Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• “The Commonwealth Disability Services Act of 1986 replace the Handicapped Persons Assistance Act of 1974”
  In 1983, The Hawke Labour Government evaluated the initiatives created under the Handicapped Persons Assistance Act of 1974. The HPAA was replaced in 1986 by the Commonwealth Disability Services Act of 1986. Among other changes, this Act represents the shift in nomenclature from 'handicap' to ‘disability’.
• “Handicapped Persons Assistance Act 1974”
  Compared to earlier decades, the mid-1970s saw an increase in political activity pertaining to individuals with disabilities. The Handicapped Persons Assistance Act (HPAA) of 1974 is one such example, which replaced several policies and funded non-government organisations that provided care and housing. In 1983, the Hawke Labour Government instigated an evaluation of the initiatives created under the HPAA. The HPAA was replaced in 1986 by the Commonwealth Disability Services Act of 1986.
• "1963 and 1967 sees the introduction of the Disabled Persons Accommodation Act and Sheltered Employment (Assistance) Act, respectively."
  With increasing pressure to provide more services to people with disabilities, the 1960s was a decade of Commonwealth Government initiatives to support organisations providing work and accommodation to people with a disability, including the Disabled Persons Accommodation Act and Sheltered Employment (Assistance) Act.
• “The Australian Assistance Plan (1973) encourages grassroots activism”
  Grassroots activism is said to have been encouraged by the Commonwealth with the new Australian Assistance Plan (AAP) in 1973, which allowed local communities to "prioritise their own welfare planning" and "triggered an explosion in local advocacy in a range of areas, including self-advocacy for people with disability," according to the 2021 Royal Commission.
• “Assistance to Composers Advisory Board created by the Commonwealth government.”
  In 1967, the Commonwealth government created the Assistance to Composers Advisory Board with an aim to advise on funding needs for music composition and promotion of Australian composers. The Board was to judge work based on “musical distinction or excellence of its kind, and on the promotion of Australian composers both in Australia and abroad”. The Board’s functions were later absorbed by the Australia Council.
• “Arts Access Victoria – How it all began! (1974-1979)”
  Arts Access Victoria – How it all began! (1974-1979) started in Melbourne in 1974 by Judy Morton with funding from the Australia Council for the Arts with art and theatre workshops in institutions but intermittent funding meant AAV stopped at times but state government funding in 1979 allowed long term planning.
• Australia Council
• Australia Council for the Arts
• Creative Australia
• "Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons adopted in 1975"
  The 1960s and 1970s saw major changes in people’s attitudes towards disability. Stemming from the growth of the human rights movement and the introduction of normalisation theory internationally, Australia signed key human rights declarations of people with disabilities, the Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons (adopted in 1975). The Declaration argued that disabled people deserve to live lives “as normal and full as possible”.
• “Documentary ‘Stepping Out’ follows first group of intellectually disabled people to perform at the Sydney Opera House”
  In preparation for the International Year of Disabled Persons, a documentary was made called ‘Stepping Out’ directed by Chris Noonan and narrated by Romayne Grace, a resident at the Lorna Hodgkinson Sunshine Home. The documentary follows a group of residents as they prepare for their big debut at the Sydney Opera House. The movie was shown during the International Year of the Disabled's UN closing ceremony. The 1979/1980 Australia Council report had the following statement "A production staged at the Sydney Opera House by residents of the Lorna Hodgkinson Sunshine Home for the intellectually handicapped impressed the Theatre Board as both innovative arts-based therapy and worthwhile theatre in its own right." The 1980/81 report further stated "It was the first time anywhere in the world that a group of mentally handicapped people had performed publicly in the cultural centre of their city."
• "Australia Council - Annual Report 1974-75"
  Australia Council Annual Report 1974-75 lists funding to Spectrum Films for a screenplay on social pressures of deaf mute, grant to Lloyd Nickson to attend theatre for deaf children (USA & UK), funding to Wheelchair and Disabled Association (as it was known 19for jewellery making tools and equipment, and Arts Council of Australia/Victoria (as it was known 1966-1998, before name changed to Regional Arts Australia) for salary of assistant and utilities for Arts Access Program
• "Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (1993) Australia's welfare 1993: services and assistance. Canberra: AGPS."
