Please note: this event has been postponed until later in the year. If you would be interested in attending the rescheduled date please email neave@universityofatypical.org

Tar linn chun cúrsaí mhíchumais a phlé trí mheán na Gaeilge, na gluaiseachta, na focail agus an spraoi. Stiúrfaidh amharclannóirí agus Gaeilgeoirí Billí Mills agus Soso Ní Cheallaigh an cheardlann seo chun an teanga mhíchumais a phlé trí na healaíona. Tar le chéile chun an Foclóir Faoi Mhíchumas a chruthú – acmhainn Gaeilge comhaimseartha a phléann le teanga mhíchumais agus téarmaí nua cruthaithe le Gaeilgeoirí faoi mhíchumas. Mar rannpháirteach, beidh tú in ann pháirt a ghlacadh i gcomhráite, radharc-chruthú, agus marc-chruthú.

Níl eolas ar an nGaeilge ná taithí gluaiseacht de dhíth — níl uait ach intinn oscailte, meon oscailte, agus fiosracht. Caith éadaí compordacha a cheadaíonn gluaiseacht, agus tabhair leat deochanna agus lón, nó, más mian leat, beidh tú ábalta lón a cheannach sa chaife.

Explore disability through Gaeilge, movement, words and play. Theatremakers and Irish speakers Billí Mills and Soso Ní Cheallaigh will lead this Irish-language workshop that creatively explores the language of disability. Join them and help create the Fócloir Faoi Mhíchumas, a modern Gaeilge resource exploring and defining new terms for disabled Gaeilgeoiríidentities. As a participant, you can expect to take part in discussions, scene creations, and mark-making.

Participants do not require any prior knowledge of Irish, artistic or movement experience, just a curiosity and a willingness to share. Dress in comfortable clothes that you can move in, and bring a packed lunch (or purchase something in the cafe).

Important Update on Fócloir Faoi Mhíchumas / Disability Dictionary workshop. We have updated the pricing structure to FREE or pay what you can. We recognise that the Gaeltacht communities are among the most disadvantaged and we want to ensure that there is no financial barrier in accessing this workshop. 

Please note: the correct price for this event is £10. We apologise for the misprint in the printed brochure. This event is ticketed directly through Mencap NI via the button above.

Positive Sounds is a club night led by DJs, visual artists, and promoters with a learning disability. Expect an electrifying night of live DJ sets and a welcoming atmosphere where everyone can enjoy music without barriers. DJ ConRob, DJ Gems and DJ Eslcimo will spin their favourite tracks to new visual graphics. Positive Sounds is more than a party, it’s a movement!

This event is brought to you by Mencap NI, who are recipients of University of Atypical’s Sounds Atypical Award, funded by Belfast City Council.

Passages is an exhibition of drawings, sculpture and installation exploring the journey of migration. Fragile boats and body-like forms hold stories of movement, memory, and survival. The work reflects the psychological and physical experience of migration—pain, hope, and identity—as we cross borders and navigate change.

Central to the work are fragile sculptural boats and vessels that evoke skeletal structures, embodying the tension between vulnerability and endurance. These forms carry not only the physical weight of travel, but also the invisible burdens of memory, trauma, and cultural identity. The boats’ delicate frameworks echo the human skeleton—structures that support yet fracture, heal, and hold history. This duality invites viewers to contemplate how displacement shapes the body and psyche alike.

Anushiya is a multidisciplinary artist from Sri Lanka, now based in Belfast, who works across printmaking, painting, sculpture, textiles, installation, mixed media, and performance.

We Should Not March to the Beat of the Same Drum is live performance that draws on Homi Bhabha’s notion of the ‘third space’ where cultural meaning is negotiated rather than fixed, to explore the tensions between heritage and innovation, collective memory and individual expression.

Fort Dunree, a site where military history intersects with contemporary art, serves as the starting point for Rebecca Strain and Martha McCulloch’s 2023-24 body of work. This live performance emerges from that exploration, seeking a space between past and present, individual and society.

Rebecca Strain is a visual artist, single mum, and eco-feminist, and lives with clinical depression, dyslexia, and anosmia.

Dreaming Disability Futures is a writing and dreaming workshop led by writer Alex Cregan. It is inspired by the book Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by writer and activist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. The workshop explores the politics of disability justice, and the lives and leadership of sick and disabled queer, trans, Black, and brown people.

This two-part workshop begins with a reading, and discussion around access and collective liberation across different identities. The second part is a free writing session. While the session involves writing, participants are invited to express their ideas in other creative ways that feel comfortable, from drawing to soundmaking. 

Materials will be provided. Please bring lunch with you.

Bounce back in time and enjoy a rare opportunity to witness the unique talent of Stage Beyond Theatre Company on the big screen. The award-winning theatre company empowering adults with learning disabilities, produced their debut film in 2021, using Marcel Proust’s novel Remembrance of Things Past as the guide. They drew in particular on Proust’s theory of “involuntary memory”: where a sense, a smell, an object, a colour, places a memory directly into our consciousness. We don’t recall, it just arrives.

Ruairi Conaghan (co-producer, writer and director) wrote a prologue and epilogue to frame the memories. He uses extracts from Proust’s novel, as well as Brian Friel’s beautiful poetry of memory. Get ready for a laugh, a dance, a song and a cry, as we revisit this special theatre company whose focus is on inclusion, access, and excellence.