Liverpool The Blind School: Pioneering People and Places now open Jan 2018- April 2018

Esther Fox talks to a journalist with a cameraman in front of displays about the Blind School

The Blind School: Pioneering People and Places now open

Dear all,

The Blind School: Pioneering People and Places, has now opened at the Museum of Liverpool. This is the second of our three exhibitions about the lives of deaf and disabled people over 800 years.

The exhibition comes with an audio tour, which you can either download to your phone or tablet in the space (free wifi is available) or listen to at home. A guided tour through objects on display is accompanied by performed segments by actors bringing alive some of the people and issues from the School’s 200 year history.

Crafts, campaigning  – and strict rules

The exhibition begins by describing how a group a campaigners, many themselves blind, worked to create opportunities for poorer blind people, expanding their life options from ‘music or begging’. It looks at the growth of the School and the many crafts practised there, as well as the strict rules imposed on residents. Finally it looks at some 20th century life experiences, including evacuation to Wales during the Blitz.

Can you survive a shipwreck and found the School with Edward Rushton?

We have also developed a digital game to accompany the exhibition which you can play at the Museum of Liverpool or (shortly) on our website. Learn about School founder Edward Rushton’s early life history, and see if you can survive various perils and raise money to found the School.

The Museum of Liverpool ad for the new exhibition

Image of woman in red coat with her guide dog surrounded by copy advertising the blind school exhibition
Find out more about the exhibition here by clicking the picture.
Coming soon: V&A Architecture Gallery Display

Our third museum exhibition will be a display in the V&A’s Architecture Gallery, opening on 10th February. This looks at how building design has been shaped by the needs of deaf and disabled people – from medieval sites such as Maison Dieu to Maggie and Ken Davis’ 1970s house for independent living, to a recently designed house where one of the rooms moves between floors.

The exhibition is free.

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