Thirteenth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Representations of disability in cultural heritage are powerful testimonies of the way how social imaginary around disabled people has been produced over time. In museum objects disability related topics were, above all, developed through negative stereotypes about the identity of disabled people, having significant impacts on the creation of discriminatory practices and on the oppression of this group in society. This communication is part of the post-doctoral research project “The Representation of Disability in DGPC Museums Collections: discourses, identities and sense of belonging”, which aims to analyze a set of museum objects representing disability in the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage (DGPC) museums collections in Portugal, exploring the way disability was categorized through cultural heritage and its impact on cultural meanings developed around disabled people in different societies and chronological periods. It will deepen, in particular, museum objects representing disability, analyzing the relationship with contemporary concepts of disability - such as diversity, invisibility and social exclusion – with a view to problematising the promotion of negative perspectives produced about disabled people identity. Likewise, the way in which DGPC museums, currently, communicate, reproduce and exhibit publicly the disability will be presented, proposing new narratives to explore this topic positively. Thus, the present communication highlights the importance of disability representation in museology and its contribution for re-signifying collections.