From Insight to Impact: Disability History Month 2025 Across the North East
Disability History Month 2025 gave Difference North East the opportunity to do what we do best: create spaces where disabled people's knowledge, experience and creativity shape learning, in community settings and inside institutions.
Across the month, we delivered a wide programme of activity spanning public events, creative workshops, exhibitions, training and institutional talks. These took place across the North East, including Hartlepool, Newcastle, Billingham and online, and involved disabled people, allies, cultural organisations and public-sector institutions.
What follows is not a marketing round-up. It is a reflection on what actually happened, where it happened, and what impact people told us it had. This blog draws together qualitative feedback, learning outcomes and community responses to show how Disability History Month 2025 translated into real shifts in understanding, confidence and connection.
Shifting institutional understanding
A significant part of our Disability History Month programme focused on work with institutions, spaces where disabled people's voices have historically been marginalised, but where change can have wide-reaching effects.
Disability, Equality, Awareness & Etiquette Training, Alphabetti Theatre (Newcastle)
At Alphabetti Theatre, we delivered Disability, Equality, Awareness & Etiquette Training for staff. This was not a public-facing session, but it was an important part of the month's impact.
The training focused on practical, lived-experience-led approaches to accessibility, language, power and responsibility. Feedback highlighted how valuable it was to have training that was direct, relevant and grounded in real situations rather than abstract policy.
For cultural organisations like Alphabetti Theatre, this kind of engagement matters, it influences programming, access planning and how disabled audiences and artists are welcomed in practice.
This work reflects a broader shift: institutions actively seeking disabled-led expertise, not as a tick-box exercise, but as part of changing how they operate.
Mary Greeves talks, NHS staff
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During Disability History Month, Mary Greeves delivered talks for NHS staff, focusing on disability, history and lived experience. These sessions were not public and were specifically aimed at healthcare professionals.
While qualitative rather than public-facing, the impact of this work is significant. NHS staff reflected on how the talks challenged assumptions, deepened understanding of disability beyond clinical models, and encouraged more thoughtful, respectful engagement with disabled patients and colleagues.
This kind of institutional learning is slow, necessary work. It speaks directly to present-day experiences of disabled people navigating healthcare systems, and to the importance of embedding disability history and lived experience into professional practice.
Building knowledge and confidence: Lunch & Learn on digital accessibility
One of the clearest examples of measurable impact during Disability History Month came from our Lunch & Learn on digital accessibility, delivered online and open to anyone.
The session focused on practical digital access: how disabled people experience online spaces, common barriers, and realistic steps individuals and organisations can take to improve accessibility.
At the start of the session, participants were asked to rate their understanding of digital accessibility. Most responses clustered around 2–3 out of 5. At the end of the session, the majority rated their understanding as 4 out of 5, with some reporting a move from 1 to 3, or 2 to 4.
Alongside this, qualitative feedback was overwhelmingly positive:
"Very helpful! Hopefully more like this in future."
"Great. Right to the point with no fluff."
"Really useful, I still have so much to learn, but this helped."
"Insightful and helpful."
This session showed how even short, focused learning spaces can make a tangible difference. People left with increased confidence, clearer understanding and practical actions they could take immediately.
Public talks, workshops and discussions
Alongside institutional work, Disability History Month 2025 included a range of public talks, workshops and discussion-based events delivered across the region.
Billingham and online talks
In Billingham and online, talks explored disability history, lived experience and contemporary barriers. Feedback highlighted how sessions felt welcoming, balanced and accessible, even when covering difficult or heavy topics.
Several people commented on how important it was to have space for questions, reflection and discussion, and asked for future sessions to build on this work.
Disability Canon discussions
The Disability Canon sessions, delivered both in-person and online, created space for people to talk openly about representation, power and ableism. Participants described feeling listened to and valued, sometimes for the first time in a public discussion about disability culture and history.
While time-limited, the impact lay in creating a space where experiences could be named, shared and taken seriously, something participants told us they wanted to continue beyond Disability History Month.
