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UK-based art-activist Liz Crow discusses the challenges of making socially engaged, political art and performance in a climate of austerity. She reflects on the euphoric moment of the 2012 Paralympics Games, and the contradictory... more
UK-based art-activist Liz Crow discusses the challenges of making socially engaged, political art and performance in a climate of austerity. She reflects on the euphoric moment of the 2012 Paralympics Games, and the contradictory experiences that resulted for people with disabilities who were simultaneously lauded as ‘superhumans’ and castigated as ‘scroungers’. Crow talks about the dialogic works she created to counter these unattainable – and implicitly discriminatory – categories including two durational works, Bedding Out (2012–2013) and Figures (2015). Figures, a mass sculptural durational performance, testifies to the far-reaching effects of austerity measures and also holds the potential of serving as an alternative ‘legacy’ archive of the London Summer Games. A foldout of selected images and text from the Figures project is printed in Part 4: ‘Suspending Freedom, Sustaining Spectacle’ of this special issue.
UK-based art-activist Liz Crow discusses the challenges of making socially engaged, political art and performance in a climate of austerity. She reflects on the euphoric moment of the 2012 Paralympics Games, and the contradictory... more
UK-based art-activist Liz Crow discusses the challenges of making socially engaged, political art and performance in a climate of austerity. She reflects on the euphoric moment of the 2012 Paralympics Games, and the contradictory experiences that resulted for people with disabilities who were simultaneously lauded as ‘superhumans’ and castigated as ‘scroungers’. Crow talks about the dialogic works she created to counter these unattainable – and implicitly discriminatory – categories including two durational works, Bedding Out (2012–2013) and Figures (2015). Figures, a mass sculptural durational performance, testifies to the far-reaching effects of austerity measures and also holds the potential of serving as an alternative ‘legacy’ archive of the London Summer Games. A foldout of selected images and text from the Figures project is printed in Part 4: ‘Suspending Freedom, Sustaining Spectacle’ of this special issue.
This is a narrative inquiry that explores the significance of a photograph that has exerted a hold over me for several years. A single glance, like running a finger along the amassed spines of well-loved novels, tumbles me instantly into... more
This is a narrative inquiry that explores the significance of a photograph that has exerted a hold over me for several years. A single glance, like running a finger along the amassed spines of well-loved novels, tumbles me instantly into memory. Yet, over time I have realized there is more than nostalgia to this photograph’s hold. Like those novels, this photograph holds its own fiction, yet through that fiction it also carries profound truths about how life might be lived. As I live alongside it, I find the photograph unfolding to another, deeper level of meaning that shifts and changes through time, representing a self in flux and guiding a journey through the themes of my life. In telling the story of another, I find that the photograph contains my own narrative too.
Mi vida tiene dos fases: antes del modelo social de discapacidad y después de el. El descubrimiento de esta forma de pensar sobre mis experiencias fue la balsa proverbial en mares tormentosos. Me hizo comprender mi Vida, compartida con... more
Mi vida tiene dos fases: antes del modelo social de discapacidad y después de el. El descubrimiento de esta forma de pensar sobre mis experiencias fue la balsa proverbial en mares tormentosos. Me hizo comprender mi Vida, compartida con miles, millones incluso, de personas de tlodo el mundo y me adheri por completo a ella. Esta era la exphcacion que habia estado buscando durante muchos afios. De repente, se confirmaba lo que yo habia sabido desde siempre, en el plano mas profimdo. Mi cuerpo no era e1 responsable de todas mis dificultades, sino factores externos, barreras construidas por la sociedad en la que vivo. Los prejuicios, la discriminacion, los ambientes que no me permitian e1 acceso y un apoyo insuficiente me estaban discapacitando: limitando mis capacidades y oportumdades. Ma’s importante au’n era e1 hecho de que, si la sociedad habia creado los problemas, la misma sociedad podia des-crearlos: !verdaderamente revolucionario! Durante afios, este modelo social de discapacidad me ha permitido afrontar, sobrevivir e incluso superar incontables situaciones de exclusion y discriminacion. Ha sido mi principal apoyo, como tambien 10 ha sido para el movimiento de personas discapacitadas en general. I-Ia permitido que adquiriesemos una vision de nosotros mismos liberada de las restricciones de la discapacidad (opresion), aporta’ndonos una orientacion para nuestro compromiso a favor del cambio social. Ha desempefiado un papel fundamental en la promocion de la autovaloracio’n individual de las personas discapacitadas, la identidad colectiva y la organizacion politica. No creo que exagere al decir que el modelo social ha salvado Vidas. Gradual, muy gradualmente, su esfera de influencia se ha extendido mas alla de nuestro movimiento, influyendo en la politica y en la pra’ctica generales. La contribucion del modelo social de discapacidad, ahora y en el futuro, al logro de la igualdad de derechos para las personas discapacitadas es incalculable. Siendo asi, ?por que’, de repente y a pesar de todos sus puntos fuertes y su relevancia, el modelo social no me parece ya tan cristalino? Lo critico conmovida, pero, cuando la experiencia personal no se adapta a las explicaciones a1 uso, es hora de cuestionarlas de nuevo… http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/nuestra-vida-en-su-totalidad-renovacion-del-modelo-social-de-discapacidad/
