‘Resistance: Which Way the Future?’ A dual-screen installation related to the theme of disability and eugenics

Abstract

This paper reports the part findings of an evaluation of a dual-screen installation entitled ‘Resistance: Which Way the Future?’ by the writer and director Liz Crow. Central to the installation is the experience of disabled people during the Holocaust period, the values underpinning this neglected period of history and how this relates to understanding the experiences of disabled people today. Simultaneously, this paper raises issue with a previous comment which suggested that disabled people and eugenics are a form of ‘emotive rhetoric’. On the contrary, this paper asserts that the link between eugenics and disability cannot be overstated, and is a significant moment in history where the lived experiences of disabled people – people described as having ‘learning difficulties’, surviving artefacts, and recorded testimonies – have still yet to be explored.

Keywords:

• disability
• learning difficulties
• holocaust
• eugenics
• evaluation

Notes

1. In using the phrase ‘people with [sic] learning difficulties’ the term ‘with’ is being challenged on the basis that it is being used as a possessive preposition. My intention is to disrupt the relational link and that people do not, I argue, come ‘with’ learning difficulties but that the individual has been labelled and described as having ‘learning difficulties’.