Creative work and exhibitions
Creativity was a core part of Disability History Month 2025, not as decoration, but as a way of expressing disabled experience and challenging assumptions.
Hartlepool: photography exhibition
In Hartlepool, the photography exhibition created space for people to engage with disabled lives beyond stereotypes. Visitors spent time with the work, reflecting on themes of home, normality and access.
Feedback showed how powerful it was to see disabled people represented in everyday contexts, not as inspiration or tragedy, but as people living complex, ordinary lives.
Creative workshops and zine-making
Across Newcastle and Hartlepool, creative workshops, including zine-making, were described as relaxed, fun and genuinely accessible. Participants told us these sessions helped them feel comfortable taking part, even if they didn't usually see themselves as 'creative' or as someone who attends disability-focused events.
Comments included "fabulously fun," "a great way to relax and socialise," and "really enjoyable and informative."
Importantly, younger participants and people who don't always identify as disabled told us they felt welcome within a space created by disabled people, a key indicator of impact.
Reaching across the North East
Taken together, Disability History Month 2025 reached across multiple locations, audiences and settings:
Hartlepool
Exhibitions and creative events
Newcastle
Training, workshops and creative sessions
Billingham
Talks and discussions
Online
Lunch & Learn sessions and wider access
People told us that attending one event often led them to attend another, to follow our work more closely, or to think differently about disability in their own contexts, whether personal, professional or organisational.
This mix of public, creative and institutional work reflects how change actually happens: through multiple entry points, repeated engagement and disabled-led learning.
Disability History Month 2025: events, places and impact
Below is a detailed overview of the Disability History Month 2025 activity delivered by Difference North East. This section sets out what happened, when, where, and why it mattered, alongside links to further information and photos where available.
Drake’s The Bookshop: Sharing Disability Stories Through Books
During Disability History Month, Difference North East partnered with Drake’s The Bookshop in Stockton-on-Tees to share disability stories through books — getting titles about disabled lives into schools, community groups and local organisations across the North East. This work focused on representation, pride and everyday understanding, using books as a practical tool for cultural change.
The camapaign garer international attention with "Anti-abelist manafesto" author Tiffany Yu sharing a call to donate!
Claiming the Normal – photography exhibition
Dates: 17/11/2025 (Newcastle), 01/12/2025 (Hartlepool)
Locations: Newcastle City Library; Hartlepool Art Gallery
Audience: Public
In January 2025, Difference North East began a photography project, Claiming the Normal, responding to the lack of stock images showing disabled people doing everyday things. The project centred disabled people living ordinary lives, shopping, resting, socialising, without turning those moments into inspiration or spectacle.
Photographs from the project were exhibited at Newcastle City Library and Hartlepool Art Gallery during Disability History Month, bringing disabled representation into public cultural spaces across the region.
Disability, Equality, Awareness & Etiquette Training, Alphabetti Theatre
Date: 18/11/2025
Location: Newcastle
Audience: Institutional (Alphabetti Theatre staff)
Core staff at Alphabetti Theatre attended Difference North East's Disability, Equality, Awareness & Etiquette Training. The session focused on practical access, power, language and responsibility, grounded in lived experience rather than abstract policy.
This training represents the kind of institutional shift Disability History Month can enable, influencing how cultural organisations plan, programme and welcome disabled people.
What is the Disability Canon? (Hybrid discussion), Alphabetti Theatre
Date: 19/11/2025
Location: Newcastle + online
Attendance: 5 in person, 8 online, plus 3 speakers
Speakers: Bex (Difference North East), Ed (Alphabetti), Josh (Vital Xposure)
Difference North East co-hosted a hybrid conversation between disabled artists, non-disabled allies and organisations to explore what it means to centre disabled perspectives in writing, decision-making and artist development.
The discussion was rich and wide-ranging, touching on personal experience, the arts sector's ongoing failure to represent disabled people, and what a future could look like where disabled people are genuinely centred in stories and programming. As a result of this session, Difference North East is exploring plans to host an annual industry-facing event and to engage more widely with equality commitments across the arts sector.
