I went to visit Mencap’s ‘This Is Me’ exhibition yesterday at Liverpool ONE. I expected it to be in a prominent place but it was tucked away down one of the side alleys that come off the main strip, opposite where you go up the escalators to access the terrace area with all the restaurants.

Once I found the exhibition it was great to see the images, that were all entered into Mencap’s Snap! competition and some of the entries are really moving. They show people with learning disability doing things that everyone else does, there’s a guy watching Blackburn Rovers and another guy abseiling. The exhibition has some information about Mencap, what they do and their vision for how people with learning disability should be treated equally. It also has information about what a learning disability is and what it isn’t.

The stars of the exhibition are the images, particularly the ones taken by people with learning disability. The image above of Anthony Quinn, is him taking his photo in a mirror and is an excellent shot. The blurb with his photo says:

Once a week I go to Brookfield College to study photography. Here I am practising taking photos. I find this challenging, but I am practising taking self-portraits without camera shake.

The stories behind the photos are also really interesting, seeing what people with learning disability do and what great things they get involved in. Hopefully people who look at these photos will realise that people with learning disability are not that different from themselves, and in particular that they enjoy just the same things as everyone else and also have the same dreams, hopes and aspirations.

If you get chance to visit Liverpool ONE before Monday 21st September 2009 take five minutes to go and wander around the giant photo boxes, it’s well worth it. After Liverpool the exhibition moves on to Leeds and Newcastle.

This is a post by Ed Walker, trustee of Mencap Liverpool

Tags: liverpool one, mencap, snap! photo competition, this is me exhibition, this is me liverpool exhibition