Representing Disability in Museums. Imaginary and Identities

Abstract

1 Assignment co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE 2020-Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI) and national funds by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under the POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007460 project. REPRESENTING DISABILITY IN MUSEUMS. IMAGINARY AND IDENTITIES 14 distancing of this social group. In this sense, this chapter addresses the importance of museums as essential spaces for communicating ideas that may lead to social transformation and to a change of attitudes towards disability.

The Role of Museum Education in Raising Undergraduate Pre-service Teachers’ Disability Awareness: the Case of an Exhibition by Disabled Artists in Greece

“…In the case of museums, one of their main characteristics is their "power" to create narratives and construct cultural representations (Dodd & Sandell, 2001;Sandell, 2003;. Based on this assumption, the issue of "hidden histories", the degree and the way of presence or absence of the history of different people and social groupsincluding disabled peopleis an important topic of discussion within museums in terms of inclusion and equality (see, e.g., Allday, 2009;Delin, 2002;Dodd, Sandell, Jolly & Jones, 2008;Martins, Semedo, & Camacho, 2018;. The social model of disability has been the basic theoretical framework within museums not only about accessibility but also about the ways that disabled people are portrayed, presented, under-presented or mis-presented within museums" collections even if the latter happens unintentionally (see, e.g., Sandell, Delin, Dodd & Gay, 2005).…”

“…Many museums around the world organize exhibitions with disabled artists" work or with themes related to disability. The international scene has many examples of relevant initiatives, projects and practices within museums (see, e.g., Cachia, 2013Cachia, , 2014Jacobson & McMurchy, 2010;Martins et al, 2018;McCulloh, 2013;. Despite the existing differences among museums and countries due to various reasons (e.g., cultural context, funding, associations of disabled people or disabled artists, availability of museum resources, etc.…”

“…Thus, relevant research and museum initiatives (see e.g., Sandell, Dodd & Garland-Thomson, 2010), reveal the ways in which these practices reinforce stereotypes or instead promote respect and better understanding of disability. Furthermore, they also show the complexity of this subject and the challenges in terms of museums" methods, collective and curatorial practices, considerations and approaches, art exhibitions with activist or without political intent, collaborative practices, participation of activist disabled artists or disabled artists who may not want to associate their art with their disability, activities, programs and practices and of course visitors" responses to these initiatives (Cachia, 2013;Delin, 2002;Dodd, Jones, Jolly & Sandell, 2010;Martins et al, 2018;Sandell, 2007;. The latter, i.e., visitors" responses, is another critical parameter based on the constructivist learning theory that has influenced museums recognizing the active role of people and visitors in the learning process and how they construct meanings individually and socially, based -among other-on their prior knowledge, perceptions, experiences, etc.…”