What We Do
Building collaboration
Building collaboration between learning disability and neurodiversity organisations
Cuba’s brand-new learning disability and autism organisation, ACPDI, has been working with UK organisations to develop research and collaborations to support their work.
In April 2024, supported by the AHRC networking project, with additional QR policy funding from De Montfort University, two representatives of ACPDI (Leidy Montano Pérez from Granma and Danae Mouso Díaz from Holguín), together with a representative of the University of Holguín (Dr Marybexy Calcerrada Gutierrez), visited the UK to build these links.
The focus of the visit was two days building for a potential ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) bid drawing on participatory methodologies from the two countries. We spent the two days sharing our ways of working, participatory structures and identifying shared priorities. Along with the Cuban colleagues, the meeting was attended by academics Dr Rosi Smith (De Montfort University), Dr Stephen Connolly (Autism Centre, Sheffield Hallam University) and Dr Sana Rizvi (Liverpool John Moores University). We were also joined by project partners: Learning Disability England’s Chief Executive Samantha Clark, with two lived experience experts, Jack Marshall and Scott Watkin; Liesje Dusauzay, founder of Sparkle Sheffield; and Christine Meleady, director of Autism Union. As the bid develops, Learning Disability England, Sparkle Sheffield and ACPDI will conduct lived experience reviews of the proposals to ensure that our academic work meets their needs and priorities.
While in the UK, the Cuban delegation made a number of other visits to see practice around learning disability and neurodiversity in the UK and to share their own work. They visited two specialist SEND schools – West Gate in Leicester and Oak Field in Nottingham. At West Gate, they were particularly impressed by the active Pupil Parliament, who gave them a piece of original art in recognition of their friendship. At Oak Field, a big focus was on music education and on communication strategies used for the inclusion of pupils with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities, who are often educated at home in Cuba because of a lack of resources for transport and equipment.
They also engaged with cultural institutions, visiting the STIM Cinema exhibition and Nottingham Castle Museum, which held a film and accompanying exhibition developed by the all-neurodivergent Neurocultures Collective and an interactive by neurodivergent artist Sam Metz. The ACPDI representatives, both of whom have autistic children, commented on how the exhibition gave them a new insight into their child’s sensory experience of the world.
At Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester, the delegation learned about their ground-breaking SENsory Atelier project, which applies Reggio Emilio approaches and tactile/sensory interaction with exhibitions, working local specialist SEND schools and a range of artists. They donated a painting by young autistic artist, Shanti Perkash González Bahr, whose seascapes were recently exhibited to families in Holguín. The exchanges were of particular interest to Marybexy, who is developing arts-based methodologies, currently working with mothers of disabled children in Holguin Province.
We also passed a fantastic weekend engaging in activities regularly undertaken by Sparkle Sheffield, an organisation run by, with and for autistic children and young people and their families. We experienced equine therapy at Amerron Acres, Edale, and discussed how far their methodologies could be incorporated into new work in Holguin bringing autistic children together with the local Labrador owners’ club.
The following day, we joined in with ‘Wildcraft’ – a Minecraft-inspired Forest School activity, with a group of autistic children and their families.
This was followed up by an evening watching 90s pop legends Take That in Sparkle’s private box at Sheffield Arena, which provides a safe, sensory-appropriate space for young autistic people to enjoy sport and music events.
Before heading back to Cuba, the group met Education Studies staff and students on their final year Special Educational Needs, Disability and Neurodiversity module at De Montfort University. They shared their experiences of starting up ACPDI, and the students explained the creative resources they had made as part of the module.
Since returning to Cuba, the delegation has been sharing their new knowledge and ideas with their provincial branches of the ACPDI, at the events “Personas en situación de discapacidad: Experiencia inglesa en torno al Autismo. Contribución a una perspectiva cultural inclusiva” in Holguín and “Visión de la discapacidad intelectual y el autismo en Reino Unido” in Granma. At these meetings, they sought their members’ views on which elements can be put into practice in Cuba, as well as engaging in awareness raising with academics and professionals from health and education.
Testimonials
An amazing experience of working alongside Cuban practitioners, academics and advocates and learning about good practices that can work across different contexts. I loved their inclusiveness and bottom-up approach to problem solving.
The opportunity to engage with and learn from our colleagues in Cuba and to share our experiences with them was invaluable. Their ability to be innovative and visionary in extremely challenging conditions and their being open to trying new ways of doing things was inspiring and provided food for thought for us all.
It was a profoundly eye-opening experience. We learned a great deal from each other. A lot of our problems were the same. Despite coming from a country with limited financial resources, some of their practices made more sense than to ours. They have a remarkable sense of community. We clearly have a lot to learn from each other. Meeting like-minded people from across the world which made the visit incredibly rewarding
I was struck by how much we had in common on what really matters to people on a human level. Alongside that I learnt so much from everyone in the room about the barriers to people living the life they want and the solutions colleagues found to remove barriers. So much richness in our experiences to share in the future.