The Conversations No One Teaches: Why We Created an English for Disabilities Workshop

A Turner Prize First

Today, Nnena Kalu was announced the winner of the UK’s annual Turner Prize.

It’s a win for Scottish art, and for female artists too. The late 1990s and early 2000s were long stretches where men overwhelmingly dominated the shortlist — although a shift toward parity has emerged more recently.

It’s also significant because Nnena Kalu is the first learning-disabled artist to win the prize. She is autistic and communicates in limited verbal language.

Anyone trying to build a career in the arts knows how difficult it is to gain those early opportunities — the residencies, the recognitions, the tiny openings that lead to bigger stages. It’s exponentially harder if you come from a minority background or if your communication style doesn’t fit the narrow mould of what people expect an artist to “sound like”.

Systems have been impenetrable for a long time.

As someone with one foot in the art world, I hope this win signals a shift: that gatekeeping is slowly weakening, and that opportunities are based more on merit than on how closely you resemble someone’s internal picture of an artist.

Nnena Kalu won because she is an extraordinary artist — not a “disabled artist”, not an “artist of colour”, not a “female artist”.

But her win is a moment many people will look at and think, maybe these doors can open more widely for the rest of us, too.

When Communication Becomes Another Barrier

Watching this news unfold reminded me of something I see often in my work at Blue Noun.

For many people, language doesn’t just create difficulty: it becomes an additional barrier layered on top of the rest.

This is especially true for people living with disabilities, health conditions, or access needs.

Travel is complicated.
Systems are complicated.
Advocating for yourself is complicated, even before you add a second language into the mix.

And some conversations are deeply personal. They’re not things you want to rehearse with your regular English teacher.

They’re not things you want to “just try out” in the moment, hoping you’ll be understood.

These are the conversations no one teaches you.
And yet they shape whether you feel safe, respected, and able to move freely through the world.

This is where real-world English matters — the kind that gives you the exact language you need for the situations you genuinely face.

Why We offer a One-off English for Disabilities Workshop

A year ago, we quietly created a service at Blue Noun that never found its visibility — mostly because I didn’t want to confuse our audience about what Blue Noun is.

We’re a language school specialising in real-world English holidays in Scotland, but we made one online workshop available because people need it, and I believe in it.

It’s a one-off, private session delivered by Fiona — a CELTA-qualified English teacher (and artist) who has experience supporting learners with additional needs.

The purpose is simple:

• learn the language you need to describe your disability, health condition, or impairment

• practise clearly explaining what support you require

• gain reassurance that your explanations make sense

• rehearse real question-and-answer situations you might face while travelling, studying, attending a conference, or navigating public spaces

Fiona understands how much self-advocacy is involved in daily life.

Sometimes you need to ask for the key to an accessible bathroom.
Sometimes you need to request a seat, a quiet space, or help changing trains.
Sometimes you need to explain sensory needs, mobility considerations, or medical requirements.

These conversations are important.
They are private.

And they deserve a safe space to practise.

You are More Than Your Disability

Of course, you are more than your disability — and at Blue Noun, we’re always happy to support the English you need for your wider professional and personal life.

But this particular workshop exists because there are moments where clarity matters, privacy matters, and confidence matters.

A single session can lift a huge weight from someone’s journey and, for some, even make travel feel possible again.

If you’d like to read more about the workshop, you can find details here:

→ English for Disabilities Workshop

The Blue Noun Touch

The most important work we do as language teachers is helping someone feel safe, understood, and able to navigate the world as themselves — whatever that looks like.

The most important work we do as language teachers is helping someone feel safe, understood, and able to navigate the world as themselves — whatever that looks like. Although this workshop cannot recreate the full Blue Noun experience of using the real world as the classroom, it still follows the same philosophy.

We don’t rely on scripted ELT dialogues or pretend situations. Instead, you work with Fiona — a teacher who has real, lived experience advocating for disabled people and navigating the world with additional needs herself.

The practice you do together comes from genuine situations, real questions, and the language people actually use.

Nnena Kalu and the Turner Prize