Rhys Fagan

Writing Disability: Shifting the Lens

Tue 14 December 2021

To explore and celebrate the range and power of disabled authors, Cambridge University Library is organising a series of events with writers and thinkers to discuss disability, representation, activism and the written word. The events mark UK Disability History Month.

Vici Wreford-Sinnott is a disabled theatre and screen writer/director who has been involved in the disability arts movement in the UK for almost 30 years. She will be making a presentation reflecting on her theatrical and digital screen work and why she feels so passionately about the representation of disabled people. Vici will then be in conversation with Molli Carlson, an MPhil student from the Centre of Film and Screen at Cambridge, with a specific focus on disability and cinema.

Vici works in disabled-led practice which ensures the authenticity of disabled voices and narratives and aims to challenge dominant negative thinking around disabled people living medicalised, broken or tragic lives. She doesn’t recognise herself or other disabled people she knows in that model of thinking. Vici will reflect on how stories have been told historically about disability, leading to a series of unhelpful stereotypes and tropes. She is conscious of the need to radically shift the lens on the representation of disabled people, with a particular interest in disabled women, and how we need to build accessibility into our cultural processes. Vici will also talk about how her work aims to challenge ‘accepted wisdom’, create new dynamic and multi-faceted disabled characters to add to the cultural pantheon and tell the stories that need to be told to truly reflect who we are as a society.

This is a free, public event open to all. Suitable for ages 16+. The event will take place online using Zoom. Live captioning will be available.

Cost: Free