Mi vida tiene dos fases: antes del modelo social de discapacidad y después de el. El descubrimiento de esta forma de pensar sobre mis experiencias fue la balsa proverbial en mares tormentosos. Me hizo comprender mi Vida, compartida con... more
Mi vida tiene dos fases: antes del modelo social de discapacidad y después de el. El descubrimiento de esta forma de pensar sobre mis experiencias fue la balsa proverbial en mares tormentosos. Me hizo comprender mi Vida, compartida con miles, millones incluso, de personas de tlodo el mundo y me adheri por completo a ella. Esta era la exphcacion que habia estado buscando durante muchos afios. De repente, se confirmaba lo que yo habia sabido desde siempre, en el plano mas profimdo. Mi cuerpo no era e1 responsable de todas mis dificultades, sino factores externos, barreras construidas por la sociedad en la que vivo. Los prejuicios, la discriminacion, los ambientes que no me permitian e1 acceso y un apoyo insuficiente me estaban discapacitando: limitando mis capacidades y oportumdades. Ma’s importante au’n era e1 hecho de que, si la sociedad habia creado los problemas, la misma sociedad podia des-crearlos: !verdaderamente revolucionario! Durante afios, este modelo social de discapacidad me ha permitido afrontar, sobrevivir e incluso superar incontables situaciones de exclusion y discriminacion. Ha sido mi principal apoyo, como tambien 10 ha sido para el movimiento de personas discapacitadas en general. I-Ia permitido que adquiriesemos una vision de nosotros mismos liberada de las restricciones de la discapacidad (opresion), aporta’ndonos una orientacion para nuestro compromiso a favor del cambio social. Ha desempefiado un papel fundamental en la promocion de la autovaloracio’n individual de las personas discapacitadas, la identidad colectiva y la organizacion politica. No creo que exagere al decir que el modelo social ha salvado Vidas. Gradual, muy gradualmente, su esfera de influencia se ha extendido mas alla de nuestro movimiento, influyendo en la politica y en la pra’ctica generales. La contribucion del modelo social de discapacidad, ahora y en el futuro, al logro de la igualdad de derechos para las personas discapacitadas es incalculable. Siendo asi, ?por que’, de repente y a pesar de todos sus puntos fuertes y su relevancia, el modelo social no me parece ya tan cristalino? Lo critico conmovida, pero, cuando la experiencia personal no se adapta a las explicaciones a1 uso, es hora de cuestionarlas de nuevo… http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/nuestra-vida-en-su-totalidad-renovacion-del-modelo-social-de-discapacidad/
Through the summer of 2012, two opposing sets of images dominated the British press. Welfare benefits reform met the Paralympics, the former casting disabled people as scroungers, the latter as superhumans. Seemingly independent yet... more
Through the summer of 2012, two opposing sets of images dominated the British press. Welfare benefits reform met the Paralympics, the former casting disabled people as scroungers, the latter as superhumans. Seemingly independent yet intertwined, the images create a collective picture in the mind of what it is to be disabled. This collective imagining shapes and reinforces government policy on austerity cuts and benefits reform, with profound influence upon the everyday lives of disabled people. Caught between the two conflicting image sets, disabled people’s real lives are rendered invisible, even as they feel the full force of the images. This visual inquiry examines how the dominance of such images might practically be contested by creating counter images which reveal a very different and more truthful imagining of what it might be to be disabled.
1 Invisible and centre stage: a disabled woman's perspective on maternity services Liz Crow Writer, filmmaker and disability equality consultant 1c Birchall Road, Bristol BS6 7TW (0117) 944 6882 (voice and fax)... more
1 Invisible and centre stage: a disabled woman's perspective on maternity services Liz Crow Writer, filmmaker and disability equality consultant 1c Birchall Road, Bristol BS6 7TW (0117) 944 6882 (voice and fax) liz@roaring-girl.com Date of submission 15 February 2003 ...
This is a narrative inquiry that explores the significance of a photograph that has exerted a hold over me for several years. A single glance, like running a finger along the amassed spines of well-loved novels, tumbles me instantly into... more
This is a narrative inquiry that explores the significance of a photograph that has exerted a hold over me for several years. A single glance, like running a finger along the amassed spines of well-loved novels, tumbles me instantly into memory. Yet, over time I have realized there is more than nostalgia to this photograph’s hold. Like those novels, this photograph holds its own fiction, yet through that fiction it also carries profound truths about how life might be lived. As I live alongside it, I find the photograph unfolding to another, deeper level of meaning that shifts and changes through time, representing a self in flux and guiding a journey through the themes of my life. In telling the story of another, I find that the photograph contains my own narrative too.
1 Invisible and centre stage: a disabled woman's perspective on maternity services Liz Crow Writer, filmmaker and disability equality consultant 1c Birchall Road, Bristol BS6 7TW (0117) 944 6882 (voice and fax)... more
