Mobilise - Promoting mobility for disabled people

What do museum artifacts tell us about the experience of living with a disability in the past? Ruth Burwood, Senior Access Curator from the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service decided to find out and uncovered a wealth of hidden stories.

For some time museum staff in Norwich had been aware that the displays in museums often only represent a particular version or experience of the past, and therefore exclude some of the community. Our own Disability Access Advisory Group had told us that they did not see themselves in the displays, and felt that the stories of disabled people in the past were missing from our museums.

To address this we decided to find out what relevant objects existed in our collections. Why had they become hidden? We wanted to ensure that in future, anyone could discover these objects and the stories they told. With approximately 1.5 million objects and specimens in our store, we were excited about what we might find…
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Grant Cobb MBE, President of the Coventry Warwickshire Leicester Group – Mobilise, on the opening of an historic exhibition in Coventry.

“Wonderful!” was how Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson described the new exhibition, which she opened at the Coventry Transport Museum on the 1st April 2010. For the first time in the history of British museums, a collection of vehicles specifically designed for people with disabilities has been brought together under one roof. From the earliest bath chairs to hi-tech models of the future, the exhibition gives a fascinating insight into both the development of these vehicles and the attitudes of society to the disabled people who used them.

The exhibition was the idea of the Coventry Warwickshire Leicestershire Group – Mobilise to commemorate their 60th Anniversary.  Their President Mr Grant Cobb and their Chairman Ms Norma Lewis had worked with the Museum staff for 18 months, planning the exhibition.

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2008 saw the 60^th anniversary of the launch of the Morris Minor, and 2009 marked a very happy 50^th birthday for the Mini. Jim Rawlings raises a toast to two British classics.
Few cars engender more genuine love and devotion in their owners than a Morris Minor. The development of the  Minor has given rise to many stories, some apocryphal but some more reliably documented. Sir Alex Issigonis’ own recollections are particularly interesting. He described the final refinements of the design process thus: “I wasn’t very happy with the final version, so I went to the shop one evening and told the mechanics to cut it in half!” The original prototypes were 57 inches wide, but Sir Alex ordered the two halves to be moved apart until he felt the proportions were right. This added four inches to the width of the car – and a reminder of this decision can be seen on all Morris Minors, in the flat strip that runs down the centre of the bonnet. Continue reading »