Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• “ABC appoints Stella Young as editor of Ramp Up”
  In 2010, ABC announced the appointment of Stella Young as editor of its first (and short-lived) dedicated disability platform, ABC Ramp Up. Shawn Burns’s 2014 article in The Conversation laments the closure of the initiative and the loss of a vital platform for better disability representation in Australian media. The URL link to the Ramp Up page now opens with the following statement: “This website is no longer being updated but remains online as an archive of three and a half years of discussions and conversations regarding disability in Australia.”
• "DADAA Annual Report 2011-2012"
  DADAA Annual Report 2011-2012 - information about Vision, Mission and Goals, Chairperson and Executive Director’s Reports, Staff list, Participation, Programs including the Lost Generation Project, Sculptures by the Sea Tactile Tours, StARTSpeak, Art Link Children and Young People’s programs, Aging & Disability, Fourth International Arts And Health Conference, WA Disability Arts Grants Program, Regional Development and Consultancy, Partners, and Financials
• “Demonstrators protest inadequate funding for disability support in Adelaide, 1992”
  On the 13th March, 1992, 100 demonstrators gathered in Adelaide to protest inadequate funding for disability support. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health, Housing and Community Services Brian Howe was “heckled” by the group outside an event at Jubilee Hall during a health care expo. Howe agreed later that year to “honour a federal government promise to expand the National Attendant Care Scheme,” that is, after another demonstration by 70 advocates outside Parliament House.
• "Disability activist Geoff Bell leads significant advocacy”
  In the 1970s, Geoff Bell was a disability activist who, after a diving accident left him quadriplegic at age 21, was placed in a nursing home. Not accepting nursing homes as appropriate residences for young people, he wrote to the then Minister for Social Security Bill Hayden. The letter was presented to parliament. In April 1978, Geoff Bell led ten members of the Disabled People’s Action Forum as they blockaded the entrance to a Medibank claims office for an hour. The protest was held outside Medibank to raise awareness of the architectural barriers to conducting personal business when Medibank was supposed to be of service. Signs held by the members read “We don’t need a stairway to paradise, We want ramps to independence".
• “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’.
• “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.
• “The Australian Government launches a new national cultural policy, Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place”
  The Australian Government launched a new national cultural policy, Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place. Revive comprises 5 pillars: First Nations First, A Place for Every Story, Centrality of the Artist, Strong Cultural Infrastructure, and Engaging the Audience. The policy allocates $5 million for an Arts and Disability Associated Plan, under Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–31 “to enable people with disability to access and participate fully in the cultural and creative life of Australia.” This replaces the National Arts and Disability Strategy.
• “Larissa Macfarlane leads the installation of Australia’s first Disability Pride Mural”
  In 2017, Larissa Macfarlane led the installation of Australia’s first Disability Pride Mural. It was unfortunately removed by accident by council workers. It was re-installed in 2018 and was constructed of paper and fixed to the wall with wheat paste glue so that it was temporary. The aim was to raise awareness of Disability Pride in Australia.
• "The first known disability-led activism occurred in 1971 when John Roarty formed a committee among the residents of Weemala nursing home."
  John Roarty, who had cerebral palsy, was a resident of Weemala nursing home for 35 years. In what would become known as the first known disability-led activism, John formed a residents committee to fight against maltreatment and to fight for control and choice over their daily lives.
• “Screen producer, editor, and accessibility consultant Stephanie Dower is interviewed for Screen Queensland On Air, in an episode called How They See Us: Disability in the Screen Industry”
  Stephanie Dower was interviewed in 2020 for Screen Queensland On Air, in an episode called How They See Us: Disability in the Screen Industry. Dower is an editor, producer, and writer for screen. She has also worked with Get Skilled Access and as an accessibility consultant for Queenslanders with Disability Network.
• “Senator Margaret Guilfoyle creates a committee of people with disabilities representing their own interests”
  In 1979, Senator Margaret Guilfoyle, the Federal Minister for Social Security created a committee of people with disabilities representing their own interests. This followed a complaint by Richard Llewellyn that he was the only token disability representative. This committee led to the formation of formal advocacy groups such as People with Disability Australia (PWDA) and Disability Resource Centre (DRC). The PWDA celebrated their 30th year anniversary in 2011.
• “Office of the Arts releases 'Creative Australia – National Cultural Policy' (2013) , is critiqued for its reference to 'tolerance' of disabled people”
  The national cultural policy ‘Creative Australia’ was published in 2013. It was critiqued for its lack of disability arts funding and its reference to 'tolerating' disabled people. As Arts Hub reported, “By now you will have heard that the National Cultural Policy offers little for Australians with a disability. Not only is there no funding for the National Arts and Disability Strategy, but instead, the policy calls for a culture of tolerance towards people with a disability.”
• “Arts Access Victoria – Sharing knowledge (early – mid 1990s)”
  In 1990 AAV hosted the Participate conference. From this the DADAA (Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts, Renamed Arts Access Australia in 2003) network was born. AAV created a guidebook on creating art projects in hospitals while programs and exhibitions “Stormy Weather”, “FEELEN BOORDUP” were gaining recognition with location and purchase of artwork.
