The Disability Action Research Kollective (DARK) is a disabled-led group working to make disability perspectives, history, and research more accessible to a general audience. Since its establishment in 2024, DARK has produced twelve zines on a range of topics related to disability, all of which are available digitally and in print.
Disability is often stripped away from historical figures when retelling their stories, so we began the work of reclaiming them as part of our history – not positioning disability as a shameful secret, but a way to restore people’s full humanity and help destigmatize disability in the modern day.
Answers questions like:
- What inspired the genesis of this project?
- Why is illuminating disabled people as historical agents key to destigmatising disability in the present day?
- Why is it important to explore disability history through a non-medical lens and what can be achieved by doing this?
- Has the Covid-19 pandemic influenced the project’s methods or objectives in any way?
And fun facts!
In the Ancient Egypt zine, we show a society that lasted for 5000 years that was very inclusive at multiple levels in society. It allows for the possibility that we were not always marginalised and disability was treated as part of everyday life; we were not always seen as a burden.
Here's a link to all the zines they've published.
URL: https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/disability-history/politicising-disability-through-zines/