A few words about
Networking visit to the UK
October 2023
Networking visit to the UK
In October 2023, two academics from the University of Granma (Diurkis Madrigal León and Leticia García Rosabal) along with the provincial presidents of ACLIFIM (Elio Cisnero Ferrer) and ANSOC (Elisa Marrero Pérez), visited the UK for three weeks for a programme knowledge exchange, covering academic, cultural and community work on disability.
Academic exchange
The team visited De Montfort University, meeting colleagues from the Education Studies department. Later in the visit, they shared experiences of inclusion and exclusion in employment with DMU’s staff Disability and Wellbeing Network (DAWN) co-chairs, Leanne Herbert and Dr Meredith Wilkinson. Together we conducted focus groups using the Unlimited resource, ‘Cards for Inclusion’, which allowed us to see differences and points of contact in our approaches to barrier removal.
The Cuban team visited the University of Nottingham to meet co-investigator Sonali Shah and discuss plans for publications arising from the network. They then visited the university’s Centre for Research on Cuba and presented on disabled people’s organisations and the vital role of local social workers to a hybrid audience of undergraduate and post-graduate student, as well as national and international academics affiliated to the Cuba Research Forum.
At Sheffield Hallam University, the Cuban delegation met academics and post-graduate students from the Autism Centre, disabled academics from the education department and the department’s international lead.
The delegation was also warmly welcomed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds, an interdisciplinary team of disability researchers, where we discussed how disabled-led organisations work in the two countries and how we could support each other through exchange and co-authorship.
Cultural exchange
The Cuban delegation visited IMPACD, Nottingham, a community project dedicated to Inclusive Movement Participatory Arts and Community Dance, to hear about their work and participate in a movement workshop. We also attended a rehearsal of the MySight choir, where we were welcomed with beautiful renditions of new and familiar songs
We then visited the beautiful Yorkshire Dales, going to the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes, and participating in fell walking at Nateby with Access the Dales. Led by Debbie North, Access the Dales focusses on inclusive access to the countryside, including through wheelchair hubs allowing all-terrain access to one of the most beautiful parts of the country.
Still in Yorkshire, the group met with Unlimited, a leading disability arts commissioner, to discuss potential future collaborations and the effectiveness of their Cards for Inclusion tool as a medium for cross-cultural communication about disability and the social model. We had a tour of the accessible gallery, studios and workshop facilities at The Art House, Wakefield. Later, we visited Yorkshire Sculpture Park to hear about and experience their approach to inclusion. In Halifax, we visited the innovative neurodiversity arts college, PINC. On the way back to Nottingham, we saw elite powerchair footballers from NPFC at their regular practice in Mansfield.
In London, we accessed cultural institutions, including the British Museum, took a boat tour of the city and saw dance performances at the Royal Opera House, including the ballet The Cellist, exploring the experiences of musician Jacqueline du Pré, which communicates her experiences of multiple sclerosis.
Disabled people’s organisations
The Cuban delegation attended a series of round table meetings to share practice and build links for future collaborations. We began in Nottingham, meeting the vision loss charity MySight, then spent an afternoon sharing experiences with parent- and child-led autism organisation Sparkle Sheffield, which has since become a key partner for bid development.
In London, we met national representatives of the RNID and the British Deaf Association, focussing on sign language legalisation and education, as well as linking up online with the new Caribbean sign language network being led by Nick Palfreyman at the University of Lancaster. We spent a valuable afternoon with the RNIB, exploring everything from access to music, to employment, to inclusive and accessible architecture. In terms of learning disability, we met a team of staff, including experts-by-experience, at MENCAP, focussing in particular on their experiences of creating guidance for employers and potential employees (watch this space for a project in Granma inspired by their materials), as well as on how they include lived experience in their direction and governance. We then met online with Learning Disability England, who are now potential partners for a future collaboration with the ACPDI in Cuba.
We also visited Scope at their offices in the Olympic Village in Stratford to hear about their approaches to supporting disabled people in employment, in lobbying and influencing government, and in campaigning for inclusive parks – a research interest of one of our Cuban researchers, Mileidis Mengana Cobas. We then went to the centre of decision-making, meeting Shadow Disability Minister, Vicky Foxcroft, at Portcullis House, Westminster. In a lengthy discussion, the shadow minister took a particular interest in Cuba’s disabled people’s organisations, reflecting on the difficulties around creating sustainable structures for disabled people’s influence on policy in the UK.