1 Invisible and centre stage: a disabled woman's perspective on maternity services Liz Crow Writer, filmmaker and disability equality consultant 1c Birchall Road, Bristol BS6 7TW (0117) 944 6882 (voice and fax) liz@roaring-girl.com Date of submission 15 February 2003 ...
Mi vida tiene dos fases: antes del modelo social de discapacidad y después de el. El descubrimiento de esta forma de pensar sobre mis experiencias fue la balsa proverbial en mares tormentosos. Me hizo comprender mi Vida, compartida con... more
Mi vida tiene dos fases: antes del modelo social de discapacidad y después de el. El descubrimiento de esta forma de pensar sobre mis experiencias fue la balsa proverbial en mares tormentosos. Me hizo comprender mi Vida, compartida con miles, millones incluso, de personas de tlodo el mundo y me adheri por completo a ella. Esta era la exphcacion que habia estado buscando durante muchos afios. De repente, se confirmaba lo que yo habia sabido desde siempre, en el plano mas profimdo. Mi cuerpo no era e1 responsable de todas mis dificultades, sino factores externos, barreras construidas por la sociedad en la que vivo. Los prejuicios, la discriminacion, los ambientes que no me permitian e1 acceso y un apoyo insuficiente me estaban discapacitando: limitando mis capacidades y oportumdades. Ma’s importante au’n era e1 hecho de que, si la sociedad habia creado los problemas, la misma sociedad podia des-crearlos: !verdaderamente revolucionario! Durante afios, este modelo social de discapacidad me ha permitido afrontar, sobrevivir e incluso superar incontables situaciones de exclusion y discriminacion. Ha sido mi principal apoyo, como tambien 10 ha sido para el movimiento de personas discapacitadas en general. I-Ia permitido que adquiriesemos una vision de nosotros mismos liberada de las restricciones de la discapacidad (opresion), aporta’ndonos una orientacion para nuestro compromiso a favor del cambio social. Ha desempefiado un papel fundamental en la promocion de la autovaloracio’n individual de las personas discapacitadas, la identidad colectiva y la organizacion politica. No creo que exagere al decir que el modelo social ha salvado Vidas. Gradual, muy gradualmente, su esfera de influencia se ha extendido mas alla de nuestro movimiento, influyendo en la politica y en la pra’ctica generales. La contribucion del modelo social de discapacidad, ahora y en el futuro, al logro de la igualdad de derechos para las personas discapacitadas es incalculable. Siendo asi, ?por que’, de repente y a pesar de todos sus puntos fuertes y su relevancia, el modelo social no me parece ya tan cristalino? Lo critico conmovida, pero, cuando la experiencia personal no se adapta a las explicaciones a1 uso, es hora de cuestionarlas de nuevo… http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/nuestra-vida-en-su-totalidad-renovacion-del-modelo-social-de-discapacidad/
Through the summer of 2012, two sets of images dominated the British press: welfare benefits scrounger and Paralympic superhuman. Through one claimant’s traversal of the benefits system and against the heady backdrop of the Games, this... more
Through the summer of 2012, two sets of images dominated the British press: welfare benefits scrounger and Paralympic superhuman. Through one claimant’s traversal of the benefits system and against the heady backdrop of the Games, this narrative inquiry examines the profound and tangible consequences of these images, whilst offering hope for an abiding legacy that holds consequences for public perception of disability and the lives of disabled people.
ContextThe Man on the Hill is a story of a man who wants to be useful and sets out to collect the sorrows of the world that he might set the people free.In my work as an artist-activist, I use creative work for social and political... more
ContextThe Man on the Hill is a story of a man who wants to be useful and sets out to collect the sorrows of the world that he might set the people free.In my work as an artist-activist, I use creative work for social and political change. During an extended performance set in a converted church (Crow 2012), a stream of visitors told me their sorrows while, in stained glass soaring above me, a tall, benign figure stood, steady and steadying, his hand raised in blessing, to his side a rounded green hill and sturdy tree.1 Intrigued by the way the images held me, I turned to writing as inquiry (Richardson 1994) to explore their meaning, recognising them as a metaphor for affective aspects of social justice work.The rhetorical parabolic form, with its intention to impart moral lessons (Burchfield 1996) and subvert the status quo (Champion 1989), became my genre of re-presentation. In its magical-realism, The Man on the Hill is yet rooted in human experience (Spindler 2008), using the co...
Mi vida tiene dos fases: antes del modelo social de discapacidad y después de el. El descubrimiento de esta forma de pensar sobre mis experiencias fue la balsa proverbial en mares tormentosos. Me hizo comprender mi Vida, compartida con... more
