Project description:
Over a two-day, trilingual (Welsh, English and BSL) retreat at Tŷ Newydd, young individuals who identify as Disabled and/or Deaf and/or chronically ill came together to explore their experiences and relationships with nature through creative writing workshops, optional yoga and meditation and outdoor activities focused on the access requirements of participants. The aim of the project was to amplify the voices of young Welsh individuals who identify as Disabled and/or Deaf and/or chronically ill.
The writing has been collected and will feature in the first issue of a bilingual literary magazine aiming to increase representation and to nurture underrepresented Disabled voices.
“Young Welsh Deaf and/or Disabled people are currently being spoken for and over. We aim to nurture the voices of young Deaf and/or Disabled people so that we can write back, filling the void where our voices should be.”
Participant feedback
I came away from the retreat feeling very accepted and empowered. When I arrived at the retreat I was struggling with doubts and negative feelings towards my writing. I felt like no one wanted to read my work or that I had any talent. The session where we discussed why we need to hear more diverse writers motivated me to keep going with my work.
I also felt like a “proper” writer. Coming to a writing retreat at Ty Newydd is something that is beyond my financial and physical means. It often feels like I’ve hit a ceiling with how much I can improve as a writer, but the retreat gave me hope that there will be more opportunities for people like me in future.
Artist biographies:
Bethany Handley is a Welsh Disabled writer living in Cardiff. Her poetry has most notably been published in Poetry and she is a writer on the Sherman Theatre’s Unheard Voices scheme for underrepresented Welsh writers. Her work draws on her experiences as a young Disabled woman, particularly as a part time wheelchair user, to challenge ableism and inaccessibility.
Megan Angharad Hunter is originally from Penygroes, Dyffryn Nantlle, but is now based in Cardiff. She won the Wales Book of the Year Award 2021 for her first novel for young people, tu ôl i’r awyr (Y Lolfa, 2020), before publishing her second novel, Cat (Y Lolfa, 2021) as part of the Y Pump series, and winning the Crown at the Urdd Eisteddfod in 2020/21.