We aim to create accessible exhibits for more inclusive learning and opportunities for collaboration. Thus far, we have curated three exhibits. Stay tuned for more to come!
Our first exhibit is A Wheelchair History of Disability
Our second is Envisioning Technologies.
Our third is Transnational Representation: Canada and the Founding of Disabled Peoples’ International.
We have also created a set of physical exhibits for the above. These were constructed out of cardboard panels and can travel easily.
1. A Wheelchair History of Disability:
In order to understand the history of disability, one must look at the evolution of the wheelchair and its significance for disability stories.
This pre-1890 chair may be the oldest wheelchair in the Canadian Science and Technology Museum collection. It was found in the home of a retired employee of Payzant Hospital in Windsor, Nova Scotia. Perhaps it was built by the town carriage maker or one of the other artisans named on an 1871 map of Windsor NS. Its massive wagon wheels are very different from the commercially-manufactured wheelchairs that followed.
