Taking Care: Disability Activism and Possible Futures | Museum of Vancouver

Grounded in disability justice, and shaped by disabled artists and activists, Taking Care: Disability Activism and Possible Futures looks at the past, present and future of disability activism in Vancouver and beyond.

Step into the story of disability activism in three bold movements: past, present and future. The past stretches out on a giant timeline tracing Vancouver’s disability activists from the 1970s to today, telling the stories of the artists, performers and public intellectuals who challenged barriers, stigma and discrimination—often through art-based actions. The present opens up as a Bedroom Installation: an intimate, lived-in space revealing the design hacks and small adaptations two activists use to make daily life work. And the future bursts onto the walls in five scenarios inspired by the values and spirit of disability activism brought to life as large-scale comics by artist Sunny Go, with titles such as “Access is Love” and “Stronger Together, Safer Together.”

In addition, there will be instruments from the Vancouver Adapted Music Society (VAMS), a Vancouver-based non-profit that supports and promotes musicians with physical disabilities; historical pieces related to disability activism, and a Chill Space to read, stim, sit quietly or explore a sound map of the city. Throughout, there are chances to touch, contribute and leave your mark, with recorded visual descriptions available across the galleries.

Taking its cues from disability activists, Taking Care uses “disability” broadly to include people who identify as d/Deaf, Disabled, Mad, chronically ill, neurodivergent, or labeled with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The exhibition asks what all of us might learn from disability cultures built on interdependence, mutual aid and care.