Name: Parent Advocacy and Attitudes Towards Cerebral Palsy in the Mid-20th Century
Location: Wellcome Collection

Watch a recording with Hannah Murphy to explore the practical role of medical experts in the construction of the early modern slave trade.  

Between 1440 and 1720, more than two million enslaved people from a range of African kingdoms and territories were forcibly transported to the Americas; tens of thousands more remained in Europe. From the first moments of contact between African and European peoples, medical practitioners played a key role in creating a domesticated discourse around enslaved bodies. Among their other practical duties, they provided medical treatment at every key stage in the process of enslavement: encounter, confrontation and commerce, transport, illness and injury, disembarking, inspection and processing.  

Over the course of the early modern period, their participation developed and became more formal. Using travel narratives, ship’s surgeons’ journals and printed books in Wellcome Collection, the talk will provide a broad overview of the dynamics at play as medical practitioners competed for expertise and authority over new conceptions of human difference.

<p>A chance to hear about and talk about ideas with others.</p>

Discussion

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Medical Involvement in the Early Modern Slave Trade, Photo: Kathleen Arundell. Portrait © Charlie Hopkinson.

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There will be auto-generated captions for this event. For any assistance, please email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

Auto-captioned

Booking a ticket guarantees you entry to the online event. You will be given joining instructions in your confirmation email. If you have any access requests or requirements, for example a transcript of the event, email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

Guaranteed (online)

Medical Involvement in the Early Modern Slave Trade

Watch a recording with Hannah Murphy to explore the practical role of medical experts in the construction of the early modern slave trade.

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Researcher talk in the Viewing Room

Hear from people who have researched our collections, as they share their discoveries. They'll draw on examples from our collections to relate the stories that they've uncovered. And you’ll have a chance to ask them questions afterwards.

Exploring Research

Watch a recording with Dr Ruben Verwaal to explore the oldest acoustic hearing aids in Wellcome Collection: the ear trumpet. 

You will learn about how ear trumpets were developed at the turn of the 18th century and why this large acoustic device became increasingly commonplace among the hard of hearing.

Joshua Reynolds, Elizabeth Vesey and James Hutton are some of the best-known ear-trumpet users in Georgian high society. This presentation will investigate the experiences of the hard of hearing as well as the perceptions of their interlocutors at art academies, science societies and church congregations, and show how these social contexts accepted the new technology as a means of increased participation.

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Exploring Research with Dr Ruben Verwaal

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This event is British Sign Language interpreted. An interpreter will be embedded in the event stream/visible to all attendees and will interpret what is discussed into BSL for d/Deaf, hard of hearing and deafened attendees.

British Sign Language

This event will have live speech-to-text transcription which may be useful for people who are D/deaf, hard of hearing, deafened or neurodiverse. The text will be embedded in the event video window and ticketholders will also receive a link to open subtitles in a separate window.

Speech-to-text

Experiencing Ear Trumpets in the Enlightenment

Watch a recording of Dr Ruben Verwaal to explore the oldest acoustic hearing aids in Wellcome Collection: the ear trumpet.

Watch a recording of celebrated crime writer Sophie Hannah unravelling the mystery of happiness in an online talk.

Sophie discusses her book and how she has used her decades of experience in crime writing and observations from her own life to scrutinise and solve the clues that lead to happiness.

Sophie Hannah’s book ‘Happiness, A Mystery And 66 Attempts to Solve It’ was published by Wellcome Collection on 24 September 2020.

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Library Insights: Happiness, a Mystery with Sophie Hannah. Photo: Kathleen Arundell. Portrait of Sophie Hannah © Onur Pinar

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Copy of Happiness, a mystery

Join celebrated crime writer Sophie Hannah in this online event unraveling the mystery of happiness.

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The viewing room at Wellcome Collection

Hear from researchers and Wellcome Collection staff about the stories that they unearthed in our collections, and take a closer look at some of the items they discovered.

Library Insights

Happiness, A Mystery

Listen to a panel discussion on collective dance as an antidote to traumatic histories. From queer lockdown throwdowns to the survival tactics and ‘tap dances’ of Brown babies in post-war Britain, hear how we have responded to, and continue to respond to, difficult times with joy and dance.

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Social Dance and Traumatic Histories. Photo: Kathleen Arundell. Portrait top left: Gaylene Goud, top right: Rene Matić, bottom left: Ben Walters, bottom right: Queer House Party

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The host and speakers will describe themselves and key visual elements they refer to, which may be useful for blind, partially sighted and neurodiverse attendees. There will not be a separate audio description track.

