In October 2022 we were pleased to welcome the RED Caravan to MSDP. The RED Caravan was created by Emma Case and is part of The RED Archive, which is a collection of photographs and stories from Liverpool football fans.
A few years ago, Emma put a call out asking fans to send in their photos and memories. Looking through what they had collected it was clear that stories were missing from members of the fan community, particularly Deaf and disabled supporters.
The RED Archive received a small Heritage Lottery grant to take the caravan on tour to different community spaces across Liverpool, and Emma immediately reached out to MSDP. This provided an opportunity to collect Deaf fans’ stories, but also offer the Deaf community an event that was fully accessible and tailored to their needs.
Emma works across the arts and cultural sector, and has often found that organisations state that they are ‘accessible’, however many events are simply open to the public and haven’t fully considered the needs of more diverse attendees.
In some cases, without realising it, they can actually exclude the Deaf community. It was important to create an event that was specifically for the Deaf community and when planning the RED Caravan, and this was at the top of the priority list.
The RED Caravan’s stop at MSDP was particularly important to Emma, as her Dad, Jimmy Case, is hard of hearing. Jimmy played for Liverpool football club in the 1970s, and was known as the first Deaf professional football player.
Although Jimmy doesn’t sign, Emma went on to learn BSL. Emma has been really passionate about ensuring the Deaf community could access the archive. Jimmy visited MSDP with the Red Caravan and we were delighted to give him a warm welcome to MSDP.