Zine-making workshops for young people
Dates: 22/11/2025 (Newcastle), 30/11/2025 (Hartlepool)
Locations: Newcastle City Library; Hartlepool Art Gallery
Audience: Young people aged 12–16
Artist Miki Rogers (Teeszineworks) led two zine-making workshops for young people during Disability History Month.
Zines have long played an important role in disability history, justice movements and subcultures. These workshops gave young people space to explore big ideas about their own lives and communities using collage, drawing and text.
Attendance included young people and parent/carers in Hartlepool (4 young people, 3 parent/carers), with Newcastle attendance to be confirmed. Completed zines were submitted to a growing zine library and will be shared across the region.
Online Lunch & Learn, How accessible are your online communications?
Date: 01/12/2025
Location: Online (region-wide)
Attendance: 39
Audience: Anyone
Claire and Elgan from Difference North East hosted a free Lunch & Learn focused on practical ways to improve digital accessibility. The session was attended by volunteers and staff from local businesses, police, healthcare services and VCSE organisations.
Participants self-rated their understanding of digital accessibility at the start and end of the session. Most reported moving from 2–3 out of 5 to 4 out of 5, demonstrating a clear increase in confidence and understanding.
Qualitative feedback included comments such as "Really useful," "Great, right to the point with no fluff," and "Hopefully more like this in future." Difference North East plans to continue offering these free sessions to allies throughout 2026.
International Day of Disabled People, Finding power in disability history
Date: 03/12/2025
Location: Billingham Library
Attendance: 15
Audience: Public
Billingham Library hosted a special event to mark International Day of Disabled People, featuring a talk by Claire Andrews from Difference North East.
The presentation explored disability history, challenging myths and barriers, both historical and present-day, and highlighting key moments in disability rights movements. Attendees engaged with stories of resistance, organising and the ongoing struggle for visibility, respect and equality.
Reasonable Adjustments session, VONNE
Date: 03/12/2025
Location: VONNE
Attendance: 27
Audience: VCSE organisations
Bex from Difference North East and Richard Boggie from VONNE hosted a session on Reasonable Adjustments. The session focused on implementing quick wins while also allowing space for honest discussion about systemic barriers, including Access to Work.
Participants discussed what inclusive workplaces can look like in practice and the challenges organisations face when systems are not designed with disabled people in mind.
Mary Greeves talk, NHS staff
Date: 08/12/2025
Audience: NHS staff
Mary Greeves delivered a talk for NHS staff as part of Disability History Month. While not a public-facing event, the session contributed to deeper understanding of disability history, lived experience and how these intersect with healthcare practice.
Feedback shared internally reflected shifts in thinking and reinforced the importance of embedding disability history and lived experience into professional learning environments.
Stockton Independent Advisory Group, BME communities
Date: 10/12/2025
Location: Stockton-on-Tees
Attendance: 22
Claire Andrews was invited by Sahida (Amal Project) to present to the Stockton Independent Advisory Group about Disability History Month.
The session explored disability history from workhouses and asylums through to marches, campaigns and the formation of disabled-led organisations. Claire also discussed disability hate crime and the need to influence regional and national policy.
This was followed by an open and honest discussion about how disability intersects with race, religion and gender identity, and the importance of working towards justice across movements rather than in isolation.
What Disability History Month 2025 showed us
Disability History Month 2025 demonstrated that impact happens across many spaces at once, in libraries, theatres, galleries, boardrooms, community groups and online.
From creative work in Hartlepool and Newcastle, to institutional learning with NHS staff and cultural organisations, to open discussions about intersectionality and justice, people told us they learned something new, felt more confident, and wanted more of this work.
If you want to be part of this, whether as a disabled person, an ally, or an organisation, you can join Difference North East as a member or ally (joining is free), or book training to support meaningful, disabled-led change across the region.
