On 25 May 2022, Plymouth Institute of Education ran an international webinar, ‘Matters of “access” and “disability”: exploring and affecting systemic and cultural change in and for Higher Education’, with 210 academics, students, education practitioners and policymakers from the UK and various international locations. Keynotes were given by Lord Chris Holmes (All Party Parliamentary Group on Assistive Technology and the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee) and Mette Westander, founding director of Disabled Students UK (DSUK), with additional papers from Suanne Gibson (organiser and co-chair) and Cara Baer.
The overarching message and position from across the work and delegate engagement was ‘Nothing about us without us!’, a phrase coined by Charlton (2000), which still emanates the struggles of disabled activists, their families and disability organisations in claiming the application of the Social Model of Disability.