Mi vida tiene dos fases: antes del modelo social de discapacidad y después de el. El descubrimiento de esta forma de pensar sobre mis experiencias fue la balsa proverbial en mares tormentosos. Me hizo comprender mi Vida, compartida con miles, millones incluso, de personas de tlodo el mundo y me adheri por completo a ella. Esta era la exphcacion que habia estado buscando durante muchos afios. De repente, se confirmaba lo que yo habia sabido desde siempre, en el plano mas profimdo. Mi cuerpo no era e1 responsable de todas mis dificultades, sino factores externos, barreras construidas por la sociedad en la que vivo. Los prejuicios, la discriminacion, los ambientes que no me permitian e1 acceso y un apoyo insuficiente me estaban discapacitando: limitando mis capacidades y oportumdades. Ma’s importante au’n era e1 hecho de que, si la sociedad habia creado los problemas, la misma sociedad podia des-crearlos: !verdaderamente revolucionario! Durante afios, este modelo social de discapacidad me ha permitido afrontar, sobrevivir e incluso superar incontables situaciones de exclusion y discriminacion. Ha sido mi principal apoyo, como tambien 10 ha sido para el movimiento de personas discapacitadas en general. I-Ia permitido que adquiriesemos una vision de nosotros mismos liberada de las restricciones de la discapacidad (opresion), aporta’ndonos una orientacion para nuestro compromiso a favor del cambio social. Ha desempefiado un papel fundamental en la promocion de la autovaloracio’n individual de las personas discapacitadas, la identidad colectiva y la organizacion politica. No creo que exagere al decir que el modelo social ha salvado Vidas. Gradual, muy gradualmente, su esfera de influencia se ha extendido mas alla de nuestro movimiento, influyendo en la politica y en la pra’ctica generales. La contribucion del modelo social de discapacidad, ahora y en el futuro, al logro de la igualdad de derechos para las personas discapacitadas es incalculable. Siendo asi, ?por que’, de repente y a pesar de todos sus puntos fuertes y su relevancia, el modelo social no me parece ya tan cristalino? Lo critico conmovida, pero, cuando la experiencia personal no se adapta a las explicaciones a1 uso, es hora de cuestionarlas de nuevo… http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/nuestra-vida-en-su-totalidad-renovacion-del-modelo-social-de-discapacidad/
Through the summer of 2012, two opposing sets of images dominated the British press. Welfare benefits reform met the Paralympics, the former casting disabled people as scroungers, the latter as superhumans. Seemingly independent yet... more
Through the summer of 2012, two opposing sets of images dominated the British press. Welfare benefits reform met the Paralympics, the former casting disabled people as scroungers, the latter as superhumans. Seemingly independent yet intertwined, the images have profound consequences for public perception of disability and the lives of disabled people. These are explored through one claimant’s traversal of the benefits system against a heady backdrop of the Games. In exploring the images and their impact, the values that drive them are exposed, holding profound consequences for disabled people’s campaigns and offering hope for an abiding legacy from the summer of 2012. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/summer-of-2012-paralympics-legacy-and-the-welfare-benefit-scandal/
I am sitting in the basket of a cherry picker, draped in an ancient white bed-spread, being driven forward on a JCB. Through the thick fabric I see spots of bright light and the amber of the vehicle's warning strobe. We begin to... more
I am sitting in the basket of a cherry picker, draped in an ancient white bed-spread, being driven forward on a JCB. Through the thick fabric I see spots of bright light and the amber of the vehicle's warning strobe. We begin to rise and I am pitched into that moment when they close the ...
Interview with artist-activist Liz Crow about her work on Bedding Out, the film and installation Resistance, and her public performance piece in Trafalgar Square. Interviewed by Raphael Raphael. Copy available at:... more
Interview with artist-activist Liz Crow about her work on Bedding Out, the film and installation Resistance, and her public performance piece in Trafalgar Square. Interviewed by Raphael Raphael. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/art-activism-conversation-liz-crow/
Interview with artist-activist Liz Crow about her work on Bedding Out, the film and installation Resistance, and her public performance piece in Trafalgar Square. Interviewed by Raphael Raphael. Copy available at:... more
Interview with artist-activist Liz Crow about her work on Bedding Out, the film and installation Resistance, and her public performance piece in Trafalgar Square. Interviewed by Raphael Raphael. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/art-activism-conversation-liz-crow/
Lying Down Anyhow is a celebration of the rebel body. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/lying-down-anyhow/
Through the summer of 2012, two opposing sets of images dominated the British press. Welfare benefits reform met the Paralympics, the former casting disabled people as scroungers, the latter as superhumans. Seemingly independent yet... more
Through the summer of 2012, two opposing sets of images dominated the British press. Welfare benefits reform met the Paralympics, the former casting disabled people as scroungers, the latter as superhumans. Seemingly independent yet intertwined, the images have profound consequences for public perception of disability and the lives of disabled people. These are explored through one claimant’s traversal of the benefits system against a heady backdrop of the Games. In exploring the images and their impact, the values that drive them are exposed, holding profound consequences for disabled people’s campaigns and offering hope for an abiding legacy from the summer of 2012. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/summer-of-2012-paralympics-legacy-and-the-welfare-benefit-scandal/
Research Interests:
Through the summer of 2012, two opposing sets of images dominated the British press. Welfare benefits reform met the Paralympics, the former casting disabled people as scroungers, the latter as superhumans. Seemingly independent yet... more
