Queer Disability History

Who decides what stories are told and which are left out? Tracing lives and legacies, from archival discoveries to personal storytelling, this discussion will explore how disabled queer people have shaped culture, community and resistance, often outside of popular narratives. They will reveal common threads between queer and disability history, and what happens at the intersection of the two.

Join Daisy Holder (Queer Disability Through History), Jamie Hale (Shield) and Tom Ryalls (This Book is Short) for this vital conversation on queer disability history and the telling of it, chaired by theatre-maker and activist, Julie McNamara. Insightful, challenging and deeply necessary, this session invites you to rethink the past, and imagine more inclusive, diverse futures.

Daisy Holder is a researcher, writer and archivist who specialises in disability history. Their work has focused on making disabled people’s stories accessible to the community, online as well as in magazines, podcasts, books and museums. Daisy is a skilled communicator of the past and a passionate advocate of archiving and preservation, having set up Disability History Snapshots and the Covid Disability Archive and worked on numerous projects to raise awareness of disabled people’s history and spread knowledge among the community. Born and raised in the west country of the UK, they can often be found playing social deduction games, crocheting and dressing as a 1990s Children’s TV presenter, usually all at the same time.

Jamie Hale is the Artistic and Executive Director of award-winning disabled-led theatre company CRIPtic Arts, and a writer, performer and director. They won an OFFIE for their staging of Transpose in 2026 and in 2025 were shortlisted by the Sky Arts Awards for their body of work. They have curated, written, performed and directed at venues including the Barbican Centre, Roundhouse, HOME Manchester, Glastonbury Festival, Tate Modern, Roundhouse, and more. They are currently directing CRIPtic’s development work, as well as a major adaption of Romeo and Juliet for 2027.

Tom Ryalls is an award-winning writer and cultural organiser and has written work for theatres across the country. His first book about his practice and creativity for ADHDers This Book is Short was released in 2026. His work was celebrated when he was named as one of the 10 most influential people in performing arts, television and radio by The Shaw Trust in 2024, and he became a Clore Fellow in 2025. 

Julie McNamara ‘Mack’ (chair) is an award winning playwright, documentary film and theatre maker. She is also a survivor of the Mental Health system and a vociferous Disability and human rights activist. She is co-founder (with Isobel Hawson) and former Artistic Director of Vital Xposure, one of the UK’s leading disability-led touring theatre companies within Arts Council England’s national portfolio. As an artist and activist, she is a key player in Disability Arts on international stages — currently playing God in Lawrence Clark’s Cured with Royal Court, Liverpool and Bird of Paradise theatre.