Most of my life has passed without a disability arts culture in Aotearoa and so there’s a frisson of excitement and recognition, even joy, with every creative exploration of disability experience, even if it’s not my own. We are seen.

Disability arts are a powerful tool for change, as the arts always have been. Replacing the treadmill of worthy “awareness” days and campaigns with vibrant and thought-provoking disability arts would be real progress. 

How far have we come? Certainly, the recent profile of disability arts and arts accessibility in Aotearoa in an international publication squashes the old “cultural cringe”, the twentieth-century arts and culture inferiority complex. 

We know our disabled artists and writers are culturally and artistically assured, and internationally recognised. But it’s encouraging to gain recognition beyond disabled people, disabled artists and allies in the know here in Aotearoa. 

The article Disability-led path to accessibility in the arts focused on recognising arts access innovation such as NZ Opera’s audio description, touch tours and availability of surtitles in Braille as international best practice. NZ Opera is an arts access early adopter.

Innovations in accessible arts in Aotearoa

The article cites Creative New Zealand’s Accessibility Policy and Action Plan, developed with disabled people, and its availability in accessible formats.  

It also explores disability arts, citing the achievements of world-class dance company Touch Compass. And Stace Robertson is interviewed as a ceramicist, as well as in his role as Lead Accessibility Advisor at Arts Access Aotearoa. He discusses disability arts, as well as the importance of access to the arts for disabled audiences and consumers. 

Recognition of disability arts as a creative endeavour and movement dates from the 1980s in the UK and the United States and is just beginning to develop here. And yet, findings in Creative New Zealand’s benchmarked research show disabled people are significant arts supporters and participants.  

Artistic exploration of the experience of disability is part of the rich tapestry of humanity. It empowers and nurtures an increasing number of artists across a variety of artforms to be “out” and proud – exploring who and how we are, and employing the creativity and risk-taking that naturally develops in a risky and disabling world. 

Disability arts provide occasions and platforms for disabled people to gather and define ourselves as a creative community, and to explore our individual lives and experience. 

Flourishing disability arts explicitly reject, critique or reinvent traditional representations of disabled people. 

A recent performing arts research report from Arts Council England is telling. The title of the report, Always the audience, never the star, encapsulates the issue. This sentiment is deeply felt whenever disabled artists are struggling to have their work acknowledged. We have some way to go!

Celebrating disabled talent in the arts

There are talented disabled practitioners here. Attitudes in mainstream arts have tended to mirror those in society but there are creative exceptions. Integrated dance is respected. Blind musicians have always been a feature of the arts scene. Writers such as Robin Hyde and Janet Frame have explored disability in different ways in their work.  

Young disabled writers are being published. Deaf and disabled theatre and filmmakers, musicians, stand-up comedy and digital artists perform in some accessible, supportive venues and festivals. 

There are established networks such as the writers’ group, Crip the Lit, and networked creative spaces. Deaf culture thrives in their community despite generations of oppression of New Zealand Sign Language. 

The more artists identify as disabled, the more others are encouraged. And although there is no established disability arts movement in Aotearoa yet, we have come a long way since disability arts were viewed solely as a therapeutic tool – often for people experiencing mental distress, or in protected environments for people with learning impairments.  

“Art as therapy” applies to many artists – not just disabled people deemed to need it by those in charge.  

Not all disabled artists choose to identify as disabled, or to explore disability experience in their work. But the less disability arts are seen as a ghetto, the “other” and “outsider”, the more attractive they will become.  

Disability exceptionalism, which sees a few well-recognised artists as the exceptions in a group of otherwise inherently untalented people, is not appropriate either.  

Everyone needs to see themselves reflected in the world around them. The views disabled people often see of themselves are negative and distorted, reflected through a non-disabled, ableist lens.  

Robyn Hunt ONZM is a writer and co-founder of Crip the Lit. She is a member of the Arts Council of Creative New Zealand. She is also the recipient of the Arts Access Accolade 2019.