Introduction

In this chapter I discuss the disability arts movement in Great Britain as an example of a self-organised, critically conscious community established with political aims. I consider the role of disability arts in forging individual and collective identities grounded in a re-evaluation of the meaning of disability. I explore ways in which disability arts have challenged dominant representations of disabled people, illustrating my discussion by reflecting on poems by Sue Napolitano. Finally, I introduce the affirmation model, a theoretical development expressing the distinct social critique emerging from disability arts, and conclude by summarising the significance of this analysis for community development approaches.

Two views

I was talking a couple of months ago with a PhD student at Northumbria University about an event he had recently attended during the early stages of his research. This was a non-disabled research student with no previous experience of disability arts, who is developing research into community arts more broadly. The event he had attended had been held by a local disability organisation and had involved, among other ‘turns’, a woman with learning difficulties performing the Judy Garland song ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ from the 1939 Hollywood film The Wizard of Oz.

The performance had been, I was told, greeted with wild applause and admiration. Not having been at the event I can't say for sure, but having been at plenty of events like this one I feel fairly confident in suggesting that much of the admiration would have been mingled with appraisals such as “Isn't it marvellous what she can do in spite of her disabilities …”.

In my mind I contrasted this event with another, held in the same local authority area in North East England in 1994, by a theatre group of young disabled people, some of whom had learning difficulties and others who had various physical and sensory impairments. In front of local councillors this group had performed a number of self-written comedy sketches highlighting and satirising the council's recently published community care plan, the near non-existence of accessible public toilet facilities, the pointless and mind-numbing activities provided at the local day centre, and the woefully inadequate provision of local accessible public transport.