by Jenifer Milner
"...creative courage is the discovering of new forms, new symbols, new patterns on which a new society can be built."
-Rollo May, The Courage to Create

People with disabilities have been socially and economically marginalized, according to the newly formed Society for Disability Arts and Culture.

But this is changing. The BC-based organization says disabled people worldwide are more organized on issues of civil rights, acceptance, and social integration.

But political barriers still exist-so do cultural ones, such as negative stereotypes and beliefs. Disabled artists and performers can play a key role in this area. Through their work, they can challenge preconceived beliefs about disability in society. And they can "inspire a vibrant artistic and cultural identity" within the disability community itself.1

"Art is a really powerful tool for changing people's attitudes,"2 says filmmaker and writer Bonnie Sherr Klein. She believes works by disabled artists and performers can "[blur] the boundaries...and make people aware of what we have in common."3

Sherr Klein is one of the organizers of the kickstART! Celebration of Disability Arts and Culture to be held in Vancouver in 2001.

The kickstART! festival and conference will include workshops, panel discussions, public performances, and showcases of original work in theatre, music, film, dance, visual, and literary arts. kickstART!, the Society for Disability Arts and Culture's inaugural event, is part of the emerging disability culture movement-one that is gaining momentum.

In the last four years, six cultural festivals celebrating artists and performers with disabilities have been produced worldwide. Another festival is planned for Sydney, Australia in 2000. Through these events, a network of artists and arts groups continues to grow.

While this movement may be new, working artists and performers with disabilities are not.

The Vancouver Adapted Music Society was founded by quadriplegics Sam Sullivan and Dave Symington in 1986. It continues to aid music creation and production by people with disabilities. Vancouver's Theatre Terrific has presented workshops for and plays by performers with disabilities for 15 years. Trevor Found, one of the company's artistic directors, sees significant changes in disability art over the last seven years.

Found looks no further than Theatre Terrific for an example. The company has shifted its focus, he says, from producing message-oriented works to producing professional art. He adds, "If the art is strong, the disability is not the focus, but the fuel."

Elaine Avila, Theatre Terrific co-artistic director, agrees. "There's a whole new view taking shape around the world," she says, "and that is that these are artists who happen to have disabilities, not people with disabilities who happen to be doing art."4

CandoCo, Britain's award-winning dance company, exemplifies this view. Founded in 1991, CandoCo performs contemporary dance integrating able-bodied and disabled dancers. Celeste Dandeker, co-founder and artistic director, is adamant that the company is "first and foremost a dance company."5

Dandeker says, "Our work does educate audiences about disabilities sometimes, but we're not trying to make a statement. There are so many other things we're interested in."6 For instance, the CandoCo Youth Company.

CandoCo results directly from Dandeker's creative courage. Her dance career had ended at age 22 due to a fall during a performance. She hadn't considered the possibility of dancing again until a friend asked her to perform in a film 16 years later. "I had to bend my mind around how I was going to dance in a wheelchair," she recalls. "It's quite a scary thing to do. I soon realized I'd have to find my own body language-I couldn't do what I used to."7

Later, Dandeker and Adam Benjamin, CandoCo's co-founder, began explorations with an integrated group of dancers. They started asking the dancers, "Given this limitation, what are your strengths? How can you connect? What can you do?"

It is this strength and creativity that events like kickstART! Seek to celebrate.
(Ed. Call 714-1318 for information on kickstART! and the Society for Disability Arts & Culture.)

Jenifer Milner directs communications for the International Council on Active Aging. Since 1992, Jenifer has worked in Vancouver’s arts and cultural sector, most recently as communications manager with the Greater Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture for almost five years.

1. Society for Disability Arts & Culture. kickstART! brochure.
2. Kim Pemberton. "Artists with disabilities share unique perspective." The Vancouver Sun, May 21, 1999.
3. Ibid.
4. Janet Smith & Gail Johnson. "Enabling Action." The Georgia Straight. May 13-20, 1999.
5. Gail Johnson. "Showing What Dance Can Do." The Georgia Straight. May 13-20, 1999.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.

Last Updated: Tuesday, August 24, 2004