Embargoed until 00.01hours Thursday 25th June 2015
Disabled People’s Lives From The Medieval Period To Present Day
Will Be Revealed Through The Hidden History Of Buildings.
Screen South, a Cultural Development Agency, is delighted to announce that it has received
a grant of £878,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the Accentuate History of
Place project. Accentuate History of Place will be a nationally significant social history
programme which will chart disabled people’s lives from the middle ages until the late 20th
Century in relation to built heritage. The Accentuate History of Place project will investigate
and animate eight important built heritage sites, with the objective of elevating this history to
greater prominence. The sites include:
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Maison Dieu, Kent – The last remaining building from a Medieval alms house & hospital,
on the pilgrimage route to Canterbury, where records of a skeleton of a severely disabled
man aged 35-45 have recently been uncovered;
The Liverpool School for the Indigent Blind, established in 1791 by the groundbreaking
abolitionist Edward Rushton, was the first specialist school for the blind in the country,
second in the world after Paris.
The Royal School for Deaf Children, Margate (previously the London Asylum for the
Deaf and Dumb) was the UK’s first public school for deaf children founded in 1792.
Chiswick House, the stately home, has a hidden history of being a private Asylum during
the late 1890’s.
Normansfield Asylum and Theatre, Teddington, was the home and institution developed
by Dr John Langdon Down where he built a beautiful Victorian theatre (now a grade 11
listed building) and encouraged learning disabled people to learn music and drama as
part of their education.
St Saviours Deaf Church, Acton, was the first Church specifically designed by Deaf
people in the 1920’s, with unique architectural features such as raked seating.
The Guild of the Brave Poor Things, Bristol, opened in 1913 and was the first building
designed for disabled people to come together socially, as well as providing
apprenticeship schemes and training.
Grove Road Housing Scheme, Sutton in Ashfield. In 1976, Ken and Maggie Davis were
the first disabled couple to commission an Architect to design and build an accessible
housing scheme for disabled people to live independently outside of Institutions. Their
story is fundamentally important in the history of the disability rights movement.
There will be opportunities for local people across the country to take part in workshops
exploring archive material relating to the sites, attend events, talks and local exhibitions.
There will also be a national touring exhibition in partnership with three major Museums
across England and multi-layered website resource to raise the profile of this relatively
hidden history. Alongside this activity Accentuate will deliver training for heritage volunteers
and staff in low cost solutions for making heritage sites and events more accessible to deaf
and disabled visitors.
Accentuate History of Place will be developed as part of the Accentuate programme, which
operates as a specialist agency within Screen South, challenging perceptions of disability by
providing life changing opportunities for disabled people in the cultural sector.
Accentuate has developed this project in partnership with Historic England and will link to
their newly established disability history website resource – Disability In Time and Place –
which currently features over 200 sites of historic importance. Accentuate History of Place
will allow the voices of disabled people from the past to tell their stories through the buildings
and archive material. In doing so the project will challenge and delight audiences and
encourage a greater understanding of what it meant to be a disabled person from the 1100’s
to the 1970’s.
Esther Fox, Accentuate Programme Executive said: “We’re delighted that the Heritage
Lottery Fund has given us this support. This is the first project that will investigate the lives
of the deaf and disabled people who have designed or inhabited these spaces. It will inspire
understanding that disabled people have been actively part of society from the Medieval
times to the present day. We want to ensure that this relatively hidden history is known by
the wider public.”
Rosie Sherrington, Social Inclusion and Diversity Advisor, Historic England said ‘I’m so
happy to see this project given the green light. It will build on the research that Historic
England did for Disability in Time and Place and take it to a wider audience in a meaningful
and creative way. I can’t wait to see the results!’
“Screen South is delighted to be enhancing the national profile of disability heritage and
building on the experience and legacy of 2012 with such a groundbreaking programme” Jo
Nolan MD, Screen South.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
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Heritage Grants (HG) applications are assessed in two rounds. A first-round pass is
given when HLF has endorsed outline proposals and earmarked funding. A firstround pass may also include an immediate award to fund the development of the
project. Detailed proposals are then considered by HLF at second-round and as long
as plans have progressed satisfactorily and according to the original proposal, an
award for the project is confirmed.
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Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) - Thanks to National Lottery players, we invest money to
help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about from the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from
precious memories and collections to rare wildlife. www.hlf.org.uk @heritagelottery
More information about Screen South / Accentuate
Screen South, the home of Accentuate, is a not for profit Creative Development company
operating in the wider creative and cultural community.
As well as managing and delivering creative projects Screen South is involved with wide
ranging partners to deliver educational and training programmes using various medium
including film and other creative practices.
Screen South has had a long involvement in the Heritage sector through its involvement with
regional film archives and projects like the Digital Film Archive Programme, delivering the
hugely successful Kent in WW1 project and through the Accentuate programme which
provided training in improving access and interpretation of Heritage sites in partnership with
the Heritage Open Days initiative.
Accentuate, operating under the organisational umbrella of Screen South, launched in
December 2009 as the 2012 Legacy Programme for the South East inspired by the
Paralympic Movement. Accentuate developed and led a transformational programme of 15
major cultural projects during that time which harnessed the power of art, culture and heritage
to engage the wider public with disabled people and disability related issues in order to
challenge and shift perceptions. Accentuate continues to challenge perceptions of disability
by providing life changing opportunities for Deaf and disabled people to participate and lead
within the cultural sector
For further information, images and interviews, please contact:
Esther Fox, Accentuate Programme Executive at Screen South on 01303 259777 or
esther.fox@accentuateuk.org