Our Life Stories: an oral histories project like no other

Our Life Stories is a two-year oral histories project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

As United Response celebrates our 50th anniversary, we’re excited to be embarking on a journey through history, celebrating and remembering the life stories of 50 people we support. From institutional living and the struggle for disabled rights to community care and inclusion in the workplace, a lot has changed but there’s still a lot more to be done.

Our Life Stories is curated by people with learning disabilities and autism, making it a unique and co-produced project. Students are trained in oral history techniques before being supported to carry out interviews, workshops, and creative collaborations.

Charlotte Moore, Project Coordinator, said:

We work together to remove the silence – to ensure that their voices are heard and recorded so that as we go forward in history, people we support have their first-hand accounts accessible for future generations. Documented by themselves – not by others – and reflecting the society we live in.

The final interviews will be shown at a touring exhibition in Leeds, York, Nottingham and Cornwall, before being preserved in the British Library. This archiving is not only vital for preserving cultural heritage but also for celebrating people we support’s achievements and raising public awareness about the challenges they’ve faced.

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