Regional Galleries

Over the past 10 years there is growing awareness of the importance of sporting heritage and the need to celebrate it at a community level in the museums of our towns and cities. Many local communities have rich histories in disability sport that are not commemorated. The regional galleries wing of the Global Museum provides space for counties, towns and cities to share their stories and elevate these important histories.

These galleries have been created through collaborations between local museums, local disability sports organisations, athletes and disabled young people. Working together has provided the additional benefit of helping the museums reassess physical and intellectual access to their sites, co-creating toolkits and materials, with a view to addressing a lack of visitors from this sector.

Buckinghamshire Museums Gallery

The Buckinghamshire Museums Gallery was our first regional gallery completed in June 2024. The gallery is a co-created collaboration between six Buckinghamshire based museums and six special educational needs schools.  It celebrates disability more widely, drawing on the museum collections, alongside items from the NPHT collections and personal items of importance and relevance to the young people, all the while reflecting on the area as the birthplace of the Paralympics.

According to a 2009 study in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, it is estimated that as many as 1 in 6 children experience sensory integration difficulties. It is therefore arguable that potentially 1 in 6 families will feel excluded from experiencing many local cultural activities if their access needs are not met.

The young people participated in workshops learning about 3D scanning, photogrammetry and curation ensuring the gallery is in their voice. Another key part of this work, through the formation of sensory needs advisory groups, has been to further develop our knowledge around sensory needs and to nurture and support new relationships between our partner schools and their local museums. Learning from each other on how to welcome those with sensory needs and their families to museums, making them feel safe and able to truly engage, building on what has already been achieved and striving to learn more together.

Hampshire Gallery

The Hampshire gallery is our second regional gallery, completed in June 2025. National Paralympic Heritage Trust staff, museum trainees and volunteers researched and created the content, with support from local individuals and organisations. This includes the contributions of four special educational needs schools in Hampshire, and objects loaned to the National Paralympic Heritage Trust by the Hampshire Cultural Trust, which have been 3D scanned.

In this space we celebrate inclusive activity, from hospitals and grassroots participation, to specialised sports clubs and elite athletes. We highlight Hampshire’s strong historic connection to the development of disability sport. Some of Britain’s most decorated Paralympians and significant disability sports clubs hail from Hampshire. This foundation is evident today in the range of opportunities that exist across the county.
 
This gallery explores different ways people can be active and enable exercise and wellbeing to be more inclusive. We encourage visitors to reflect on the activities and stories within. What does being active look like to you?

3D models in the gallery have been interpreted as part of Workshops for Inclusive Co-created Audio Description (W-ICAD), with a group of blind, partially sighted and sighted participants. We have also applied learning from this process to image audio descriptions.

Disability Sports Organisation Galleries

Across the world are a small number of disability specific sports organisations that have been in existence for over 50 years. Many have formed since the 1940s initially growing out of military rehabilitation following conflict like the Paralympics. These organisations frequently offer the first experience of sport for disabled children and adults, playing an important role in providing a journey to elite sport participation.

These galleries have been created in collaboration with those organisations, their pioneers and athletes, providing them with a platform to share their development, reflect on their achievements and put value in their past to help shape their future. This work has also assisted the NPHT to map broader collections associated with different disabilities alongside stretching and growing its understanding of access needs, sharing this knowledge across the heritage sector in its capacity as a national leader in museums access.

British Blind Sport Gallery

The British Blind Sport Gallery was our first disability sports organisation gallery completed in June 2024. The gallery is a collaboration between British Blind Sport, its founders, athletes and our team, in particular the trainees. It is an amazing story with driven pioneers that has impacted on the lives of thousands of people and their families, that deserves to be shared and celebrated.

With much of the Trust’s work in its early operational years from 2017 to 2023 being based on early collections relating to Wheelchair sports, it made sense to widen our heritage knowledge working with other organisations. Sport for people with sight loss has a long history and in the museum sector an area of access that still has a long way to go. As a result of this work the NPHT now hold a British Blind Sport Collection incorporating their minutes, newsletters, and other items.

British Blind Sport on their collaboration with NPHT:

It gives British Blind Sport great pleasure to collaborate with the NPHT. Sport for blind and partially sighted athletes has flourished in recent years, with many Paralympic and international achievements.

As we continue to strive to support sporting opportunities and success, the history of British Blind Sport must be preserved, as must the influence we have had in recognising, assisting, and honouring our amazing athletes.

