disability. This treatment makes us othered.