• “1993 welfare report includes people with disability as one of four foci”
  ‘Australia's Welfare 1993: Services and Assistance’ was the first biennial report to include information on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Statistics on people with disability was one of four main areas. https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/aa045df7-78e3-465e-b4b5-079b6ae6ace8/aw93.pdf?v=20230605150811&inline=true
• Employment Assistance Fund (EAF)
• “Arts Project Australia is founded in 1974”
  In 1974, Myra Hilgendorf OAM founded Arts Project Australia, an organisation whose aim is for artists with an intellectual disability to have their work presented in a professional manner. In 1984, Arts Project moved to Hawthorn, Melbourne and started a studio workshop program. The organisation became an Incorporated Association in 1986. In 1994, Arts Project Australia artists exhibited their work internationally. Exhibitions occurred at MADMuseé and Centre d’Art Differencié in Belgium. Artist Julian Martin was selected for the Moët & Chandon Touring Exhibition. Arts Project published an education/slide kit in 1994 called ‘Between the Lines: Visual Arts and Intellectual Disability’. The organisation first published ‘Outline: News from Arts Project Australia’ in 1996. Arts Project Australia was recognised by the National Gallery of Australia in 2013 for having international significance.
• "Kevin Byrne AM leads protest outside Parliament House"
  The activist Kevin Byrne AM led a protest outside Parliament House. This coupled with the release of the Richmond Report led to the Hawke Government’s Handicapped Programs Review, which in turn led ‘New Directions: Report of the Handicapped Programs Review’.
• Kyeema Centre for the Intellectually Handicapped
• "Australia Council - Annual Report 1979-80"
  Australia Council Annual Report 1979-80 discusses members of council, standing committees and board reports as well as financial statements, grants lists, planning for the nternational Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP) 1981 including publications of a study to identify options of disabled gaining greater access to the arts and programs and grants for Braille and Talking Book Library for its Braille Book of the Year, salaries of staff and funding for production of “The Threepenny Opera”, workshops and travel costs of NSW Theatre of the Deaf, funding for residents of the Lorna Hodgkinson Sunshine Home for the intellectually handicapped who gave a performance at the Sydney Opera House
• "Kevin Cho (1980) 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons. Melbourne, Australia: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology."
• "International Year of the Disabled Person (IYDP)"
  In 1976, the General Assembly proclaimed 1981 would be the Year of the Disabled Person. The 1981 International Year of the Disabled Person inspired an increase in awareness and disability arts. While UN theme was “full participation and equality” the theme in Australia was “Break down the Barriers”, raising the prole and issues of people with disabilities. The international year of the disabled persons was a catalyst for connecting Australian disability activists to each other and the international disability rights movement (Royal Commission, 2021, p. 6). Australia saw an increase in disability-themed theatre from 1981 to 1984; however, these performances were largely staged with non-disabled casts. Records of these productions can be found on the AusStage database.
• “Australia signs the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disability”
  In 2007, Australia signed the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disability. The CRPD seeks to “promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities”. The Convention came into effect in Australia on 16 August 2008.
• Liverpool/Fairfield Disabled Persons' Resource Centre
• Disabled Persons Regional Council
• "History of Queensland Theatre of the Deaf"
  History of Queensland Theatre of The Deaf. Queensland Deaf Society Superintendent Leslie Abnett’s proposal for a Queensland Theatre of the Deaf in 1974, initiated via arrangement with the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust to have the National Theatre Trust perform in Brisbane and for a workshop at La Boite Theatre in 1974. Formation Founding Committee (Kerry Prior, Mary Gibbs, John O’Donnell, Leslie Abnett as Office Bearers, Lloyd Nickson as Artistic Director, Keith Puddlefoot as Technical Director, and N. Bricknell, R. Hilsdon, K. Donnell, M. Bergman, P. Arnold, A. Lynch, D. Villis as Committee Members). Company Aims, Workshops at the Queensland School for the Deaf, rehearsals for a core adult group and a junior group at the new D.M. Chadwick Hall at the Queensland Deaf Society at Newmarket in Brisbane – production history including changes in Artistic Director (from Llyod Nickson in 1975, to Nickky Bricknell in 1977, to Ken Donnell in 1979). Company technique, stated as “Our Technique is a combination of Visual Language, Sign-Mime (visual vernacular), Mime and the Spoken Word – a blending of hearing actors and conventional acting ideals with imaginative mime, expression and manual language of the Deaf.”