14 February, 2026 - 10.00 - 12.00 & 13.00 - 16.00. Booking Required
Assembly Room
The Whitechapel Gallery is committed to making all of our events as accessible as possible for every audience member. Please contact access@whitechapelgallery.org if you would like to discuss a particular request and we will gladly discuss with you the best way to accommodate it.
– Information about access on site at the gallery is available here.
– This includes information about Lift access; Borrowing wheelchairs & seating; Assistance Animals; Parking; Toilets and baby care facilities; Blind & Partially Sighted Visitors; Subtitles and transcripts; British Sign Language (BSL) and hearing induction loops; Deaf Messaging Service (DMS).
Transport
– To the best of our knowledge, there are no planned disruptions to local transport on the date of the event.
– Our nearest train station – Aldgate East Underground (1 min) is not wheelchair accessible. The closest wheelchair accessible stations are Whitechapel (15 min), Shoreditch High Street (15 min) or Liverpool Street (15 min).
– Free parking for Blue Badge holders is available at the top of Osborn Street in the pay and display booths for an unlimited period.
– Spaces are available on a first come, first served basis
Free entry but booking required
10:00 – 12:00: Reduced capacity session (less people in the space) – Book Now
13:00 – 16:00: General admittance – Book Now
Join Touretteshero for Return of the Rebels – a day of rebellious and inclusive fun for all ages. Expect multi-sensory play, creativity and connection, inviting you to explore what rebellious, inclusive play can be. The event is part of Rebel Play – a research project that celebrates the positive play experiences of disabled children and adults by building an archive of disabled joy and showcasing new play experiences created by disabled artists; Christopher Samuel, Max Alexander, Mirabelle Haddon, BLINK dance Theatre, and Oona and Chris Dooks.
From 10:00 – 12:00 there will deliberately be less people in the space. This is for anyone who would benefit from the event being less busy including immunocompromised people and their families.
At this session we will:
– Ensure there are less people in the space
– Request that people wear masks on entry
There will be hand sanitiser and masks available throughout the event.
At the event there will be:
– 2 chill-out spaces
– A roaming British Sign Language interpreter
– Relaxed timings and atmosphere
– A disabled-led event team and disabled artists facilitating the activities
– A temporary Changing Places Toilet (Located approx. 150m from the gallery here though exact placement tbc.)
Venue Access
– Step-free access to all event spaces
– 2 Wheelchair accessible toilets (Located on Level 0 & Level 2)
– Visual Story of the venue (available here)
Touretteshero is a disabled-led organisation, our mission is to create an inclusive and socially just world for disabled and non-disabled people through our cultural practice. Founded in 2010, Touretteshero has grown from an ambitious idea into an organisation with global reach that works with children, young people, and adults in dynamic interdisciplinary contexts.
www.touretteshero.com
Christopher Samuel is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in identity and disability politics.
Often echoing the many facets of his own lived experience as a Black disabled man, his work tells stories, highlighting the often unseen experiences of his day to day life and those of others in similar circumstances.
His practice includes small detailed ink drawings, film, print, audio, research, and large installations.
Samuel works alongside galleries, museums, archives and other institutions to address missing representation in our cultural spaces
Max Alexander is an artist, play worker and thinker. Max’s work centres play and connection with a particular focus on autistic, neurodivergent and disabled experiences. Max creates spaces for play using a mix of his skills as a maker, visual artist, writer, facilitator, communicator and play worker.
Mirabelle Haddon is a deaf dance artist and performance maker working at the intersection of dance and performance art. A graduate of Rambert School (BA, 2024) and Northern School of Contemporary Dance (MA, 2025), her work explores Deaf identity, the human condition, leaking and clatter. Tracing threads of grief, loss, deterioration, and communication through seeing. She has performed with artists and companies including Luca Signoetti, Alessandra Seutin, Thick and Tight and Holly Blakey, and created work for Touretteshero and Wiesbaden Biennale. Alongside her performance practice, Mirabelle teaches with Candoco Dance Company, where she develops Crip-informed approaches to movement and education that centre care, curiosity, and embodied dialogue.
Founded in 2013, BLINK Dance Theatre performs, facilitates, trains and teaches multi-sensory work across London. Guided by ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’, we value, nurture and centre the input of neurodivergent and learning disabled people. Led by three neurodivergent Co-Directors, two of whom have learning disabilities, we have taken a fresh approach to what leadership has traditionally looked like. This has enabled us to invent our own path, be wildly creative, and thrive.
Artistically, our work is rooted in London and brings in Learning Disabled and Black culture. Through playful, interactive design and humour, we explore universal themes that bring people together both inside and outside the inclusive arts community.
Oona Dooks is an eleven year old competitive paraswimmer from Edinburgh who has also been a model, TV extra and more recently a poet, co-authoring a memoir ‘Sea Legs’ for Penguin Figtree (expected, 2027). Research for the book took Oona all over the UK and to the coast in Iceland and The Puget Sound to study orcas and the marine environment. Favourite Mocktail: Virgin Mojito
@littleredwheelchair
Chris Dooks is an artist and Oona’s dad. He is a young 54 and takes photographs, makes records, writes stories and makes up extremely silly songs. Favourite Cocktail: Negroni
@drchrisdooks
