People with ‘invisible’ diseases (e.g., infertility, endometriosis, Cystic Fibrosis, ME, depression) may find it especially difficult to explain their experiences to others. A new website, www.drawingout.org, uses simple metaphor-based drawing exercises to help people express and share their thoughts and feelings about their condition. The online galleries showcase the artwork produced by patients, as well as providing links to information and support through their partner charities. The website is the result of collaboration between two academics at Cardiff University: Dr Sofia Gameiro is a psychologist who focuses on understanding and improving the healthcare experiences of infertile patients. Dr Lisa El… Read More
Whizzkids United
Dr Lisa El Refaie has set up a collaborative project between Cardiff University’s Centre for Language and Communication Research and South African charity Whizzkids United, to produce a comic book in which teenagers tell their own stories to support HIV/AIDS education. The charity’s main programme involves using football training as a metaphor for how to keep safe from HIV, but they wanted to find new ways of attracting young people to their Health Academy, which offers counselling, HIV tests, and general social and medical support. Together they decided to run a series of comics drawing workshops, so that… Read More