Audio described

Dance the Pain Away - Social Dance and Traumatic histories

Listen to a panel discussion on collective dance as an antidote to traumatic histories, and hear how we have responded to, and continue to respond to, difficult times with joy and dance.

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Dance the Pain Away

Explore the redemptive power of joy through social dance in a series of events curated by artist Harold Offeh.

Social Dance and Traumatic Histories

Watch a screening of ‘The Joy Inside Our Tears’, Harold Offeh’s installation in our ‘Joy’ gallery. Then listen to a conversation between Harold and curator George Vasey. 

They discuss the inspiration behind the piece, including Harold’s interest in collective dance in relation to traumatic histories, from queer communities of colour in 1990s danceathons to medieval dancing plagues. They also talk about the context of making art about collective joy during a national lockdown.

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Harold Offeh In Conversation. Photo: Kathleen Arundell

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Dance the Pain Away - Harold Offeh in conversation

Watch a screening of ‘The Joy Inside Our Tears’, Harold Offeh’s installation in our ‘Joy’ gallery, and hear from Harold and curator George Vasey about how the artwork was inspired and created.

Harold Offeh In Conversation

Watch a recording with Dr Rana Hogarth investigating the circulation of ideas about ‘innate’ racial differences in the Caribbean and beyond through the writings of British military and civilian practitioners. 

You will learn about how ideas of racial difference emerged in the late 18th century, as well as the role they played in advancing medical knowledge and empire.  

This talk traces the process through which British practitioners who worked and lived in the West Indies propagated the myth of innate racial difference between Black and white people, particularly through their ideas about Black troops’ susceptibility to yellow fever. These actions made up the foundation of medical evidence used to mark the Black body as peculiar and ‘Other’ for years to come. 

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Exploring Research: Racial Difference in the Anglophone Caribbean

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Racial Difference in the Anglophone Caribbean

Watch a recording of Dr Rana Hogarth investigating the circulation of ideas about ‘innate’ racial differences in the Caribbean and beyond.

Join us for a quick cup of coffee and a pastry, afternoon tea, or a light meal with a glass of wine.

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Café

Gallery tour

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Daily Guided Tours and Discussions

Join GP and author Gavin Francis in conversation with philosopher Havi Carel and oncologist Sam Guglani. They’ll be discussing their personal and professional experiences of living with illness, getting better and the importance of convalescence. 

The event is inspired by Gavin Francis’s new book, ‘Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence’. 

This event will be live-streamed on Wellcome Collection’s YouTube channel and available to watch afterwards. After booking a ticket, you will receive a confirmation email with joining instructions.  

You will be able to comment and ask questions live online using YouTube Live Chat and via Slido during the event. Your microphone and camera will be switched off for the whole session. 

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Experiences of Recovery with GP Gavin Francis

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Experiences of Recovery

Join GP and author Gavin Francis in conversation with philosopher Havi Carel and oncologist Sam Guglani as they discuss living with illness, getting better and the importance of convalescence.

Join scholar, singer and writer Rianna Walcott for a tour of the ‘Joy’ exhibition. You’ll hear her personal views and insights into the exhibitions and have the opportunity to ask questions.  

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Joy exhibition

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We’ll meet at the Information Point, which is on level 0, directly in front of you as you enter Wellcome Collection.

Information Point

For this event, booking a ticket guarantees you a place on the day. We advise arriving before the event starts so you can find your tour group. If you have any access requests or requirements, email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

Guaranteed (tour)

Perspective Tour with Rianna Walcott

Join scholar, singer and writer Rianna Walcott for a tour of the ‘Tranquillity’ and ‘Joy’ exhibitions.

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Teeth exhibition

In these tours, we invite experts in connected fields to bring their unique perspectives to our exhibitions.

Perspective Tours

Join Dr Teresa Hillier to hear how parents of children born with cerebral palsy in the mid-20th century took action to confront how educational inequality disadvantaged their children. 

You will learn how the medical classification of cerebral palsy as a specific condition was imprecise, resulting in children often being summarily denounced as ‘ineducable’.   

The talk reveals how emotive language and imagery were used in a nationwide campaign to raise the profile of cerebral palsy. Its success inadvertently led to individuals being portrayed as one homogenous group within popular culture. 

This perception has overshadowed the positive contributions made by parents and organisations to the improvement in knowledge and practice relating to cerebral palsy.

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Exploring Research Seminar with Dr Teresa Hillier

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Parent advocacy and attitudes towards cerebral palsy in the 20th century

Parent Advocacy and Attitudes Towards Cerebral Palsy in the Mid-20th Century

Join Dr Teresa Hillier to hear how parents of children born with cerebral palsy in the mid-20th century took action to confront how educational inequality disadvantaged their children.

