Disability History Month

2023 Theme: Disability, Children and Youth

UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) is an annual event which aims to promote disabled people’s rights and their struggle for equality now and in the past.
This year UKDHM will take place from 16 November until 16 December 2023.
Every year, UKDHM focuses on a theme, this year the theme is Disability, Children and Youth.
UKDHM comes from a Social Model/Human Rights approach, so that all children and young people with long term impairment will not experience the social exclusion of stigma, stereotypes, negative attitudes and socially created barriers in the environment and the way things are organised.
Disability History Month
Disability History Month Toolkit

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Disability Toolkit

The EDI disability toolkit provides advice, resources, and information assembled by the EDI Team and Staff with Disability Network on the following: 
  • Learning Disabilities and Learning Difficulties (dyslexia, dyspraxia etc)
  • ADHD/ADD 
  • Autism Spectrum disorder 
  • Deaf/Hard of hearing
  • Blind/Partially sighted
  • Mental Health conditions (anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorder, bipolar, etc)
  • Physical impairments
If there is anything that you feel should be added to these pages, please get in touch with the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team at equality@plymouth.ac.uk

Neurodiversity, Capitalism and Socialism

Janine Booth is a workplace trade union representative and Co-Chair of the TUC Disabled Workers' Committee.
She is autistic, has an autistic son and is a walking advertisement for autism in the workplace.
In this 18-minute illustrated talk, first posted in November 2018, Janine looks at what the experience of autistic, dyslexic and other neurodivergent people is under capitalism, what socialism can offer and how we get there.
Graphic of brain with piece missing
What If Everyone Was Disabled? Mat Fraser 

BBC Radio 4: What If Everyone Was Disabled?

“Every single day, I’m reminded of my disability. Yeah, it doesn’t stop me from doing much… but the reminders are always there."
Mat Fraser – writer, actor, rights activist, thalidomide survivor – isn’t afraid to challenge, to provoke and to ask awkward questions. Sometimes he allows his imagination to run riot. In this programme, he wonders how different things might be if the vast majority of people, rather than the minority, had a disability and assesses how far we’ve come with accessibility and inclusivity, particularly in the last two decades, as well as considering what’s stopping us from going further. Money, power, politics, legislation and technology all play their part, but what about social attitudes towards disability?