Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• “Arts Access Australia launches Meeting Place”
  Arts Access Australia launched Meeting Place in 2012, an annual forum where artists and industry leaders meet to discuss arts and disability and to network. The forum includes keynotes, panels, and workshops.
• “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.
• “100 disabled people protest outside Parliament House against moves to tax their government allowances”
  On 29 September 1978, 100 people with disability protested outside Parliament House against moves to tax their government allowances. Following the protest, Treasurer John Howard was forced to rescind the decision.
• “7-part series ‘Fair Go’ produced by Film Australia”
  In 1981, Film Australia produced a 7-part series, called Fair Go, on Australians with mental and physical disabilities and how it impacted their lives and the lives of their families. “Each program is presented from the viewpoint of the person with the disability and demonstrates the practical implications of coping with a disability in daily life at home, in the community, in the workplace or at school.” Film Australia was consolidated into Screen Australia in 2008.
• “The arts sector is forced to adapt in the face of COVID-19 lockdowns”
  Government-enforced lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic saw arts events cancelled and disability arts organisations temporarily close physical premises as social distancing rules came into play. While Coronavirus 19 restricted social contact, there were some benefits that arose such as increased digital access for social connection, online ordering accessible via screen readers and home delivery, virtual tours of art galleries, online choirs, and telehealth appointments.
• "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’.
• “Advocates fight for accessible public transport”
  In 1994, Maurice Corcoran (a wheelchair user) lodged a complaint about the South Australian government ordering 50 new buses that were not accessible. The Australian Human Rights Commission successfully negotiated for all new buses to be fitted with ramps. Then, in 1999, a protest about the lack of public transport options for people with disability saw Citizens for Accessible Public Transport block traffic in Sydney’s city centre.
• “Alan Marshall writes ‘I Can Jump Puddles’ in 1955”
  Alan Marshall wrote 'I Can Jump Puddles' in 1955., the first in a series of works about growing up with a disability. The subsquent books were 'This Is the Grass' (1962), 'In Mine Own Heart' (1963), and 'Hammers Over the Anvil' (1975). Marshall contracted polio at age six and became physically disabled.
• Access2Arts
• Arts Access SA
• “House Gang debuts on SBS”
  In 1996, a comedy television series debuted on SBS called ‘House Gang’ featuring three actors with intellectual disabilities.
• "Bree Hadley, Clark Crystal (2017) Style, stage presence, and the poetic subversion of stereotypes: A case study of Blue Roo Theatre Company. Social Alternatives, 36(4), pp. 15-21."
  "In this article, we consider the work of Blue Roo Theatre Company (http://www.bluerootheatre.org.au/), a Brisbane-based theatre company which “creates contemporary performances lead by the artistry, experiences and imaginations of an ensemble of artists with diverse ability and impairment” (http://www.bluerootheatre.org.au/). Writing from a dual insider-outsider perspective – as a scholar of disability theatre and a creator of disability theatre in conversation – we discuss the work done in the training and rehearsal room in the lead up to Blue Roo Theatre Company’s performances, such as the company’s recent sell-out performance of Orpheus and Eurydice in collaboration with Opera Queensland at the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts, and the way it creates a distinctive performance style, poetics, stage presence, pleasure for the spectators who come along to witness the results of the work, and sense of community. We document moments in which facilitators, collaborators, co-creating artists, audiences and the media alike feel the physical, psychological, and aesthetic focus and force of voice, movement and character work by people with disabilities. We identify ways in which this stage presence can subvert dominant depictions of people with disabilities as innocent, childlike, or inspirational as significantly as the content of a show. In doing so, we provide insights into Blue Roo Theatre Company’s processes, and the aesthetic results it produces, and contribute to a growing body of commentary around disability theatre and performance, which – though increasingly well understood by those working in the form – clearly can still provide surprises for audiences and commentators anticipating conventional representations of people with disabilities onstage."
