Different approaches: understanding “Arts and Disability” and “Disability Arts”.
The various ways that disabled people choose to engage with the arts can best be understood by looking at the difference between arts and disability practice and disability arts practice.
Arts and Disability
Arts and disability is an overview term, including a broad range of arts practice. The term embraces artwork by people with disabilities and arts activities involving disabled people. This approach aims to involve all sections of the community on an equal basis, making no differentiation between disabled and non-disabled participants.
When used to describe projects that are intended as collaborations, the term arts and disability implies the involvement of disabled people at all stages, from planning to showcasing. Where people with disabilities are confined to the margins of a project, or are involved only on the terms of non-disabled people, projects are not generally endorsed as being a part of arts and disability practice.
Disability Arts
Disability Arts is an arts movement that first emerged during the 1980s. It is a specific type of arts practice that involves artists with disabilities creating work that expresses their identity and experience as disabled people.
The work of disability arts practitioners contributes to the expression of a disability culture and forms an integral part of disability politics. Disability Arts is informed by disabled people’s experiences, values and beliefs and by a sense of identity as members of a distinct group with a unique culture. It encompasses the work of professional companies and individual artists, as well as magazines, film festivals, national and international tours, conferences, cabarets and festivals.
Deaf Arts
Similarly to Disability Arts, Deaf Arts is the creative expression of Deaf experience and the work reflects Deaf identity, sign language and Deaf culture. Deaf Arts practice is created and managed by Deaf People. Artforms such as Deaf Theatre, BSL/ISL Poetry, BSL/ISL Storytelling are unique to Deaf Arts. Deaf with a capital D is generally used to represent people who use sign language as their first language. The term ‘deaf’ with a lower case ‘d’ is generally used to mean those people who have a hearing loss but use English as their first language.
The two Arts Councils on the island of Ireland support both arts and disability and Disability Arts practices that meet with their respective criteria. Further information on all awards and opportunities in a variety of formats are available from both Arts Councils’ websites. See funding.
If you would like to read more about language and definitions, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s publication Towards Inclusion will give you more information.
DisabilityInformation.Com Online is another helpful source of information, inspired by the work of the United Kingdom's organisations of disabled people, the umbrella organisation British Council of Disabled People and the international body Disabled Peoples' International.
Information on appropriate language can also be found on the National Disability Authority’s website. The organisation has put effort into combating negative attitudes and promoting awareness around disability issues.
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