Disability and the Home: Toys and Games

About

Disability and the Home is a collaborative project between the Museum of the Home and Digital Disability to explore and reveal ideas, images, objects, and concepts around the idea of ‘the home’ for disabled people.  The project is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A bright green background with white text reading "Digital Disability"

How must it feel to be the only child in your class to wear a hearing aid or use a wheelchair?

For disabled children, seeing themselves reflected in the toys that they and their friends play with can help combat isolation and build self-esteem.

Since the early 1900s toys have been used to explain medical procedures to children with disabilities. In the 1960s toy production began to reflect changing attitudes towards disability and toys designed purely for play became available.

The toys and games displayed here have been collected by the charity and cultural organization Digital Disability as part of its work recording and archiving the experience of disabled people in society.

About Dr Darke

Dr Paul A. Darke is from Surrey in the south of England. Born with Spina Bifida Dr Darke is a wheelchair user. Attended “Special” School but left with no qualifications. Started at University as a mature student and gained a PhD under the supervision of Professor Richard Dyer at the University of Warwick exploring Disability and British Cinema.

Based in the Midlands, Dr Darke is an acclaimed creative thinker and artist, having undertaken over 30 years of projects in a broad range of cultural spheres as an innovator, mentor and leader. Working in areas such as Filmmaking, Photography, Sculpture, Critical Thinking, Health and Welfare (Wellbeing – Dr Darke is a qualified Social Worker), Learning Disability, Writing Lecturing, Film Festivals, Art Festivals, Theatre Promoter and Disability Studies, Dr Darke has an international reputation.

Working with national organisations such as Arts Council England, British Film Instutute and a numbers of academic institutions, Dr Darke continues to develop work and practice in such as way as to inspire change. He has previously been director of West Midlands Disability Arts Federation and recently completed a large-scale arts programme entitled Wolves In Wolves, with Wolverhampton Council and Wolverhampton Football Club, which he initiated and directed.

Dr Darke founded Outside Centre (Digital Disability) leading it creatively and practically for over 20 years, and all Dr Darke’s work is covered – with acknowledgements where due – throughout the Digital Disability website. Dr Darke research includes collaborative practice and he feels that partnership and equality are an essential core of any good practice in any sphere.

He has recently worked with MIMA at Teesside University and its research staff submitting under Art and Design to Unit of Assessment 32 for REF 2021, advising individually on the narrative statements and portfolios necessary for submission under the direction of Professor Simon McKeown.

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A stylised action figure of Dr. Finkelstein from The Nightmare Before Christmas, featuring a white skeletal body, black gloved hands, and a dark wheelchair, placed against a purple-blue background. — Dr Finkelstein Collector’s Action Figure. Featured in The Nightmare Before Christmas Disney Film 1993. Reels Toys 1993

A Funko Pop! figure of Bran Stark from Game of Thrones, seated in a brown wooden wheelchair, with a large head and minimalist facial features, on a deep blue backdrop — PopHead King Bran the Broken. Featured in The Game of Thrones TV series Funko 2018. On loan from Dr Miro Griffiths

A glossy, painted figurine showing a nurse in a flowing blue cloak and white bonnet pushing a regal-looking elderly man seated in an old-fashioned wooden Bath chair. The chair features large spoked rear wheels and a smaller front wheel, with a high, curved backrest and carved brown frame. The man wears red and gold garments with a high collar and cape-like shoulders, and holds a thin cane across his lap. His expression is calm and dignified, suggesting a character of authority or nobility. — Elderly man in wheelchair with nurse Collection Models 2004

A cartoon-style action figure of Stephen Hawking in a futuristic wheelchair with helicopter rotor blades and a pint of foamy beer by his left foot. The look is based on his appearance in The Simpsons. Set against a plain purple background. — Stephen Hawking in Turbo Charged Flying Wheelchair. Featured in The Simpsons Animation Comedy. 20th Century Fox Television. Playmate Toys 2003

More from Digital Disability

Person is sitting in a powered wheelchair in front of the doorway, with a gentle smile. They wear glasses, a light blue shirt, and beige trousers. The front door is slightly open, revealing a step free threshold with potted plants on either side.

Disability and the Home: The Front Door Photography Exhibition

The Front Door Photography Exhibition explores the idea of the home in relation to the lived experience of disabled people.

Find out more

Disability and the Home: The Front Door Photography Exhibition