• Theatre performance ‘Take Up Thy Bed & Walk’ integrates ‘aesthetic access’”
  The 2012 performance ‘Take Up Thy Bed & Walk’ designed by Gaelle Mellis and produced by Vitalstatistix proved that accessibility measures could be aesthetic. As Creative Australia describes it “is credited as Australia’s first performance work incorporating ‘aesthetic access’. It embedded the performer’s physicality and communication styles – and those of potential audiences – at the centre of the creative process. The work integrated audio description, captioning, sign language and interactivity uniquely into the core of the work.” Gaelle Mellis has said of the performance that “aesthetic access can be used in ways that add layer, texture, meaning and richness to a work. Art, at its simplest, is primarily about communication. Aesthetic access, at its simplest, is a form of communication that communicates to everyone.”
• "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 report Shut Out: The Experience of People with Disabilities and their Families in Australia is published in 2009"
  In 2009, Shut Out: The Experience of People with Disabilities and their Families in Australia was published. This report was commissioned by the Australian Government as part of the National Disability Strategy. It was prepared by the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council.
• "Australia Council - Annual Report 2016-17"
  Australia Council Annual Report 2016-2017 – discusses purpose, reports from chair and CEO, year in review, report from the CEO, Strategic priorities, funding overview, statement of outcome, about the Australia Council including The Governing Council and the Board, Structure of the Australia Council with new grants model; performance outcomes, manageability and accountability, financial statements and discussion of the final year of delivering $1.3 million over four years to support artists with disability with their careers and funding more organisations to support producing and touring disability-led and mixed-ability arts practice as well as mentoring arts leaders with disabilities and publication of the Council’s 2014–16 Disability Action Plan review.
• “Captioned films launched in Australia”
  In 2001, captioned films were launched in Australia with a speech by then Disability Discrimination Commissioner Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM. The process with a series of submissions from both the film industry and the Deaf and hard of hearing community. These submissions led to the establishment of a Forum comprised of representatives from the film distribution and exhibition sector, the Deaf and hearing impaired communities and the Australian Caption Centre. After a trial run in Sydney and Melbourne, three major cinema exhibiters (Greater Union, Hoyts, and Village) agreed to show open captioned films at selected venues throughout the country.
• “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.
• “Production company A2K Media founded in 2007, as a 'a Disabled-led production company, creating connections that entertain, educate, and empower'”
  A2K Media is “a Disabled-led production company, creating connections that entertain, educate, and empower.” In 2024, A2K launched their Disability Justice Lens course, which teaches screen professionals how to bring disabled people onto their productions and make their workplaces more accessible and empowering.
• "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”.
• “The Mouth and Foot Painting Artists starts in Australia in 1971”
  The Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA) started in Australia in 1971. The roots of the international organisation of mouth and food painting artists go back to the 1950s in Europe.
• “80 wheelchair users and allies halt Melbourne trams, demanding better access to public transportation”
  In a 2000 demonstration organised by the Catch a Tram group, 80 wheelchair users and their allies halted city trams in Melbourne during lunch hours, demanding better access to public transportation.
• “Arts Access Australia launches its ‘Don’t Play Us, Pay Us’ campaign in response to 'cripping up'”
  In 2012, Arts Access Australia launched its ‘Don’t Play Us, Pay Us’ campaign in response to 'cripping up,' where non-disabled performers play disabled characters on stage or screen.
• “In 2003, a demonstration outside Canberra’s Parliament House protests changes to Centrelink guidelines”
  In 2003, the Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Disabled Soldiers Association staged a protest outside Parliament House in Canberra, over changes to Centrelink guidelines that could have cost them up to $200 per week in income. “He said in Parliament that our payments are adequate, he's somebody who has never had the time to speak to us,” Association President John Ryan remarked of then Prime Minister John Howard.
• “Incite Arts (NT) established in 1998”
  What would become Incite Arts (Northern Territory) was established in 1998, known at that time as the Alice Springs Youth Arts Group (ASYAG). “ASYAG was formed as a response to a locally identified need for a vehicle to express young people’s stories in a valid contemporary cultural context.” In 2004, the organisation adopted the name InCite Youth Arts Inc and was incorporated as a not-for-profit. The following year, they became the host and auspice of Arts Access Central Australia (AACA), an arts and disability committee. The organisation’s name was revised once again in 2013, becoming Incite Arts.