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D/deaf Accessibility to Healthcare Through the Ages

Category
Exhibition
Interpretations
MA students
Date
-
This is a poster, it has images of hands signing 10 different letters in the British Sign Language alphabet. Underneath the images is the message, ‘The best lovers are good with their hands’.
Date
11 December 2025 - 27 March 2026
Location
Online
Category

D/deaf Accessibility to Healthcare Through the Ages is curated by four MA students at the University of Leeds using the rich resources of the Wellcome Collection.

The exhibition draws on the Social Model of Disability, a concept that argues that society dis-ables people who have impairments by excluding them from societal participation.

It maps the focal points in the challenges to and progression of accessibility in the UK and globally from the 18th century to the present decade.

The three sections focus on pre-1900 accessibility and activism, how D/deaf organisations overcame the inaccessibility of HIV/AIDS health campaigns, and recent developments to accessibility within the museum sector.

This exhibition highlights the history and current significance of these challenges and efforts. It hopes to educate and inspire people to think about their individual and societal impacts and responsibilities.

Visit the exhibition

D/deaf Accessibility to Healthcare Through the Ages is one of eight online exhibitions curated by Art Gallery and Museum Studies and Arts Management and Heritage MA students from the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, as part of the Interpretations course module.

A link to the exhibition will be made available here from 11 December.

Image

Wellcome Collection, Hands spelling out in sign language ‘Use a Condom’; advertisement for safe sex by the British Deaf Association (detail). Lithograph. Date: [between 1900 and 1999]. Reference: 666607i. Accessed 1 December 2025. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).