Through the summer of 2012, two opposing sets of images dominated the British press. Welfare benefits reform met the Paralympics, the former casting disabled people as scroungers, the latter as superhumans. Seemingly independent yet intertwined, the images create a collective picture in the mind of what it is to be disabled. This collective imagining shapes and reinforces government policy on austerity cuts and benefits reform, with profound influence upon the everyday lives of disabled people. Caught between the two conflicting image sets, disabled people’s real lives are rendered invisible, even as they feel the full force of the images. This visual inquiry examines how the dominance of such images might practically be contested by creating counter images which reveal a very different and more truthful imagining of what it might be to be disabled. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/scroungers-superhumans-images-disability-summer-2012-visual-inquiry/
Research Interests:
Liz Crow interviewed by Angharad Penrhyn Jones for a chapter in 'Here We Stand: Women Changing the World', about women activists and campaigners.
Interview with artist-activist Liz Crow about her work on Bedding Out, the film and installation Resistance, and her public performance piece in Trafalgar Square. Interviewed by Raphael Raphael. Copy available at:... more
Interview with artist-activist Liz Crow about her work on Bedding Out, the film and installation Resistance, and her public performance piece in Trafalgar Square. Interviewed by Raphael Raphael. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/art-activism-conversation-liz-crow/
This chapter incorporates the earlier autobiographical work Lying Down Anyhow, celebrating the rebel body, followed by an exploration of the influences involved in the process and their place in my identity as an activist. Copy available... more
This chapter incorporates the earlier autobiographical work Lying Down Anyhow, celebrating the rebel body, followed by an exploration of the influences involved in the process and their place in my identity as an activist. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/lying-anyhow-disability-rebel-body/
The Photograph is a narrative inquiry that explores the significance of a photograph that has exerted a hold over me for several years. A single glance, like running a finger along the amassed spines of well-loved novels, tumbles me... more
The Photograph is a narrative inquiry that explores the significance of a photograph that has exerted a hold over me for several years. A single glance, like running a finger along the amassed spines of well-loved novels, tumbles me instantly into memory. Yet, over time I have realized there is more than nostalgia to this photograph’s hold. Like those novels, this photograph holds its own fiction, yet through that fiction it also carries profound truths about how life might be lived. As I live alongside it, I find the photograph unfolding to another, deeper level of meaning that shifts and changes through time, representing a self in flux and guiding a journey through the themes of my life. In telling the story of another, I find that the photograph contains my own narrative too. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/lying-anyhow-disability-rebel-body/
Lying Down Anyhow is a celebration of the rebel body. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/lying-down-anyhow/
In this paper, I trace the history of the disabled holocaust, from its broader social and political beginnings to it aftermath, and I explore its contemporary impact. Describing the development of the Resistance project, I examine the... more
In this paper, I trace the history of the disabled holocaust, from its broader social and political beginnings to it aftermath, and I explore its contemporary impact. Describing the development of the Resistance project, I examine the lessons it holds for the future of a more inclusive holocaust education and of our capacity to act for social justice. Finally, I ask what we might learn from past and present in order to shape a future that can delight in diversity. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/resistance-the-art-of-change/
An autoethnography of Liz Crow's experience on the Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth as part of Antony Gormley's 'One and Other' project, in which she sat on her wheelchair, dressed in Nazi uniform, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nazi... more
An autoethnography of Liz Crow's experience on the Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth as part of Antony Gormley's 'One and Other' project, in which she sat on her wheelchair, dressed in Nazi uniform, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nazi campaign against disabled people. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/resistance-on-the-plinth-the-why-of-it/
An interview with artist-activist Liz Crow. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/resist-the-status-quo/
Roaring Girl Productions is part of a wider move to pioneer new approaches to film accessibility, working to make audio description, captioning and sign language interpretation (ACS) an integral part of the production process rather than... more
Roaring Girl Productions is part of a wider move to pioneer new approaches to film accessibility, working to make audio description, captioning and sign language interpretation (ACS) an integral part of the production process rather than an access ‘add-on’. This is so that people with sensory impairments can participate fully as audience members and filmmakers’ work can be accurately and sensitively conveyed.

