21st June 2024, Leeds, Michael Sadler Building.
We are the White Rose Disability Research Network; a group of postgraduate researchers across the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP) actively researching disability. As part of the network we ran our first event, ‘Anarchy and Activism: Disrupting Disability’, on the 21st June 2024 in Leeds.
Our principle aim was to run a disability activism event which created space for postgraduate researchers (PGRs), early career researchers (ECRs), disability activists and members of civil society to engage in critical discussions and make connections. We organised this event recognising the inherent ableist nature of our society and particularly the higher education sector that largely excludes those who are most disadvantaged by multiple and interconnected structures of oppression, and therefore those with the most knowledge on how to dismantle those very structures. For this reason, it was important that we created an event that was open to activists and civil society members engaged in disability rights and justice work as well as students and academics.
Registration desk with the conference programme and free zines for attendees from the Disability Action Research Kollective
To cover event costs, we applied for funding through the WRDTP network and events grant as well as securing additional funding from iHuman. The planning process was carried out during monthly, then weekly meetings online. As a newly established group, we had minimal experience in putting together events; however we managed to navigate the process well as a team. Tasks were divided between the members, with everyone bringing their own expertise to the process. Wider community engagement was important to us, therefore during the call for submissions we encouraged interested parties to submit proposals that either aligned with the traditional academic conference format, or that were of a more original, inclusive and creative nature. Once the call was circulated, we felt as though the event was finally ‘real’. We received a large number of submissions and set to work deciding which would be accepted based on the sub-themes we had included in the call and making sure there was a balance between topics. Individuals who we were unfortunately unable to include in this year's program had the opportunity to submit a poster presentation or to have their submission kept on file for future events, as a way of maintaining the relationships we had started to build. Once abstracts were selected, we had a couple of weeks to do the final preparations which included printing, planning logistics for the day, liaising with speakers and finalising the agenda. On the day, whilst nervous we were excited and ready and from the moment the first attendee arrived, the event went by quickly.
Following a fascinating online keynote from Dr Meredith Wilkinson about empowering disabled women in higher education, our conference was arranged into four panels across two rooms. They were titled as follows:
- Grassroots Activism
- Intersectional Activism
- Scholar Activism, and
- International Advocacy
We also had some poster submissions that were accessible to online attendees via our online networking board and printed and displayed in the event space for in person attendees to view in the breaks. The submissions from civil society, activists and academic researchers alike were of a very high standard. Some speaker highlights from the four panels include Palestinian-British activist Firielle Al Jubeh’s powerful presentation and movement piece concerning the rights of Palestinians with disabilities, and Naiomi Lawson Jacob’s interesting reflection on ethical activist research with one under-researched community. Emma Hewitt, led an interesting discussion on preventing disabled activist burnout, an important yet overlooked topic in activism and academia. For a more detailed overview of each panel and speaker, please follow this link to our programme. The event was rounded off by a networking event in the student union, which was attended by the majority of in person attendees and provided valuable space to build connections and reflect on struggles and strategies in a supportive and inclusive environment. From conversations with those who attended, we realised how important these informal spaces are alongside more formal spaces, especially in relation to activist burnout and the importance of connecting with those outside of academia.
Firelle Al Jubeh performing her movement piece, in which she describes freedom as part of her activism.
Emma Hewitt’s interactive discussion on preventing disabled activist burnout
Accessibility and inclusivity was of importance to the whole organising team, therefore our top priority was to provide a receptive platform and space that was accessible to as many disabled people and civil society activists as possible. Therefore, we spent time during the planning stages building in a number of accessibility features, including allocating a quiet room, providing a social battery indicator on attendee name badges, developing easy read information and a plain English conference booklet, ensuring there were a number of lengthy breaks throughout the day and facilitating online discussions through a padlet, to name but a few. We also set ourselves the challenge of running the event in a hybrid format, spanning two physical rooms. Despite eight organisers being in attendance, we were quickly put to the test when the expected (yet, perhaps in hindsight, preventable) happened; sound issues, cameras not maintaining a focus on presenters and instead roaming the room, overrunning presentations, incorrect zoom links etc.. Perhaps our behind-the-scenes awareness skewed our perspective , but we felt it was clear to attendees and presenters that we lacked the technical support to deal with some of these challenges, which ultimately affected the fluidity and accessibility of, the event, by reducing the effectiveness of some of the aforementioned pre-planned accessibility features (i.e., reducing the length of breaks). We would like to apologise again to anyone who was negatively affected by any of the technical issues and their constructive feedback, which has allowed us to reflect on how to avoid these in future events.
Despite the tech issues, general attendee feedback was that the event was well organised, innovative, easy to follow and that attendees would recommend future White Rose Disability Network events to others. Specific feedback included, “Thank you for an accessible event that brought together so many people doing activist research. It’s rare that I get to meet any other activist researchers, so this conference was much appreciated” and “I found it so insightful, would love further meetings that break down the grassroots/scholar and UK/international divides” - We are grateful as organisers for this positive feedback and that the technical hiccups seemed not to have impacted the positive outcomes of the event for many of the attendees.
Following a team reflection of the planning process and the event, the future of the White Rose Disability Research Network is looking bright. We have taken the time to critically engage with the good, the bad and the stressful from the ‘Anarchy and Activism: Disrupting Disability’ event and this reflection has allowed us to highlight challenges that we faced and ways in which we can address these in future events. And, there will be future events - we are in the planning stages for a bigger, better event in Spring 2024 and a networking event in the meantime... .watch this space!
(Written by Bev Enion, Tom Ryan, Charlie Grosset, Kayleigh Doyle and Lauren Avery on behalf of the WRDN team)
