The Rightfullives Exhibition

Human Rights, Learning Disability and Autism
A Community of Perspectives

Welcome to the Rightfullives online Exhibition. It’s an exhibition that explores the theme of Human Rights and people with autism and/or learning disabilities. The idea for the exhibition came about through a conversation about how the legal framework of the Human Rights Act seems to barely touch the lives of people with learning disabilities. Since then we have only been able to find three published successful court judgements where the HRA has been applied to learning disabled people. So in May 2018, we put out a call to arms. We asked for contributions from anyone interested in human rights for learning disabled people. The responses, from an incredibly diverse group of people, have been phenomenal.

This exhibition is the result of that call to arms. We hope you enjoy it.

The exhibits are full of joy and laughter, anguish, pain and ocassionally strong language. They will make you smile, cry and rage. We feel that we must warn you that some people may find some of the exhibits distressing.

The Exhibition Rooms

Jayne McCubbin interviews Rightful Lives co-founder Julie Newcombe

The rights we have

You have a right for your life not to be taken away
you should not be hurt or someone take away your say
and not meant to be locked in your home or room
or even to be abused or groomed

were not guilty unless said by the law
only when you go against the rules and more
phones messages and letters shouldn’t be read
unless the laws permission is given or said

you can go to church a temple or mosque any time of day
people should listen and respect what you say
you can marry who you want too
discrimination of any sort shouldn’t happen to you

be able to keep your money is a right
not for others to take by bullying or putting up a fight
your right to vote is important it is totally fine
these are your rights at any time

Hayley Burwood