Conference | From Newton to Hawking and beyond | 28 May

From Newton to Hawking and beyond: Why disability equality is relevant to the world of particle physics, Dr Tom Shakespeare.

Tuesday, 28 May 2013 - 11.30 am - 1 pm
Main Auditorium – Room 500-1-001

Conference organised by the CERN Diversity Programme
English with French interpretation


According to the recent world report on disability, 15% of the world’s population is disabled.  Among that group could be numbered famous physicists such as Isaac Newton and Paul Dirac, neither of whom could be classed as “neuro-typical”, and Stephen Hawking.  This presentation will provide some basic data about global disability, and the socially imposed barriers which disabled people face.  It will also include some stories about high achieving people with disabilities.  Finally, some practical suggestions will be offered on how to respect and include people with disabilities in the workplace.

Tom Shakespeare is a social scientist and ethicist with 25 years’ experience with the disability movement, including time working in disability arts and delivering disability equality training.   He has published and broadcast widely, and authors a popular blog on disability history at disabledlives.blogspot.com, as well as the monthly column Die Andere Sicht in NZZ Folio magazine.  Between 2008 and 2013, Tom worked in the Disability and Rehabilitation team at the World Health Organization, Geneva.  He currently teaches medical sociology at the University of East Anglia Medical School in Norwich, UK.

There are a limited number of places available so please sign up here as soon as possible.