Liverpool-Live

The 18th November to 3rd December was the DaDaFest2010, The Festival of Disability and Deaf Arts.  The festival celebrates the anniversary of the disability act, which was first passed in 1970, proposed by Lord Alf Moriss of Manchester.  Since the act was passed, 40 years ago, thousands of people have benefited from the new laws in place and the new way in which society considers disability in day to day life.

I spoke to the BBC's Nick Higham, who was doing his third live broadcast of the festival, Wednesday he covered disability in sport, Thursday was technology which helps disabled people and today (Friday), disability in the arts and invisible disability, this covers disabilities like Autism and Dyslexia, conditions which are not obvious to the onlooker. Nick explained "The point of the celebrations is to benchmark just how much has changed for disabled people over the past 40 years."

The Friday celebrations were held at the BlueCoat and as I walked in I noticed this big looking metal machine, it was Sputnik, a Russian laboured machine, built in Glasgow. Andy was looking after it, "Sputnik is what ever you want it to be, its a kinetic sculpture and a piece of imagination and can also be used as a flying machine!"

Sputniks link to DaDa is that it's commissioned by Fittings a disability lead arts company who are based at the BlueCoat.
"Last year Sputnik toured with a disabled actress called Clair, she could not attend DaDa this year so as a tribute to her there are crutches hanging from the frame of it. There are also used materials such as washing machine drums and old cardboard incorporated in the design.

The Bluecoat, was host to two events on Friday, DaDaFest - Disability in the Arts and Invisible Disability, but also Bed-in, which is part of the John Lennon Tribute season.

On the 9th October Lennon would have celebrated his 70th birthday and on the 9th December it will is 30 years since he died. Bed-in recreates the peace protest held by John and Yoko in 1969. There are different performers daily, with a range of content, all with one thing in mind, "doing something for a better world."

Saira spoke to Levine Riley Mohammad, one of the performers in the bed on Friday. Talking about her piece: One Foot On The Floor, Levine explained: "It explores how when two people meet, possibly a relationship can form and the steps they take towards it."

Further information and video content are available at The Bluecoat website