Stories

We tell stories about health and human experience. Our words and pictures make connections, provoke new thinking and share lived experiences. You can pitch a story to us.

  • Comic

Staying present

Sometimes it can be hard to stay in the moment...

Part of How to be human

Black and white photographic portrait of a close-up of a man's face. He is holding up a smartphone close to his eyes such that it obscures his nose and mouth. His eyes are directed towards the phone's screen. His finders are visible holding the phone on either side and the camera lenses of the phone appear in the bottom right corner of the image. The man's face and hands are spotlit in a small circle of light. He is standing against a black background which means he is surrounded by darkness.
  • Serial
Part5

The joys and failures of audio description

Audio description enhances the experience of watching a film or TV show for people with a visual impairment, but it's not widely available in the UK. Alex Lee explains why.

Part of A History of Assistive Vision

Portrait of Emily Bashforth. She is standing on a busy street which is blurred in the background. She is wearing a cream jumper, a checked coat, orange plaid skirt and red lipstick. She has long wavy brown hair and is looking directly at the camera. Superimposed on the image are lines of text - mostly unreadable. A visible phrase reads 'Tired of reliving my trauma'.
  • Article

My illness made me an activist, but now I’m exhausted

Emily Bashforth’s illness made her an advocate but now she’s battling burnout. She argues why we all need to be mental health activists, not just those with lived experience.

Photograph of a white tablet device resting on a grey concrete textured background. On the screen is a colour illustration of a baby in the womb. The head, shoulders and chest of the baby is visible, and it is surrounded by swirling abstract patterns. The baby has its eyes closed and its arms crossed in front of it, with its hands resting lightly on its chest.
  • Article

A history of gestation outside the body

It’s been over 400 years since a Swiss alchemist theorised that foetuses could develop outside the womb. Claire Horn examines incubator technology past and present, and explores the possibilities recent prototypes might bring.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Various shapes - each shape has a small head and legs, with a caption underneath. A Scribble shape “A Bundle of Nerves” A spiky star-like shape “A spike of panic” A cloud shape “A cloud of doubt” A fruit pit or almond shape “A pit of despair” A mountain shape (triangle with snow on top) “A mountain of regret” A spiral shape “A spiral of rumination” A blobby shape “ a dollop of angst” A heart shape “A moment of mindfulness” A star shape “A ray of hope”
  • Comic

Emotions

How would you describe your emotions?

Part of How to be human

Books

Get stuck into one of our books, and explore the complexities of the human condition.

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Black and white photograph of a hand holing the rubber handle of a white cane such that the cane is vertical. The image is close-up on the hand so that all that can be seen is the cuff of the person's denim jacket. The background is a dark grey making the hand and handle a stark feature within the image.
  • Serial
Part4

The unimprovable white cane

Recent technological additions to the white cane aim to make the world easier for visually impaired people to navigate. Alex Lee explores whether new is really better.

Part of A History of Assistive Vision

Paper cut, collage artwork. On a bright yellow coloured textured paper background, are 4 cut out paper humans. Each figure is made of a different colour, blue, pink, red and yellow. They are all different heights and are arched over either forwards or backwards and lined up next to each other. The effect of this is that their bodies combine to make a rainbow shape
  • Podcast
  • Serial
Part4

Joy

Bidisha explores joy, from the psychology of our earliest laughs to collective and solitary pleasures like comedy, food and performance.

Part of Hello Happiness

A photograph of a woman in front of a window. She is looking directly at the camera and the left hand side of her face is in shadow. She is wearing a green jumper and a pair of blue dungarees. There is a small rainbow beam directly below her face which stretches down to her chest.
  • Article

Chronic illness and the pressure to get well

When she was ill, Naomi Morris assumed she was on a straightforward journey from sickness to health. But what if our experiences of mental distress and ill health aren’t that neat?

Black and white photograph of a close-up of a man's hand, whose index finger is resting lightly on white sheets of Braille. The foreground and background are dark black, casting the hand and paper sheets into a spotlight.
  • Serial
Part3

Bringing Braille back to the modern world

For anyone who thinks Braille is so last century, read on. New tech is helping dust Braille down and bring it to today’s visually impaired people.

Part of A History of Assistive Vision

Colour photograph of 5 prints resting on a textured beige paper background. The prints are raise up slightly casting a shadow. The images are slightly overlapping. The prints on the left show the American flag and a portrait of JF Kennedy. In the centre is a map centred on Cuba with missile range rings radiating out. The prints on the right show the Russian flag and a portrait of Nikita Khrushchev. Floating above the prints are 2 rectangles of transparent red and blue gel which give a red and blue tone to the image beneath and cast a soft diffused red and blue shadow.
  • Book extract

Inside the Cold War mind

Martin Sixsmith explores the competing national psyches of Russia and America, and a world divided between their irreconcilable visions of human nature.

Part of Inside Our Books

Cover of a book, 'The Grape Cure' by Joanna Brandt, featuring an illustration of three bunches of grapes: pale, red and purple. The book cover is resting on a grey concrete textured background.
  • In pictures

The grape cure

When we bring someone in hospital a bunch of grapes, we don't expect the grapes to work a miraculous cure upon them. But throughout history, wondrous healing powers have been attributed to the humble grape.

Part of Inside Our Collections

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