Accentuate

Museums, Libraries and Archives and Buckinghamshire County Council are leading on this large-scale project.

Accentuate is a programme inspired by the values and achievements of the Paralympics, and in Buckinghamshire we are proud that the movement started here. The pioneering work of Sir Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville Hospital revolutionised the treatment and life chances for paraplegics. He organised the first ‘Stoke Mandeville Games’ to coincide with the start of the London Olympics in 1948. His dream was of a worldwide sports competition for people with disabilities to be held every four years as 'the equivalent of the Olympic Games'.

The Paralympic Region project aims to ensure that the South East’s role as the birthplace of the Paralympic movement at Stoke Mandeville is recognised by the world. It will record histories of individual Paralympic athletes and improve access to Stoke Mandeville’s historic archives in order to foster public understanding of the story of disability in the region. Working with a range of disabled artists and school and community groups, the impact of the movement will be explored.

• Listing and investigating the archive collections held at Stoke Mandeville, using the Revisiting Archive Collections methodology.

• Exploring nine other regional collections related to disability and rehabilitation.

• Driving Inspiration: using the pioneering story of Stoke Mandeville with schools in Buckinghamshire and beyond, this project works with disabled artists and Paralympians to enable children to identify their own inspiration.

• Young Cultural Creators: a local short-stay school will work with archive collections from Stoke Mandeville and a poet to create their own work through the stimulating Stoke Mandeville story.

• People’s Record: a short series of roadshows to encourage members of the public to add their own memorabilia and reminiscences to the Paralympic collection.

• Film: using archive footage alongside newly-recorded interviews with Paralympians, an hour-long documentary film will be produced celebrating the story of Dr. Ludwig Guttmann and the Paralympic movement.

• Oral history: an extensive series of interviews with Paralympians, past and present, will be recorded to enhance the story of Stoke Mandeville and the Paralympics.

• Touring exhibition: using the collections, both at Stoke Mandeville and regionally, an exhibition will be created about the story of disability and rehabilitation in the South-East, to be exhibited at regional and national spaces as well as throughout 2012 training camps and host venues.

Accentuate projects have been collecting examples of how their work is having an impact.  Whether this is the personal experience of an individual, or the influence Accentuate projects have had on organisations. Click the link to view the case studies.