Recently, Christine Sun Kim’s exhibition 1880 THAT opened at the Wellcome Collection. After watching “Friends and strangers” and understanding her work process better, I visited the exhibition.
One of the reasons I gravitate towards art is because it can marry process and meaning impactfully – Being stood in front of a 3 meter tall brick wall with the words “I AM NOT CROSS” was a clash of experience and message that was dizzying. This exhibition was a very small glimpse into navigating the world with a disability. From my own position, someone that has no disabilities impacting how I navigate life, I was struck by how exhausting it is to be constantly adapting to others rather than the other way around. From building access to communication nuances – people with disabilities are expected to be perennially patient and evaluate challenges at every turn.
Sara Novic’s tweet “I can one hundred percent promise that you learning sign language is easier than a deaf person learning to hear” has a humorous angle, but rings true.
I noticed this as a recurring theme on the other interviews with Ade Adepitan and Chay Brown: the expectation on the individual to adapt. When you add elements of intersectionality such as race and gender, you have a percentage of the population that fall into blind spots that hold them back. Kimberle Crenshaw talks about the urgency of intersectionality by illustrating “patterns of recognition” and how people can fall into blind spots because their identities intersect and fall into more than 1 category.
Ade Adepitan, paralympian and TV presenter, mentions about systemic discrimination and racism “If you can’t see a problem, you can’t solve it” and “Its not the disability that makes you disabled, its society and its systemic discrimination that holds you back” which makes me think: are potential students not applying because they can see that they won’t get the right support?
I reflect on my teaching practice and how unless we are faced with a crisis, we don’t often know what resources are available within the university, or even shared through conversation with colleagues, to support students. During a recent tutorial, one of my peers mentioned that the simple act of turning on the captions on her lecture had been triggered by a deaf student’s interpreter not arriving. This in turn made a more inclusive environment for all students. This discovery would not have happened if the interpreter had been in the room.
Chay Brown, director of operations at TransActual UK, mentions how even in places that host marginalised communities there are accessibility issues. He gives an example on how one of the festivals he attended had addressed accessibility issues successfully because “people in the organising committee understood accessibility, and that was coming from lived experience” This highlights the need for representation in staff and policy makers within the university.
The social model of disability at UAL mentions “creating a university that removes barriers for everyone”, but it is often a lengthy process for students to access disability support. Last academic year I had a student that eventually got access to one-to-one support in taught sessions, but it took roughly 6 months for this to be put in place. For 6 out of the 9 months of the Foundation course, her assessment scores where low, but increased significantly after this. According to the UAL awarding gap report for 2023/24, there is a 3% difference between students with declared disabilities compared to students without, in favour of students with declared disabilities. This could indicate that when the playing field is more even, the gap disappears.
Sources:
1880 THAT (2025) [Exhibition]. Wellcome Collection. 17 April 2025 – 16 November 2025. Available at: https://wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/1880-that (Accessed: 30/04/2025).
Art 21 (October 2023) Christine Sun Kim in Friends and strangers. Available at: https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s11/christine-sun-kim-in-friends-strangers/ (Accessed: 30/04/2025).
UAL Undergraduate Attainment Report, 23-24. Available at: https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/documents/sppreview/1cdc0ff4-8830-4787-b187-f7db576ab259 (Accessed 30/04/2025)
ParaPride (2023) Intersectionality in focus: Empowering voices during UK disability history month. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yID8_s5tjc&t=23s (Accessed: 30/04/2025).
TED (December 2016) Kimberele Crenshaw The urgency of intersectionality . Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOe5-UsQ2o (Accessed: 30/04/2025).
A wonderfully insightful and engaging post, Ignacia, and thanks for sharing your experience of the exhibition. Your reflection on how institutions often only respond in moments of crisis struck me. It powerfully illustrates how inclusion is often reactive rather than embedded. This theme connects with Christine Sun Kim’s account of liberation through embedded social infrastructure, which I explored in my blog, where structural support in Berlin enables her to navigate daily life more freely. It’s a reminder that accessibility should be built in, not dependent on individual circumstances. Your example of the Foundation student waiting six months for support also echoes Bamber and Jones’ (2015) argument that inclusive learning isn’t just about adapting for individuals but about rethinking the systems that decide who is included in the first place. Your reflections prompt an important question: How many students are held back simply because they didn’t receive timely support? Thanks again for sharing and prompting an important discussion.
Thank you for your comment Kuljeet, I agree with your final question of us not knowing how many students could be in a better position if they could access support sooner. It makes me think of one of our peers commenting during a session that their ADHD diagnosis took so long because the form they had to fill out to be diagnosed was completely counterproductive to someone with ADHD…
Yes, Ignacia, I remember that moment too, and it also stuck with me. It’s such a clear example of how support shouldn’t just begin after a diagnosis or a formal request, but from day one. If the process of seeking help is itself a barrier, then we’re failing to meet students where they are. In that case, the application wasn’t just a hurdle – it was part of the problem. It really highlights how important it is to design systems that are accessible from the outset, not just responsive later on.
Your account of the exhibition is lovely, so vivid. You made the struggles very clear, describing the exhaustion of constantly adapting to others and not them to you.
What struck me too was how fairly easy it is to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities once you are attuned to thinking inclusively, and from there understanding the truth of Ade’s quote.
Thank you for your comment Eva. It reminded me when Christine Sun Kim mentioned living in Berlin she received more support that in America and that how in Berlin inclusivity seemed to be way more woven into the fabric of the city itself.
This is a truly insightful post Ignacia, and I found the point you make about the fact that until faced with a crisis, we often aren’t aware of the resources and tools available. A sudden crisis may instigate research in finding potential solutions to help create more inclusive environments. Thanks for your reference to my experiences in finding ways to help such a student!