Release Issued by Mencap:
Understanding us: Volume III
Enter the world of learning disability through this collection of photographs and stories
To celebrate the opening of Mencap’s Snap! display at London’s V&A museum (17 June – 22 July 2007) the learning disability charity has produced a limited edition book, Understanding us: Volume III. This collection of personal images and stories, about life with a learning disability, comprises the winning entries from Mencap’s 2006 and 2007 Snap! competitions.
The eighty-eight pages are filled with inspiring tales of how having a learning disability can affect people’s lives. With anecdotes from parents, siblings, carers and those with a learning disability, illustrated with intimate snapshots, Understanding us lays bare a world which is often little understood.
Jo Yarnall’s image of her daughter, entitled Beauty in the eye of the beholder, is this year’s cover shot. She explains her picture with the words: “As I look into Hannah’s eyes I don't see her disability. All I see is her attractive blue eyes and the brushfield spots, which are the tiny speckled white spots in the iris of her eye. As I look into my daughter’s eyes I am totally captivated by her beauty that makes her the unique person she is.”
Dame Jo Williams, chief executive, Mencap said: “Snap! began in 2003 as idea designed to bring people together through photography. Since then it has grown into a major photography competition attracting entries from as far a field as Europe and America. The stories and images you will find in this book are all prize winners from the 2006 and 2007 competitions. The pictures and their accompanying words have been on display to over 100,000 people across the UK. To me Snap! is just wonderful – it is testament to people’s abilities rather than disabilities.”
Understanding us: Volume III is supported by The Sorrell Foundation, the V&A and Museum of London. It is priced at £9.99 (plus p&p) and can be purchased from
www.mencap.org.uk/shop or by calling +44 20 7696 6993. For more information on Snap! please visit
www.mencap.org.uk/snap
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