The Social History of Learning Disability conference has always been radically unlike other academic events.
Held at its home of the Open University in Milton Keynes, it has long championed inclusion in learning disability history. It is committed to co-chairing, co-production of research and the use of oral history to enable people to tell their own stories.
“The group’s purpose was to pioneer what we might call inclusive history,” wrote Jan Walmsley in the last issue. “What history there was in the early 1990s was from the perspective of psychiatry, special education or celebratory accounts of great men, organisations or institutions.”
This year’s conference marked the 30th anniversary of the group and, in its spirit of radical exploration, one question it sought to address was how history can break out of the academic straitjacket of the written and spoken word.
Is it possible to convey historical stories, and examine historical themes without using the spoken or written word? For people who lack literacy skills or who struggle to speak or express themselves verbally, this is an often-insuperable barrier to involvement in historical research.
The medium of dance – an area of the arts in which people with learning disabilities are increasingly flourishing – seemed an obvious route to think about history without words.
Three inclusive London dance companies – Magpie Dance, Corali and icandance – opened the conference with a keynote session, followed by an afternoon workshop in which delegates could try out telling historical stories through dance for themselves.
Influence on perception
As Juliet Diener, founder and chief executive of icandance, put it: “Dance offers the opportunity to create, explore and share our stories without words. These stories can portray time and historical moments both personal and social, influencing perceptions and understanding.”
A dancer and a representative from each company took part in a Q&A session for the opening keynote. Dancers spoke about their experiences performing in well-known venues – one had danced a solo at the Royal Opera House – and the enriching impact dance has had on their ability to express themselves.
Each company showed a clip of its work; in the case of Magpie, this was a production they had made about the role of men and women with learning disabilities in the First World War. The point was well and truly made.
The extremely well attended workshop that followed used collaborative processes, led by dancers from each company, to create a performance based on the themes of past, present and future.
As Sarah Archdeacon, artistic director of Corali, noted: “What became evident very quickly in the presentations from each of the companies was how dance can open up the emotions and feelings layered through social history.
What became evident very quickly was how dance can open up the emotions and feelings layered through social history
“Attendees were able to access complex subject matter and story in a fully embodied way and on a personal level.”
Archdeacon’s point about opening up emotions is a critical one. Creating communities of emotional connectedness was a key theme of the conference; the lack of them is often a significant barrier in the lives of people with learning disabilities.
And here in a room in Milton Keynes were people, many previously unknown to each other, who created, performed, felt and responded to the emotion of the past from which they had come, and the possibilities of the future to which they were heading.
History without words? Of course it can be done.
