Stories

From stories of lived experience, to essays by curators, researchers, artists and chronically ill individuals, this section gathers raw, radical and moving stories and essays that have at their core the belief that invisible illnesses and disabilities deserve better representation, in the museum, but also in everyday life.

Invisible disabilities, lived experiences, and the mundane object

Over the past two decades, projects such as Buried in the Footnotes have set out to explore the representation of disability...

Rebekah's story

When I was a child, I dreamt of exploring far away lands, of digging up dinosaurs and ancient greek pottery, exploring temples, and...

On the Courtauld Gallery selling souvenirs making light of Van Gogh's mental illness

The aim of a gallery is to display the life and the work of an artist by showing to the public that every and each one of us should be...

When life as you knew it is turned upside down…

For as long as I can remember, there has always been something wrong within my body, or something making me uncomfortable, whether it was...

In the Forest

In this article, Erin Becker-Boris recounts her own story of Lyme disease, and how it is linked to her experience of higher education.

Let's change Endometriosis narrative

In this blog, Ilenia Atzori shares her story with endometriosis and emphasizes that the narrative about endometriosis being a women's matte

From History to Hidden - The Asylum under the surface of Leicester University

When I began my studies at the University of Leicester, I knew nothing of the campus’s history in disability persecution. And I can’t really

Status Migrainosus

Words and artwork by Artist in Residence, Caitlin Smits.

Are You There?

A mild disease, a form of discomfort, something recurrent or permanent which bothers you. What is a disability? What is chronic disease?...

Standing Alone

This blog was originally written for Diversability. You can read the original post here. I quit my job. I thought about quitting my BA...

My Lyme Story #2

My childhood was filled with the outdoors, sports, friends and playing outside (in tall grass sometimes) until the sun went down. I have...

My Lyme Story #1

No one believes that their life will end, until one day they simply warn you. For me, it all started one day in October, when I started...