UCLan has put together a range of events aimed at raising awareness and fostering support for those with seen and unseen disabilities across Preston.

The events mark UK Disability History Month, which began on Wednesday 16 November and runs until 16 December.

Disability History Month  promotes and celebrates historical contributions of people with a diverse range of disabilities, by discussing the challenges and structural barriers they faced. It creates a platform to focus on the history of people with disabilities, and their advocacy for equality and human rights.

A launch event held last week on University Square was open to staff, students, and the community. Members of local disability charities also attended. 

The Disability History Month flag was raised, and there were activities for people to try out, including adapted bikes provided by Go Velo, the Paralympic sport of Boccia, and parachute games.

UCLan sport student and blind England football player Rainbow Mbuangi also helped to coach people during a blind football goal scoring session.

Further activities are planned over the month following the theme of Disability, Health and Wellbeing. In particular, a focus for the month is around Neurodiversity; exploring and debunking the myths and stereotypes, as well as seeing the world through neurodivergent eyes.

To help with this, UCLan will be launching its first Neurodivergent Staff Network, a development which follows on from the the Belonging at UCLan: Let’s Discuss Disability event held in July this year.

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Other events of note include a DisabiliTea and Cake event on Tuesday 22 November, which will celebrate UCLan’s disabled student and staff community. The gathering will also be an opportunity for disabled students to connect with inclusive support staff.

Pro-Vice Chancellor for Academic Leadership and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Professor Ebrahim Adia, said: “It’s brilliant that we’re bringing together the UCLan community, and wider Preston community too, to recognise and celebrate those with seen and unseen disabilities – not just throughout history, but today as well.

“We want our University to truly represent our society, and marking Disability History Month in this way, with a range of initiatives to help create understanding and support, is a big step on our journey to create a healthy, safe and positive environment for staff and students – one which embraces diversity and fosters a culture of learning and belonging for all.”

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Many of the month’s events are being led by staff and students, alongside organisations such as Disability Equality North West, which aims to further the rights of disabled people in the region, and Galloway’s, a sight loss charity. 

CEO of Disability Equality North West and Preston City Councillor Mel Close said: “UK Disability History Month is still relatively new, only starting in 2010, so it’s really important that large organisations support and promote the month with a range of activities and events to highlight the day-to-day issues disabled people face, but also to celebrate the lived experience and achievements of disabled people – we have a history of oppression, institutionalisation, lack of choice and control and discrimination, and we must never forget that.

“As a community we really appreciate the disabled campaigners who fought so hard for the human rights we have today. This year’s theme is ‘health and wellbeing’ – we lost many good people in the recent pandemic and many disabled people struggled in so many ways – it’s important to remember and learn from history including more recent history.”

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