ACS is rarely included within the production of the core film. Although the number of audio described and captioned films is rapidly increasing, production is rarely addressed before the point of distribution, when the creative production of the film is complete. As a result, the film is generally ‘shoe horned’ into an existing template that often bears no relation to, and may even undermine, the aesthetic of the film.

Film exists across genre, encompasses every subject, style and emotion. Yet, when it comes to access, there is still a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Sign language interpreters and captions are usually located in boxes to the right and base of the screen, whilst the main picture is shrunk and pushed aside to accommodate them. Audio description frequently seems just as removed from the overall feel of the production. For the audience, the very methods designed to promote access can detract from the qualitative experience of the production. For the filmmaker, the access conventions available can misrepresent and undermine the vision they have worked so hard to create and communicate.

In response to this, we are experimenting with imaginative and innovative approaches to ACS in our own productions, working to combine art form and function in ways which enhance the experience of both audience and filmmaker. Specifically, we are producing ACS at the time of production (rather than at the distribution stage or undertaking it live at the point of screening or transmission), bringing it into the core of the creative process and experimenting with both aesthetic and technological solutions. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/a-new-approach-to-film-accessibility/
This paper is based on a presentation made to the Department of Health Open Forum Event of the Children’s National Service Framework (Maternity Module) in January 2003. It is a disabled woman’s experience of pregnancy, birth and the... more
This paper is based on a presentation made to the Department of Health Open Forum Event of the Children’s National Service Framework (Maternity Module) in January 2003. It is a disabled woman’s experience of pregnancy, birth and the maternity services. Copy available from: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/invisible-and-centre-stage/
More than thirty years after her death, Helen Keller is still known internationally as the little deaf blind girl, the ‘miracle child’ who triumphed over adversity. But behind the image, hidden from the public gaze, was a flesh-and-blood... more
More than thirty years after her death, Helen Keller is still known internationally as the little deaf blind girl, the ‘miracle child’ who triumphed over adversity.  But behind the image, hidden from the public gaze, was a flesh-and-blood woman, writer and radical activist, suffragette and Socialist.  She was a woman who lived to old age, yet is fixed in the public imagination as an eternal child.

