Listening to audio about art by Barbara Delaney, who had a period of sight impairment. She painted shapes and colours seen as her sight recovered. © RCMG, University of Leicester

Talking About… Disability and Art is a series of audio and visual points that have been launched and located throughout Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG), which explore disability in paintings ranging from the 17th century to the modern day.

Launched in November 2008, the development of these audio/visual points happened in consultation with six disabled artists: Jayni Anderton, Paul Darke, Colin Hambrook, Ruth Kaye, Zoe Partington-Sollinger and Tanya Raabe, who all share a particular interest in both art and disability.

The group explored how each of the eight paintings on display in the art-trail relates to a disabled person’s experiences, both in the past and present day. They also wrote poems and shared personal anecdotes inspired by the images, which are included on the audio points that will become a permanent feature in the museum’s art galleries.

Listening to audio in front of 'The Blind Girl' by the Pre-Raphaelite, John Everett Millais. © RCMG, University of Leicester

“I believe passionately in the importance of highlighting disability as a cultural language," said contributing artist, Colin Hambrook. "This project has made inroads into exploring some seminal works of art within a disability context,” said Colin, who has a history as an arts facilitator, disability in arts consultant, journalist and artist.

BMAG's project came out of a partnership between the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) and Leicester University, who in 2003 commissioned a piece of research to find out whether museums had items related to the lives of disabled people in their collections, and whether these objects had been interpreted or displayed.

Two boys listening to audio about 'The Death of Chatterton' by Henry Wallis, a painting which explores mental health issues and suicide. © RCMG, University of Leicester

Since the findings, BMAG and nine other museums within the UK have been working on projects that address the under-representation of disabled people in museums, through temporary exhibitions, permanent displays, education resources and interpretation projects.

Liz Braby, Audience Development Officer at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, explains: “Not only is this project ensuring disabled people are represented within the museum, but it has enabled disabled people to interpret a variety of artworks themselves."

“We hope that these new viewpoints will help to address some of the misconceptions that people have about disability and that they will help to empower disabled people.”

Parking bays for blue badge holders are located within close vicinity of the BMAG and there is lift access to all floors of the museum via Edmund Street. Wheelchairs and folding seats are available for use and all of the paintings included in the project are audio-described, with large-print text versions of spoken material also available on request.

Writer Jen Walker is the 24 Hour Museum / West Midlands Museums Hub Diversity Arts Journalist for the West Midlands funded by Renaissance. Renaissance is the groundbreaking initiative to transform England's regional museums, led by MLA, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.