• “The inaugural Undercover Artist Festival, a biennial, disability-led performing arts festival, is held in 2015”
  In 2015, the inaugural Undercover Artist Festival took place. The festival was founded by Access Arts in consultation with Access Arts participants and a group of artists with disability. The festival has consistently been directed by leaders who identify as experiencing disability.
• “A national Disability Advisory Council is established in 1983”
  The national Disability Advisory Council (DACA) was established in 1983. Parliamentary information from 26 July that year reports: “Disabled people will form a significant majority on the new body. Announcing this today, the Minister for Social Security, Senator Don Grimes, said the new Disability Advisory Council of Australia represented an important breakthrough for disabled people. For the first time, an Australian Government will be looking to disabled people themselves for advice on government policy and programs affecting them.”
• "Australia Council for the Arts (2022) Australia Council releases Towards Equity: a research overview of diversity in Australian arts."
  Reads, in part "The Australia Council for the Arts have released their critical new report Towards Equity: A research overview of diversity in Australia’s arts and cultural sector. This overview gathers published and unpublished data and research on representation within the arts and cultural sector in Australia."
• "Australia Council - Annual Report 1989-90"
  Australia Council Annual Report 1989-90 - discusses objectives, highlights, support for artform development, main activities of Council and its Boards, and includes financial statements and lists of grants made including grants for conferences, access and touring, programs training and resource development as well as publications such as “The Arts and People with Disabilities”
• "Maree Roche, Ben Whitburn (2019) Mate, You’re Crippin’ Us Out: Biopolitics of the Arts Curriculum in Australia and the Swinging Identities of Dis/abilities. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies.13(3). https://doi.org/10.3828/jlcds.2019.25"
  Reads, in part "The article explores arts curriculum in Australia as developed in the contexts of schooling, community organizations, and higher education for people with disabilities and mental health concerns. Motivated to explore whether or not students provided access to modified arts curriculum are engaging in education or receiving therapy, the aim is to address a dichotomy that is seemingly present in educational institutions, but extends well beyond the school gate and informs organizational responses to arts in the lives of people with disabilities. Resourced with the theoretical contributions of dis/ability studies for its concern for the biopolitics of disability, the authors weave personal experiences through the discussion of participation in arts throughout their lives. The article concludes with a theoretical discussion of how arts provision in the Australian context might develop the social and political value of art in the lives of people with dis/abilities and for all, on the basis that its educative value is emphasized over its therapeutic one."
• “Genni Batterham stages a protest at the opening of Bondi Junction railway station 1979, makes film in 1980”
  When Bondi Junction railway station opened in 1979, Genni Batterham staged a protest about the lack of accessible transportation options for individuals with disabilities. After receiving a multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 1978, Genni became severely disabled very quickly. She did everything in her power to stop the disease's progression and was furious at being "consigned to the world of the disabled." The 1979 Bondi Junction protest was an important moment in the history of the Disability Rights Movement in New South Wales. The Premier, Neville Wran, later said that the experience led him to developing the Disability Taxi Service, the first public transport system designed for people with disability to be launched in Australia. Batterham then made the film ‘Pins and Needles’ (1980) with her husband Kim. Under the direction of Barbara Chobocky and with funding from the Australian Film Commission's Women's Film Fund, the film was screened in five different countries, took home first place at the 1980 Canadian Film Festival, and took home second place at the 1980 New York Film Festival. Genni and Kim would then collaborate on three further films about the phases of her life: Where's the Give and Take? (1981), Artreach (1982), and Riding the Gale (1987).
• “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
• “Carriageworks ‘New Normal’ program plan to commission ten new works presents three performances - Lady Eats Apple (Back to Back Theatre, 2017), Off the Record (Force Majeure, Dance Integrated Australia, 2016), Simple Infinity (Urban Theatre Projects, 2016)"
  New Normal is Carriageworks “national strategy for the development of disability arts practice.” Carriageworks state an aim to “commission ten new major works across contemporary performance, music, dance and visual arts.” As part of the program, Back to Back Theatres’ Lady Eats Apple (2017), Force Majeure and Dance Integrated Australia’s Off the Record (2016), and Urban Theatre Projects’ Simple Infinity (2016) each presented at Carriageworks. Since then, there has been no update on Carriageworks’ goal, suggesting the program may have fallen short of its initial objectives.
• "The Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service (CRS) established in 1941."
  Following the first and second world wars, there was better recognition of veteran disability and the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service (CRS) was established.
• “An ABC video series explores the experiences of deaf and disabled musicians”
  A 2021 video series by ABC Classic featured interviews with four deaf and disabled musicians. The series, made in honour of International Day of People with Disability, explored the musicians’ experiences of the music industry.
• “Arts Access Australia established”
  Arts Access Australia was established in 1992 as a national body for arts and disability with funding support from the Australian Council for the Arts.
• “The Art of Difference Disability and Deaf Arts Festival takes place in 2009”
  The Art of Difference Disability and Deaf Arts Festival in 2009 featured visual, performing, literary and new media artists as a two-week international arts festival.