You will need to book a free ticket to enter the installation.

Consider how we conceal, perform and harness our emotions in this new video installation.

Bhebhe&Davies use choreography, sound and text to explore how we express our feelings, focusing on rage and its limits. 

The film is shaped by activist, antiracist and feminist writing, gestures drawn from competitive sports, and visceral human experiences.

‘Viscera’ lasts 15 minutes, and there are two versions, which play continuously.

Version 1 starts on the hour and half past the hour.

Version 2 has creative audio description and captions, and starts at quarter past and quarter to the hour.

Bhebhe&Davies is the collaborative practice of British-born Southern African performer and choreographer Nandi Bhebhe and Welsh artist Phoebe Davies. Viscera is the first in their film series ‘Eloquent Rage’.

Commissioned by Wellcome Collection and made with support from Arts Council England.

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A still from the film Viscera

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Installation

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We’ll be in the Forum. To get there, take the lift or stairs up to level 1 and then follow the signs through the ‘Being Human’ gallery.

The Forum

Viscera

Are we all entitled to express our emotions equally in different social contexts? A new short film by Bhebhe&Davies asks how we conceal, perform and harness rage.

An unconventional perspective on the types of things that make us feel good

You will need to book a free ticket to enter the exhibition.

Explore the diversity of euphoric experiences and the effect of positive emotion on the body.

Joy is uplifting. It can be intense but brief, and leaves you wanting more. Some find joy while losing themselves on the dance floor, others while catching up with friends over a meal.

This exhibition shares with you a diversity of euphoric experiences and the effect of positive emotion on the body. Joy can bring catharsis, build resilience and bring people together.

New commissions by Harold Offeh, Amalia Pica and David Shrigley, plus artworks and historical objects dating back to the 15th century, guide you along some of the many paths to joy that different communities have sought, even in difficult times.

Exhibition highlights

A complete set of gallery captions is available to read online. Large-print captions are also available in the gallery.

Our digital gallery guide for ‘Joy’ and ‘Tranquillity’ features 24 perspectives from medicine, science, religion and poetry, and audio descriptions of some artworks. It is available as audio, BSL and complete transcripts. Handsets are also available in the gallery, but we encourage you to bring your own device and headphones.

A family guide for people with children aged 3–11 is available in the gallery.

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We’ll be in Gallery 2. To get there, go up the stairs or take the lift to level 1.

Gallery 2

At every turn the visitor will find something to fascinate.

This permanent gallery explores trust, identity and health in a changing world.

Being Human explores what it means to be human in the 21st century. It reflects our hopes and fears about new forms of medical knowledge, and our changing relationships with ourselves, each other and the world.

Featuring 50 artworks and objects, the gallery is divided into four sections: Genetics, Minds & Bodies, Infection, and Environmental Breakdown. Discover a refugee astronaut carrying their belongings to an unknown destination, sniff a perfumed bronze sculpture that smells of breast milk, listen to an epidemic jukebox, and watch a fast-food outlet slowly flood.

A complete set of gallery captions is available to read online.

Recorded audio descriptions of every exhibit and a highlights tour are available on the VocalEyes website. 

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Being Human gallery

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Permanent exhibition

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We’ll be in the ‘Being Human’ gallery, which you can find by taking the stairs or the lift to level 1.

Being Human

Our new permanent gallery explores trust, identity and health in a changing world.

Sir Henry Wellcome was a collector who, through his agents, amassed well over a million books, paintings and objects from around the world, aiming to tell a global story of health and medicine.  

‘Medicine Man’ is our free permanent display of a small part of that huge collection. The exhibition shows extraordinary examples of the many ways in which people, through time and across cultures, have sought to understand the workings of the human body, to protect themselves, and care for one another.

It includes a wide range of objects relating to sex, birth and death, a unique collection of votive offerings, and a range of extraordinary anatomical models in wood, ivory and wax dating back to the 17th century. 

Colonial power shaped how the collection was put together and understood. You can experience a series of interventions in the exhibition in which artists and writers respond to an exhibit of their choice. Addressing the collection’s colonial legacies, their responses will highlight human stories that previous histories of health and medicine have hidden or ignored. 

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Medicine Man gallery

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We’ll be in the ‘Medicine Man’ gallery. You can find it by taking the stairs or the lift to level 1.

Medicine Man

This free permanent exhibition in central London reunites a cross-section of extraordinary objects about science, medicine, health and the body from Henry Wellcome’s collection.

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