Ethical Matters:
Disability Rights and Dignities

For much of history, people with learning disabilities have been regarded as unworthy of interest – often seen as a threat to the social order and sometimes dismissed as barely human. While recent years have seen an improvement, disabled people are still treated as different. Join campaigners and authors Rachel Charlton-Dailey and Stephen Unwin for a powerful examination of disability rights in history and today.

From the ‘crippled suffragette’, to ’80s punks chaining themselves to buses, to campaigners taking a stand online, award-winning disabled journalist, activist and author Rachel Charlton-Dailey has continuously celebrated the amazing activists and protest actions behind the UK’s long battle for disabled people’s rights to live. Eager to spotlight the continual ways disabled people reclaim power, Rachel will explore the ongoing push for civil rights, from the scandalous inaccessibility of our education and transport systems, to the existential debates about genetic screening and ‘the right to die’. She will highlight an overlooked tradition of disabled struggle and unpack how British attitudes and policy went so wrong in the twenty-first century.

For much of history, people with learning disabilities have been regarded as unworthy of interest – often seen as a threat to the social order and sometimes dismissed as barely human. Joining Rachel will be Stephen Unwin, one of Britain’s leading theatre and opera directors, to examine changing attitudes towards people with learning disabilities and the community’s ongoing fight for human rights and dignities. Stephen’s stage plays include All Our Children (London, 2017); New York, 2019) and Laughing Boy (London 2024), both of which concern the historic abuse of disabled children and young people. Drawing upon his own lived experience, Stephen will question what we have gotten wrong societally, and how we can improve the ways we behave towards those with learning disabilities.

Both speakers’ books will be available to buy in person on the night.

Age Recommendation:

All ages. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

Price:

*A £2 venue levy is applied to each ticket purchased. This levy helps to support us in covering the costs of keeping our grade II listed building running and our doors open.*

In advance: • Standard £10 • Living Support £6 • Student £7 • Member FREE     (+ £2 venue levy)
On the Door: • Standard £11 • Living Support £7 • Student £8 • Member FREE  (+ £2 venue levy)
Online: • Standard £7 • Member FREE     (+ £2 venue levy)

Access Information:

This event is in the Brockway Room, which is located on the ground floor.

All the ground-floor rooms are fully accessible by wheelchair. Main Hall (street access, step-free), Brockway Room (street access, step-free), Bertrand Russell Room (street access, shallow ramp), Cafe (street access, step-free). There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor opposite the Brockway Room.