The Power of Inclusive Photography

Celebrating a Three-Year Creative Partnership: Open Eye Gallery and Community Integrated Care

We’re excited to launch our Accessible Photography Toolkit, now available to explore and download! This is one of the outcomes of a brilliant three-year partnership between Open Eye Gallery and Community Integrated Care – one of the UK’s largest social care charities. Our collaboration began in 2022 and has grown into a multi-layered body of work that puts accessibility, creativity, and community at its heart.

Photography That Builds Confidence, Skills & Opportunity

Our journey started with an empowering project led by photographers Alun Kirby and  Emma Case, focused on supporting Community Integrated Care’s Inclusive Volunteering™ Model at the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and Rugby League World Cup 2021 tournament. 

The Model sees Community Integrated Care develop a tailored programme of personal development opportunities for people who draw on care and support, shaped around their individual goals, dreams and needs, empowered and inspired by major events. 

Through careful person-centred planning, the charity identified individuals for whom photography could be leveraged as an inspirational tool to develop important creative, confidence, self-expression and communications skills. Through hands-on workshops and mentoring, participants from Community Integrated Care were supported to build new skills, tell their own stories through photography, and gain confidence in creative expression. Participants were empowered to plan and deliver matchday placements, volunteering as photographers at these illustrious tournaments, and to curate their images. 

One shining example from this project is Katie Richardson, who used the opportunity as a springboard into professional sports. Katie, who is autistic, secured paid employment as a photographer with the support of the charity – including working as an accredited photographer for the Rugby Football League and having her images published in newspapers and magazines. This achievement was underpinned by our shared commitment to delivering a project that went far beyond simply introducing technical skills, shaping vital  vocational, communication, life and creative skills. Examples such as this, represent an inspiring reminder of the real-world impact creative opportunities can have.

Working With Global Platforms

Building on the success of this initial work, Community Integrated Care approached us to co-develop a photography project in their Inclusive Volunteering program with the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool, supported by GB Partnerships. The volunteers documented the incredible range of events and developed new skills. 

This included a recent project with photographer Sam Batley, who delivered a series of creative sessions with Community Integrated Care volunteers at GB Partnership’s Kensington Health Centre. The sessions explored a range of socially engaged photography methodologies from photo walks and storytelling to developing technical photography skills, adapted through working responsibly with Community Integrated Care Staff and volunteers, using combined knowledge to ensure an inclusive and engaging project for people with a range of learning needs.

The group were proud to have their work showcased to thousands of fans in a special in-tournament exhibition at the M&S Bank Arena. 

Introducing the Accessible Photography Toolkit

As the project evolved, it became clear that the learning, methods, and energy developed in these sessions had potential far beyond our immediate workshops. Working alongside the Open Eye Gallery team, Sam helped co-create the Accessible Photography Toolkit – a free, open-source resource for anyone looking to make photography more inclusive and participatory.

“Most importantly, I feel the people who have taken part in the project have all enjoyed what we’ve produced and created together,” says Sam. “I hope the toolkit continues to engage people and inspire photography among the communities I’ve had the pleasure to work with over the past two years.”

Download Accessible Photography Toolkit | View on issuu

Why Inclusive Photography Matters

This partnership has been about more than creating great images – it’s been about connection, empowerment, and equity. Working with disabled communities in socially engaged photography brings countless benefits:

• Representation: It places disabled voices at the centre of their own narratives.
• Confidence & Belonging: It fosters a sense of pride, ownership, and agency.
• Skill-Building: Participants gain valuable creative and technical skills that can lead to further opportunities.
• Innovation: Adapting tools and methods for accessibility challenges practitioners to think more creatively and inclusively.

“It is our duty as a publicly funded civic space to ensure we are reducing barriers for engagement and offering opportunities to all”, says Sophie Mahon, Head of Social Practice at Open Eye Gallery. “This partnership has helped us grow, listen, and build stronger, more accessible practices.”

“As we continue to grow our partnerships with a wide range of organisations, we remain committed to ensuring that photography is for everyone – especially those whose stories often go untold.”

We are excited to offer our Accessible Photography Toolkit for others to use and join us in building a more inclusive, creative future.

John Hughes, Director of Partnerships and Communities, at Community Integrated Care, says: “Our charity exists to enable people who draw on care and support to live the Best Life Possible, addressing the profound health, social and economic inequalities that exist in society. We understand that photography, when harnessed in person-centred, innovative ways, can both reframe narratives and give people vital passions, skills and connections for life. 

Our partnership with Open Eye has delivered the most remarkable life-changing impacts. We are truly proud to have Open Eye as a partner and believe that the programs and insights that we have developed in recent years will scale and continue to change countless more lives.”  

You can also find out about our wider work on inclusive photography projects with Community Integrated Care, such as the Watch Factory Commission with Sam Batley and Marge Bradshaw, here.

Text: Sophie Mahon

Images: from Community Integrated Care workshops archive