The following is an excerpt from Leah Sandals’ Canadian Art feature « 8 Things Everyone Needs to Know About Art and Disability » in conversation with Eliza Chandler, Artistic Director of Tangled Art + Disability:

« Though it often goes unnoticed by the wider artworld, the Deaf and Disability Arts movement has been gaining momentum across Canada of late.

[…] in April is Canada’s first national Deaf and Disability Arts symposium—titled Cripping the Arts—which will be taking place at Toronto’s Ryerson University. Cripping the Arts also coincides with the official opening of Ontario’s first fully accessible gallery dedicated to exhibiting Disability and Deaf Art at 401 Richmond in Toronto.

The latter two milestones—the symposium and the gallery—are major projects on the go for Eliza Chandler, artistic director of the non-profit Tangled Art + Disability.

Recently, Chandler—an alumna of NSCAD University—met with Canadian Art to discuss art, disability and the progress that still needs to be made. Here are seven points that stood out during our conversation.

1. Disabled people aren’t just audiences—they are artists and creators, too.
When asked what still bothers her most about the way disability is treated in the wider artworld, Chandler says it’s the idea that improving accessibility only relates to disabled people as audiences.

“Typically when galleries and theatres think about including disabled people, it is as an audience,” Chandler says. “Thinking about how to have wheelchair users in your audience is different than thinking about how we might include disabled people as producers of culture—as performers and artists and musicians.”

Chandler notes that, on the upside, there is increasing interest from museums and other organizations about improving accessibility—but it needs that crucial shift in perspective.

“While there is this big push to make things accessible, I think it is quite focused on audience more than artwork.” (click for full article)

For more resources, tools, guides and articles like this, please visit the ArtBridges’ Resource Portal.

-posted with permission from Leah Sandals, Canadian Art