The Shifting Perspectives Podcast

Launched in Down’s Syndrome Awareness Week 2019, the Shifting Perspectives Podcast is brought to you by the Down’s Syndrome Association.

In our podcast, we'll tell the stories of people who have Down's syndrome as well as of their families and carers, raising a smile, providing insights and challenging commonly held attitudes and prejudices.

We are thrilled to be working with Richard Bailey, curator and mastermind behind the Shifting Perspectives photography project, as our host.

Where Shifting Perspectives began

When his daughter, Billie-Jo, was born at the start of the noughties he knew very little about Down's syndrome and when he looked for information in books, he found very factual information and very factual images.

He explains in the introduction of the Shifting Perspectives book (published in 2012): "The images we found in those old textbooks had little bearing on our experience…We found no images that showed daily life, no images of families having fun with their children, or of young adults going about their daily life and these were the images that we dearly wanted to see."

Working with other parents of children with Down's syndrome, who also happened to be photographers, they created their first small exhibition of photographs in 2005 for Down's Syndrome Awareness Week.

With support from the Down's Syndrome Association and GlaxoSmithKline, Richard and his fellow photographers were able to continue to exhibit their work in multiple locations around the UK and beyond.