Taking responsibility for access?
Over the last 18 months the Arts and Crafts sector has seen the emergence of CreativePeople, the national continuing professional development (CPD) framework funded by the Arts Council of England.
Sue Williams, CreativePeople Disability Co-ordinator, outlines the issues that we all need to address to make CPD accessible and inclusive
Obviously developing a strong network is not easy, arguing the case to arts professionals to address their own CPD needs is part of the battle and building a network that is inclusive and addresses diversity is another. As the CreativePeople Disability Co-ordinator I have the task of ensuring that the network is accessible to disabled arts professionals. To ensure this happens it is important to look at the underlying factors which affect disabled people's participation in the arts as professionals and how by understanding these issues we can make CPD more accessible for everyone.
Identifying what disabled arts professionals need in the way of CPD may or may not be any different from non-disabled arts professionals (it depends on the individuals wants and wishes). CreativePeople emphasises the needs of the individual and on that basis should be fully equipped to meet the needs of the disabled professional.
Making the network inclusive is not just about making the physical environment accessible but it is also about understanding who we are talking about when we talk about disabled people, and defining what we really mean by inclusion.
Over the years the term Disabled has come to represent a diverse community of individuals who experience discrimination as a result of a physical/sensory impairment, learning disability or mental health issue. Disability transcends class, race, gender and sexuality. Although disabled people are not a homogenous group there are common experiences of the world which link together to create common (largely negative) experiences and which many disabled people define as disability culture and can be grouped into the following areas:
- the medical profession has defined disabled people by their individual impairments, and as problems, which need to be solved. The knock-on effect of this is that the emphasis is then placed on the disabled individual to fit into the 'non-disabled world'
- the social care system focuses on 'care' rather than independent living, as a result disabled people are viewed as dependent and unable to take control of their lives
- segregated education has failed to provide an equal standard of education to that of non-disabled peers
- the benefits system places disabled artists/practitioners in inflexible positions that make freelance or in some cases any kind of work difficult
I may appear to be moving away from the point, however, it is these areas (underlined by negative attitudes to disabled people) that continue to have a huge impact on disabled people's ability to engage in the arts and more specifically CPD.
Fundamental views about the value of disabled people in society, the quality of disabled people's lives have combined and led to an undervaluing of the contribution that disabled people can make to the arts.
It has been widely acknowledged that segregated education does not provide a fully, rounded academic grounding on which disabled people could make informed choices about their own futures and skills. The over emphasis on the arts and especially poor quality 'therapeutic' arts activity has prevented many disabled people from recognising their own talent and value.
Exclusion from physical theatre, drama and dance in the early years of education is seen as justifiable because of value judgements which are made about the 'quality' of disabled people's participation and experience. As a result professional/career paths in arts are often perceived as low value/quality experiences and not even seen as an option until much later in life (which can also present a whole new set of barriers).
I would argue that disabled artists have a unique ability to push the boundaries of arts practice. Solving access issues can be part of developing a new creative process. Disabled artist Ben Cove uses his perspective as a wheelchair user to frame the action in his work, he also shows his work in a non traditional way by attaching castors to the canvases and 'hangs' them by simply just leaning them against the wall. This is just one example where a disabled artists experience can influence and enhance their work and also offer a new perspective to non-disabled artists about the development of process and ideas. It's also an example of how the disabled artist can contribute to non-disabled artists' professional practice.
So, how can we ensure what we do is inclusive? Understanding what inclusion really means is important. For many years integration and inclusion have been confused. To disabled people the experience of integration involved participating in an activity alongside non-disabled people without having access or cultural issues acknowledged. Inclusion identifies a number of issues, which can effect equal participation. By talking about inclusion we are talking about what everyone needs to get out of a given situation rather than focusing on making 'special' arrangements for disabled people - we all need support! Inclusion is flexible, identifies access in its broadest terms, and looks at how everyone can achieve their objectives.
In practice, for CreativePeople this means ensuring comprehensive information advice and guidance, that is sensitive to disability culture - that acknowledges disabled people's experience of the medical, education and social care systems and which actively challenges traditional views of disabled people as passive witnesses to their own lives. It is imperative that we acknowledge disabled people as stakeholders in their own CPD. The philosophy behind CreativePeople is to facilitate informed choices for all arts professionals.
CreativePeople is vital in promoting the value of CPD for all arts professionals, the importance of taking responsibility for your own development but at the same time acknowledging that inclusion and access to the arts is the responsibility of everyone - not just the 'excluded'.
For further information visit www.creativepeople.org.uk or www.artsonline.com or www.artscouncil.org.uk Email: susan.williams@artscouncil.org.uk
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Animated: Winter 2003