The NPHT has kindly donated time and counsel to the organisation, assisting in the identification of key documents and items, to record for prosperity and knowledge. The exhibition's digital platform makes it possible for more people to enjoy learning about our past for years to come by increasing accessibility and reach.

 
Cerebral Palsy Sport Gallery

The Cerebral Palsy Sport (CP Sport) gallery is our second National Disability Sport Organisation gallery, completed in June 2025.

NPHT staff, museum trainees and volunteers researched and created the content, with support from those involved with CP Sport throughout its history. This includes past staff, athletes, and ambassadors.

This gallery explores the development of sport for athletes with cerebral palsy, including adaptations to sports and successful British athletes. We also highlight the many pioneers who have supported CP Sport throughout the years, and the positive impact the organisation has had on people with cerebral palsy.

This gallery contains references to the British disability charity Scope, previously named ‘The Spastics Society’ or ‘The National Spastics Society’.  The term 'spastic' is now considered offensive or inappropriate, and we only use it here to refer to the historical name of the organisation.  Medical professionals might talk about ‘spastic muscles’ or ‘spasticity’. This is different from using ‘spastic’ as a term of abuse.

3D models in the gallery have been interpreted as part of Workshop for Inclusive Co-created Audio Description (W-ICAD) sessions, with a group of blind, partially sighted and sighted participants as well as individuals with cerebral palsy. We have also applied learning from this process to audio descriptions of images.

 
International Galleries

Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann was the founder and father of the Paralympic Movement. Since then, there have been many incredible people from other countries involved in the Paralympic Movement with vision and drive, ahead of their time, for an inclusive society.  They come from a variety of backgrounds including sport, medical, welfare and media. Several countries have recorded their histories and created displays that celebrate this inspirational history aimed at broadening understanding and making us better human beings.

These galleries have been created in collaboration with companies, Paralympic organisations, universities and athletes, alongside our cohort of disabled and neurodiverse trainees. They celebrate the pioneers, Paralympic Games hosted and the athlete achievements.

The Japan Gallery

The Japan Gallery is our first international gallery completed in June 2024. The gallery has been a collaboration between our trainees and Mitsubishi Corporation London Branch, supported by valuable academics with their research and knowledge.

Japan was one of the first nations to host a Paralympic Games and one of the most pioneering. The Tokyo Games of 1964 is one that many early athletes recall, as it involved travelling far away at a time when most people did not travel, and as such our collections contain some wonderful records, including opening ceremony music. After the Tokyo Games in 2020(21) Mitsubishi Corporation London Branch visited us in 2022 followed by the Japanese Para Sports Association (JPSA). It was from these visits that the idea for the gallery took hold. It has been hard to condense such a rich story into the space, but it provides a lovely introduction to the remarkable achievements of Japan.

Mitsubishi Corporation London Branch’s comment on the collaboration with NPHT:

Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) focuses on social contribution activities in line with three overarching themes: ‘Realizing an Inclusive Society’, ‘Empowering the Next Generation’ and ‘Conserving the Environment’.  MC aims to help realize a society where everyone can play an active role. We are continuing our activities to contribute towards a world where everyone can respect each other and coexist regardless of background, physical condition or way of life. 

Mitsubishi Corporation London Branch is honoured and privileged to be part of this Global Virtual Museum project, to be able to support the development of this inclusive, accessible virtual museum, and to work closely with the National Paralympic Heritage Trust in particular on the development of the Japan Gallery. We look forward to our continued collaboration with NPHT.

The Italy Gallery

Great Britain and the Paralympic Games in Italy is our second international gallery, completed in June 2025. The gallery has been created by NPHT staff, museum trainees and volunteers. Research was supported by Maria Stella Calà Maglio, and the Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortunati sul Lavoro (The National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work). 

Rome 1960 is considered to be the first Paralympic Games. It was the first Games held in the same city as the Olympics and took place a week afterwards.

The importance of the Rome 1960 Games, and the stories of competing British athletes held in our collection, was a perfect fit for one of our international galleries.  

Beyond Rome 1960, Italy has further Paralympic significance as the host of two Winter Games - Torino 2006 and Milano-Cortina 2026. This gallery captures the significant evolution of the Paralympic Movement between the 1960 and 2006 Games. 

3D models in the gallery have been interpreted as part of Workshop for Inclusive Co-created Audio Description (W-ICAD) sessions, with a group of blind, partially sighted and sighted participants. We have also applied learning from this process to image and video audio descriptions.