Kaite O’Reilly is an Irish writer, theatre maker and dramaturg, working in disability arts and culture and mainstream culture. She has won many awards for her work, and is widely published and produced.

Kaite recently visited Aotearoa and worked with leading Deaf and hearing theatre company, Equal Voices Arts, based in Hamilton and working internationally.

"I call myself a disability artist, and my crip perspective and strong sense of social justice permeates my work,” Kaite says. 

 A veteran of the UK’s disabled peoples’ political movement and disability arts, Kaite is also a pioneer of the “aesthetics of access”, where access tools such as creative captioning, sign language and audio description are placed at the heart of the creative process.

“This is not about making theatre accessible for specific groups but making better theatre for everyone,” Kaite says.

Kaite responds to three questions asked by Arts Access Aotearoa.

1. How was your experience visiting Aotearoa and working with Deaf and disabled artists? 

Engagement with disabled and Deaf communities – in either hemisphere – feels like coming home. Of course, there are historical, cultural and political differences but we share lived experience; we understand discrimination; and there is a strong correlation between the impacts of ableism and audism.  

This creates understanding, empathy and connection between our communities.

It was an honour to travel to Aotearoa and be invited with such warmth on to the land and into conversation. Before I arrived, Equal Voices Arts led several Zoom sessions introducing me to the unique context of Aotearoa. The sessions were led from a Deaf and also Māori context, which was immensely valuable and prepared me for often complex, layered interactions.

It was an exchange. I brought my skills as a dramaturg and performance maker and the experience of three decades in the UK’s disabled peoples’ political movement and culture. And Equal Voices Arts brought its non-hierarchical approaches to making work.

I’m very aware of my privilege as a Deaf ally from the hearing majority. Although I’m considered a pioneer in Deaf/hearing cultural collaborations, as a writer and director written text often comes first for me.

With Equal Voices Arts and my days in the studio with them, I was able to explore a visual-language-first process, enriched by the influence of Māori concepts. I experienced a sense of community, of valuing and respecting each other not just as people, but as Deaf and disabled people.

We gathered with such generosity and willingness to share, to engage, to exchange processes and learn from each other. It was an exciting and significant moment – this planting of seeds for future collaboration and development. 

2. What are some of the benefits of connecting with international artists and art workers?

I’ve been working internationally and interculturally for most of my professional life. I started developing The ‘d’ Monologues in 2008, as I wanted to write work specifically for Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent performers.

These are fictional monologues informed by lived experience, answering back to problematic representations of difference. So far I have made this work as part of the Cultural Olympiad celebrating the 2012 London Olympics/Paralympics (In Water I’m Weightless); between Wales and Singapore; and during lockdown via Zoom with China.

Art and culture enables empathy and provides a perspective into another person’s experience. Doing this internationally allows cross-pollination, surprising new vistas, a time to learn from each other, and also see there is more commonality than difference between us.

As the world becomes increasingly fragmented and placed in silos, collaboration across borders and landmass has many important benefits.

With my international growing body of monologues, we can connect across distance to understand our lived experience – often of exclusion and discrimination but also of power, resilience, inventiveness and joy.

We can see Deaf and disability cultures globally, and encourage, guide and support each other.

3. You write about strong disabled characters, who are always played by disabled actors. What is the impact of that on your audiences – both disabled and non-disabled?

I think the easiest way to answer this question is to reproduce what others have said about the impact of my work.

“This unprecedented work is having a positive impact on the community by giving a liberating voice to communities that have previously had none as well as by changing perceptions ... The work prompts deep self-reflection on the role of the individual and society in exacerbating disability (thereby presenting a new vision of the social model of disability, which contrasts with the prevailing  medical model) … ” Dr Sarah Meisch Lionetto, Director of Arts and Creative Industries, British Council Singapore

“Kaite O'Reilly's production invites us to think about disability through the lens of an empowered  community – angry, proud and unapologetic ... For the first time, audiences of all shapes, sizes and abilities can share the space with artists of all shapes, sizes and abilities ... And Suddenly I Disappear... Singapore  'd' Monologues is truly a ground-breaking piece of work.” – Joanne Tay, British  Council Singapore

Kaite O’Reilly’s visit to Aotearoa was funded through a Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage grant to Equal Voices Arts, along with funding through 4 Nations International and British Council’s Connections Through Culture. Learn more about Kaite O’Reilly on her website