In June 2023 I spoke at the Institute for Historical Research ECR Conference. The theme was how, where and why people ‘make’ history, and I talked about how my research thinks ‘through’ disability as both a subject and a methodology. I’m interested in disrupting photography’s medically-modelled legacies and exploring new, more ethical ways to ‘do’ photographic historiography.

I suggested that new approaches could include more interdisciplinary research, a greater focus on ethics, the adoption of a cultural model of disability and further investigation of non-medical archives. Working in this way could generate new insight and address some of the challenges and opportunities presented when researching historical photographs of disabled subjects.