UK Disability History Month 2023
Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership is proud to mark UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) 2023.
This page provides useful links and resources for disabled colleagues and allies working across our health and care partnership.
About UKDHM 2023
UKDHM takes place from Thursday 16 November to Saturday 16 December 2023 and provides a platform to focus on the history of the struggle disabled people continue to face for equality and human rights.
The theme for the 2023 UKDHM was around the experiences of disabled children and young people in the past, in the present day and in the future. There are 16m disabled people in the UK and 11% of children are disabled. Though 80% of adults become disabled people while at working age, for some this figure hides delayed diagnoses or hidden conditions from childhood.
Disability Futures
UKDHM takes place once a year, but we know that the barriers and discrimination disabled colleagues can face are not restricted to a one-month period. We wanted to find a way to ensure the important conversations we started as a system during UKDHM could continue throughout the year.
Visit our Disability Futures page to find out more about how we’re ensuring a continuing, year-round focus on the experiences of disabled colleagues working in health and care across Humber and North Yorkshire.
Blogs from UKDHM 2023
- “My invite to the party”
The first of our UKDHM blogs where a colleague shares their story of adult diagnoses and how this impacted them to mark the launch of UKDHM in Humber and North Yorkshire. - “Something neurodivergent”
The second of our UKDHM blogs comes from Jess, 18, a digital communications apprentice at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust who shares her journey to begin a career in health and care - “Shifting the NHS paradigm towards inclusive leadership”
A blog from Peter Reading, interim chief executive at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust and co-chair of the Disabled NHS Director’s Network - “The Great Invisibility Game”
Our third blog comes from a colleague working in health and care in Humber and North Yorkshire and discusses visibility for disabled colleagues in our workforce.
Events in Humber and North Yorkshire from UKDHM 2023
A number of events have taken place across Humber and North Yorkshire – these were for colleagues working in health and care.
The following events took place for UKDHM (links are to recordings where available):
- Lunch and Learn: NLaG event with Dr Ossie Stuart – Calibre and Project Search – Thursday 30 November 2023
- Lunch and Learn: Carers’ Resource and support for parent / guardian carers – Wednesday 6 December 2023
- Lunch and learn: Inclusive language around disability – Monday 11 December 2023
You can find details of future events on our dedicated booking website, BookWhen.
Humber and North Yorkshire (HNY) Inclusive Language Guidance
Read more about inclusive language around disability and beyond in the HNY Inclusive Language Guidance.
We’re not a write-off! – a creative writing collection from disabled colleagues
We’re not a write-off! is a collection of poetry and short stories from disabled colleagues working and / or volunteering in health and care across Humber and North Yorkshire. It was launched in January 2023 to mark the end of UKDHM 2022.
You can read the We’re not a write-off! creative writing collection online.
NOTE: This collection of creative writing reflects the diverse lived experiences of disabled people across Humber, North Yorkshire and beyond and as such, includes language and subject matter that some may find difficult to read.
Support services
The following organisations provide support for parent / guardian carers of disabled children and young people across Humber and North Yorkshire, for disabled children and young people and / or for disabled parents.
Each organisation will offer different services and in different areas. More information on each can be found using the links below:
- Bright Minds (Grimsby)
- Carers Plus Yorkshire (Scarborough, Whitby, Ryedale, East Riding, Hambleton and Richmondshire)
- Carers’ Support Service (North Lincolnshire)
- Carers Trust
- Carers UK
- Carers’ Resource (Bradford, Harrogate, Selby and Craven districts)
- Case (Hull)
- Children Today
- Choices and Rights (Hull and East Riding)
- Climb4 (North East Lincolnshire)
- Different Strokes
- SEND East Riding ‘Local Offer’ directory
- Family Fund
- Flag Grimsby
- Foresight (North and North East Lincolnshire)
- Get Cycling CIC
- Gravity Red (North East Lincolnshire)
- Hull Council for Disabled People
- Hull Deaf Centre
- Jessie’s Fund
- Kids
- Linkage (Lincolnshire)
- Matthew’s Hub (Hull and East Riding)
- MySight York
- North East Lincolnshire Parent Carer Forum
- Nutrio
- SENDIASS East Riding
- Sight Support (Hull and East Riding)
- Rock Foundation (North East Lincolnshire)
- The Faraway CIC (Grimsby)
- The Retreat Clinic (York)
- The Snappy Trust (York)
- We are F.I.S.H. (North East Lincolnshire)
- Wilberforce Trust (York)
- York Carers’ Centre
- York Disability Rights Forum
- York People First
- Your Life, Your Way (East Riding of Yorkshire)
- Your Place (Grimsby)
National resources and useful links
- NHS Employers UKDHM resources page (includes blogs, case studies, videos and guidance to support disabled colleagues in the workplace).
- Watch a video from the Disabled NHS Directors Network (DNDN) exploring the experiences of disabled directors to mark UKDHM 2023
- Experiences of neurodivergent colleagues in the workplace (2023 study from Birkbeck’s Research Centre for Neurodiversity at Work – part of University of London)
- The mental health of disabled staff (article from NHS Employers)
- Helix of Love – a collection of poems written by parents of children with rare genetic conditions who explore the lived experience of rare disease in a project with Brighton and Sussex Medical School
This page will be revisited for UKDHM 2024. Please visit our Disability Futures page for our plans between now and then.
(Last updated Wednesday 20 December 2023)