Abstract/Summary

Glenside Hospital Museum is working with the purpleSTARS team engaging local volunteers with learning disabilities from the Bristol area. The aim is to research and interpret objects that have been collected from Stoke Park house, which used to be an institution attached to Glenside, where people who were considered to have a learning disability used to live. The goal is to share stories about people with learning disabilities and how they used to be treated in the UK and to improve understanding about how conditions can be changed. purpleSTARS travelled from London to Bristol to share their knowledge and expertise with the new Bristol volunteers, to help them progress on their project. The purpleSTARS shared some of their Wiki building work, particularly the WIKI produced as part of the Access All Areas’ ‘Madhouse Project’. This served as an excellent example of work around the history of people with learning disabilities and the way they were housed in hospitals and other large Institutions, like the Glenside Hospital site.