Andrea Gordon of Guide Dogs Cymru and the audience discussion at our event for Being Human Festival 2015, 'Disability and Wellbeing: Past, Present and Future'. Recorded at Swansea University, 17 November 2015.

Research on the so-called ‘disability paradox’ has shown that life-limiting impairment is not necessarily a barrier to happiness and wellbeing, with many disabled people reporting a good quality of life. Swansea University researchers and academics at the universities of Aberystwyth, Glasgow Caledonian and Strathclyde, are uncovering historical attitudes towards disability through the experiences of those disabled in the coal industry of the 18th–20th centuries. What do these ‘hidden histories’ tell us? How do these historical experiences compare to those of people today? What more can be done to improve people’s prospects, happiness and social inclusion? This public debate, in partnership with Disability Wales, focuses on how the happiness and wellbeing of disabled people have changed over time.