This paper charts the creation of Keller’s popular image and enduring iconic status, analysing their purpose and the implications they hold for us as disabled people.  It then examines the truth of her life, revealing how contemporary are the issues which determined it.  Finally, it explores the value of retelling her biography and the relevance it holds in the building of disability culture.

Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/helen-keller-rethinking-the-problematic-icon/
I’m waiting at the bus stop on a cold and blustery day. Down a sweep of road comes a double-decker, lumbering towards us. It draws closer and I move into the road, into its path, arms out-stretched to greet it, until the bus roars and... more
I’m waiting at the bus stop on a cold and blustery day.  Down a sweep of road comes a double-decker, lumbering towards us.  It draws closer and I move into the road, into its path, arms out-stretched to greet it, until the bus roars and hisses to a stop.  And round the base of the front wiper blade I slip a handcuff and clip the bracelet home.  I have caught a bus.  I turn to face the street and join the chants echoing from the buildings, “We will ride.  We will ride.”...

Copy available from: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/catching-buses/
Extract from Bigger Than the Sky: Disabled women as parents, Eds. Wates & Jade, Women’s Press, 1999. Copy available from: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/making-a-reality-of-my-own/
Mi vida tiene dos fases: antes del modelo social de discapacidad y después de el. El descubrimiento de esta forma de pensar sobre mis experiencias fue la balsa proverbial en mares tormentosos. Me hizo comprender mi Vida, compartida con... more
Mi vida tiene dos fases: antes del modelo social de discapacidad y después de el. El descubrimiento de esta forma de pensar sobre mis experiencias fue la balsa proverbial en mares tormentosos. Me hizo comprender mi Vida, compartida con miles, millones incluso, de personas de tlodo el mundo y me adheri por completo a ella.

Esta era la exphcacion que habia estado buscando durante muchos afios. De repente, se confirmaba lo que yo habia sabido desde siempre, en el plano mas profimdo. Mi cuerpo no era e1 responsable de todas mis dificultades, sino factores externos, barreras construidas por la sociedad en la que vivo. Los prejuicios, la discriminacion, los ambientes que no me permitian e1 acceso y un apoyo insuficiente me estaban discapacitando: limitando mis capacidades y oportumdades. Ma’s importante au’n era e1 hecho de que, si la sociedad habia creado los problemas, la misma sociedad podia des-crearlos: !verdaderamente revolucionario!

Durante afios, este modelo social de discapacidad me ha permitido afrontar, sobrevivir e incluso superar incontables situaciones de exclusion y discriminacion. Ha sido mi principal apoyo, como tambien 10 ha sido para el movimiento de personas discapacitadas en general. I-Ia permitido que adquiriesemos una vision de nosotros mismos liberada de las restricciones de la discapacidad (opresion), aporta’ndonos una orientacion para nuestro compromiso a favor del cambio social. Ha desempefiado un papel fundamental en la promocion de la autovaloracio’n individual de las personas discapacitadas, la identidad colectiva y la organizacion politica. No creo que exagere al decir que el modelo social ha salvado Vidas. Gradual, muy gradualmente, su esfera de influencia se ha extendido mas alla de nuestro movimiento, influyendo en la politica y en la pra’ctica generales. La contribucion del modelo social de discapacidad, ahora y en el futuro, al logro de la igualdad de derechos para las personas discapacitadas es incalculable.

Siendo asi, ?por que’, de repente y a pesar de todos sus puntos fuertes y su relevancia, el modelo social no me parece ya tan cristalino? Lo critico conmovida, pero, cuando la experiencia personal no se adapta a las explicaciones a1 uso, es hora de cuestionarlas de nuevo…

http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/nuestra-vida-en-su-totalidad-renovacion-del-modelo-social-de-discapacidad/
My life has two phases: before the social model of disability, and after it. Discovering this way of thinking about my experiences was the proverbial raft in stormy seas. It gave me an understanding of my life, shared with thousands,... more
My life has two phases: before the social model of disability, and after it. Discovering this way of thinking about my experiences was the proverbial raft in stormy seas.  It gave me an understanding of my life, shared with thousands, even millions, of other people around the world, and I clung to it.

This was the explanation I had sought for years.  Suddenly what I had always known, deep down, was confirmed.  It wasn’t my body that was responsible for all my difficulties, it was external factors, the barriers constructed by the society in which I live.  I was being dis‑abled ‑ my capabilities and opportunities were being restricted ‑ by prejudice, discrimination, inaccessible environments and inadequate support.  Even more important, if all the problems had been created by society, then surely society could un‑create them.  Revolutionary!

For years now this social model of disability has enabled me to confront, survive and even surmount countless situations of exclusion and discrimination.  It has been my mainstay, as it has been for the wider disabled people’s movement.  It has enabled a vision of ourselves free from the constraints of disability (oppression) and provided a direction for our commitment to social change.  It has played a central role in promoting disabled people’s individual self‑worth, collective identity and political organisation.  I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that the social model has saved lives.  Gradually, very gradually, its sphere is extending beyond our movement to influence policy and practice in the mainstream.  The contribution of the social model of disability, now and in the future, to achieving equal rights for disabled people is incalculable.

So how is it that, suddenly, to me, for all its strengths and relevance, the social model doesn’t seem so water‑tight anymore?  It is with trepidation that I criticise it.  However, when personal experience no longer matches current explanations, then it is time to question afresh.

