Our Right to Thrive is a unique poetry/written word project for disabled writers led by disabled artist/ musician and poet Ivan Riches. The project provides an opportunity for disabled people to further explore the disabled community’s experiences of ableism, attitudinal barriers, and discrimination from a personal and political perspective.

This webinar is for disabled writers who are interested in learning more about the self-development and support of the community of people with learning difficulties. It will focus on Paul’s lived experience of writing, especially writing poetry. Paul will share Mr Pip and will talk about how the poem has been used creatively by other learning disability companies to convey a message about the pip application process; what’s wrong with it, and how it could be better. The webinar will talk about the importance of creativity as an essential aspect of self-advocacy

Paul Wilshaw is the Engagement and Advocacy worker at Mind the Gap, supporting the theatre company’s producing team. He started out on the company’s Making Theatre training course before taking up a role as Assistant Producer following a successful internship on ZARA in 2019. He is a fantastic advocate for both the company and for people with learning disabilities. He is a presenter on Mind the Gap and Disability Arts Online’s podcast, Disability And... Paul is also part of the Learning Disabled focus group as part of TripleC. He co-hosts talks with TV companies about working with learning disabled artists and attends webinars hosted by TripleC, as well as being a part of DANC, the Disabled Artists Networking Community, supported by TripleC.

Our Right to Thrive is a project for disabled writers aimed at nurturing creativity, improving communication with the disabled community, sharing experiences of living with disabling barriers, and fostering strength to better respond to discrimination. The project aims to empower our online community of disabled people: nurturing creativity, improving communication, sharing experiences of living with disabling barriers, and fostering strength to better respond to discrimination.

Structure of workshop

• 14:00 −14:05 Introduction & Housekeeping
• 14:05 — 14:40 Presentation from Paul Wilshaw
• 14:40 — 15:00 Questions & Discussion

The webinar will be recorded.

Accessibility

All webinars will have BSL interpretation and captions.

Look out for further webinars in this series:

We’ve a range of disabled leaders coming from different aspects of the lived experience of disability. Please look out for announcements to sign up for the next webinar planned in this series.

Keep up to date with the project and view previous webinars in the series on the ’Our Right to Thrive’ blog on the Disability Arts Online Website. Upcoming webinars:

• Julie Farrell: The Value of Different Forms of Communication, Particularly for Neurodivergent Communities — Monday 29th September 2025 2-3 pm

Recordings of previous webinars:

• Mik Scarlet: The Importance of the Social Model in Disability Pride and Overcoming Barriers. The Co-CEO of Phab gives an overview of the disabled people’s movement with a focus on how the disabled experience and outlook influences and shapes society. Mik Scarlet is a London-based, award-winning broadcaster, journalist, and inclusive design expert with a history of involvement as a disabled musician and activist.
• Dolly Sen: Recognising and Understanding Mental Health Needs and Provision. Artist, writer, filmmaker, and activist Dolly shares her personal experience as a survivor of the mental health system and how different models of disability have helped and hindered her.

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Time: 8:00 am EDT

Free!

Registration