Copy available from: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/including-all-of-our-lives-renewing-the-social-model-of-disability/
Stuck in a lift, a wheelchair-user muses on life in 1990s Britain in the early days of disabled people's activism. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/a-day-in-the-life-of-liz/
A practical guide to setting up a disability arts forum. With chapters on planning, group work, legal structures, finance, equal opportunities, access, management, staffing and more. Copy available at:... more
A practical guide to setting up a disability arts forum. With chapters on planning, group work, legal structures, finance, equal opportunities, access, management, staffing and more. Copy available at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/disability-arts-the-business/

And 8 more

From Liz Crow's Bedding In Bedding Out performance: Drawing on audio recordings from bedside conversations with members of the public and time lapse photography of the performance, Reflections from the Bed introduces the work, its... more
From Liz Crow's Bedding In Bedding Out performance: Drawing on audio recordings from bedside conversations with members of the public and time lapse photography of the performance, Reflections from the Bed introduces the work, its backdrop and its politics. Watch at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/bedding-out/
From Liz Crow's Bedding Out performance: Videos of five bedside conversations with members of the public, leading to wide-ranging discussion of the work, its backdrop and its politics. Watch at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/bedding-out/
From Liz Crow's Bedding Out performance: Audio extracts, with written transcripts, from bedside conversations with members of the public discussing the work, its backdrop and its politics. Listen and read at:... more
From Liz Crow's Bedding Out performance: Audio extracts, with written transcripts, from bedside conversations with members of the public discussing the work, its backdrop and its politics. Listen and read at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/bedding-out/
Twitter conversations from Liz Crow's Bedding Out performance contain a selection of the many thousands of #beddingout tweets generated from the run up to the Salisbury and Edinburgh performances to their aftermath, with wide-ranging... more
Twitter conversations from Liz Crow's Bedding Out performance contain a selection of the many thousands of #beddingout tweets generated from the run up to the Salisbury and Edinburgh performances to their aftermath, with wide-ranging discussion of the work, its backdrop and its politics. Read at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/bedding-out/
A short interview with Liz Crow on location in Trafalgar Square looking at the issues behind her performance 'Resistance on the Plinth'. Watch at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/resistance/
An illustrated talk by Liz Crow from Lancaster University’s International Disability Studies Conference 2010 about Aktion T4, the Nazi programme of mass-murder that targeted disabled people. (60 minutes). Watch, with transcript, at:... more
An illustrated talk by Liz Crow from Lancaster University’s International Disability Studies Conference 2010 about Aktion T4, the Nazi programme of mass-murder that targeted disabled people. (60 minutes). Watch, with transcript, at: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/events/disabilityconference_archive/2010/keynote.htm
An illustrated talk by Liz Crow from Bristol City Council’s Holocaust Holocaust Memorial Day event 2009 about Aktion T4, the Nazi programme of mass-murder that targeted disabled people. (11 minutes). Watch, with transcription, at:... more
An illustrated talk by Liz Crow from Bristol City Council’s Holocaust Holocaust Memorial Day event 2009 about Aktion T4, the Nazi programme of mass-murder that targeted disabled people. (11 minutes). Watch, with transcription, at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/resistance/
A 13-minute film about the making of the historical drama 'Nectar' about a young Deaf Olympic hopeful swimmer. Watch, with captions and BSL, at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/nectar/
An 8-minute film demonstrating how innovative approaches make the short drama 'Nectar' accessible to deaf and visually impaired audiences. Watch, with captions and BSL, at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/nectar/
Bristol to Tijuana is a tale of crossing borders. Disillusioned with the orthodox response in Britain to her illness, Liz Crow travels to a clinic in Mexico for a programme of treatment. Every day for five weeks, Liz journeys from... more
Bristol to Tijuana is a tale of crossing borders. Disillusioned with the orthodox response in Britain to her illness, Liz Crow travels to a clinic in Mexico for a programme of treatment.

Every day for five weeks, Liz journeys from California to the town of Tijuana. But the borders go beyond geography in this account of cultural contrasts, medical culture shock and the complications and contradictions of living long term with illness.

Listen, with transcript, at: http://www.roaring-girl.com/work/dear-diary/
The Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies (JLCDS) focuses on cultural and especially literary representations of disability. Containing a wide variety of textual analyses that are informed by disability theory and, by... more
The Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies (JLCDS) focuses on cultural and especially literary representations of disability. Containing a wide variety of textual analyses that are informed by disability theory and, by extension, experiences of disability, it is essential reading for scholars whose work concentrates on the portrayal of disability in literature. More broadly, it is instrumental in the interdisciplinarity of literary studies, cultural studies, and disability studies.
Research Interests: