The Disability Arts Movement & Disability Art as Resistance

The history and present of the creative expression of disability pride

One of my favorite units in any of my Disability Studies classes was on disability art. Disability art is art created by disabled people about disability. The Disability Arts Movement started in the United Kingdom in the 1980’s and spread to other countries. Artists in this movement formed organizations that focused on Disability Art, such as SHAPE in the United Kingdom and the Deaf, Disability and Mad Arts Alliance of Canada. This movement was strongly influenced by disability politics. The Disability Arts Movement has led to the creation of protest art that resisted ableist portrayals of disabled people. According to Allan Sutherland, a disabled poet, “I don’t think disability arts would have been possible without disability politics coming along first. … [Our politics] have taught us, not simply to value ourselves but to value ourselves as disabled people. That’s why we can have disability art; because we realise that our disabilities give us something to make art about.” Disability art can be visual art, writing, film/video, theatre/performance, and dance. Since the creation of the Disability Arts Movement, there have been disability film festivals and disability arts festivals. There have also been disability arts forums, such as the London Disability Arts Forum. Disability Arts Online is a website that came out of this movement that documents disability art.

Disability art is often an expression of both disability politics and disability identity. Our creative expression is the most accurate reflection of what it actually means to be disabled, especially when art created about disabled people by non-disabled people has often been ableist. If you want to better understand the reality of being disabled in a world that devalues us, don't look to Hollywood, look to the art created by disabled people. Disability art doesn't just mean representation and resisting the ableist narratives in art, it also is an opportunity for disabled artists to be paid. Too often, disabled people are expected to work for free or for very little pay, and we are rarely adequately accommodated in workplaces, so there is a high rate of income inequality for disabled people. Disability art doesn't automatically correct the economic inequality we experience, but supporting disabled artists over corporations that profit from our exploitation and from ableist, inaccurate representation is a step in the right direction.

There is also what is known as the disability press, publications that focus entirely on disability and center the perspectives of disabled people. The Disability Rag was founded in 1980 by disability activists Mary Johnson and Cass Irvin. It was called the “Village Voice, Mother Jones, and Rolling Stone of the Disability Rights Movement.” Along with news about disability rights, it featured the perspectives of disabled people, something that was rare at the time. Another example of a disability press run by disabled people was Mouth Magazine, founded by Lucy Gwin after she became disabled due to a brain injury in the 1990’s. Their motto was “piss on pity,” referring to the narratives about disability being inherently pitiful that have been so common throughout history. As I read through the archives available online, I was struck by something: so much of the writing is a warning of the ableist destruction that’s already occurring or that could happen in the future, a plea for more people to take action. I understand this so well. I feel like my writing is often similar, and so is the writing of other disabled people today. I wish this constant warning wasn’t something we needed to do, but we just want this ableist society to give us a break for once. There were also publications for Deaf people, known as “the Silent Press,” such as The Silent Worker and The Modern Silents. The disability press - all of the publications about disability created by disabled people - are important because often, we have zero control over how disability is represented or discussed. Some of these publications exist mostly to inform people of important disability rights / disability justice issues. Others exist for creative expression and art related to disability, which is equally important.

Disability life writing is another form of disability art that fascinates me. Life writing often involves a particular social identity and can be in the form of memoir, biography, and more. I have always loved reading memoirs and personal essays, and there are many fantastic memoirs and essay collections that focus on disability. Disability Visibility, an essay collection edited by the late Alice Wong, features many of my favorite essays. Alice was determined to give disabled people a space to share their stories, with the Disability Visibility Project that was not only a book but also a website and podcast. She inspired so many disabled writers, myself included, and gave so much to our community. Unruly Bodies: Life Writing by Women with Disabilities (edited by Susannah B. Mintz) is another anthology, this one specifically by disabled women. I Once Was: A Poetry Anthology About Myalgic Encephalomyelitis is a recently published anthology of poems by patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, edited by Line Language, Lydia Chan, and Pam Du Val. Examples of memoirs written by disabled people include The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang, Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig, Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong, The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me by Keah Brown, and Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism by Elsa Sjunneson, The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde, The Me in the Mirror by Connie Panzarino, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. My favorite that I read recently was Body Weather: Notes on Chronic Illness in the Anthropocene by Lorraine Boissoneault.

There are SO many fantastic publications today that are disability-themed. I have been honored to have some of my poetry on chronic illness published in a handful of them. If you want to read or submit, here are some I know of: Cope Magazine, FLARE Magazine, Sick Magazine, Wishbone Words, Look Deeper Zine, Bed Zine, and Breath & Shadow. The Squeaky Wheel publishes satire on disability. The Sick Times publishes news and stories about Long COVID, related conditions, and COVID in general. Ability Magazine and Disability Scoop (which is more news-focused) are two more disability-themed publications.

Lachi is a Black Disabled author, musician, and activist who wrote the book I Identify as Blind; A Brazen Celebration of Disability Culture, Identity, and Power. Lachi has many lyrics about disability, ableism, and disability pride, such as the song Moves that celebrates all disabled people and our many differences.

Sins Invalid is a disability justice-focused performance project. In 2015, they came up with the ten principles of disability justice. Their performances are proof that disability art is political. Their work centers disability justice in performances and videos about Palestine, climate justice, racism, and reproductive justice. One of their videos on their YouTube channel is about creating art to resist ableism.

The Rollettes is a group I discovered recently. They are a dance group made up entirely of wheelchair users. I’m not a dancer, but I love watching videos of their dance routines. They’re a great reminder that disability really can be joyful. Being disabled leads to so many different forms of creativity and it’s beautiful to witness.

A Quiet Storm is an online gallery featuring art, poetry, and a documentary all created by Myalgic Encephalomyelitis patients about their experiences with this devastating condition. Patients with Severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis are centered, which is important because many people do not understand how severe and debilitating this condition can get. It's important to note that patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis often cannot make art without sacrificing their health to some extent, and many with the more severe presentations of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis are unable to create art at all.

I feel very proud to be part of a community that started a movement for the artwork we create. We have been told repeatedly by society that we have no value, and that our perspective isn't worth considering. We have seen mainstream media representations portray us as monstrous villains, as pitiful, as burdens, and as tragedies - and we decided to reject those narratives and create our own. This Disability Pride month, I am so grateful for the Disability Arts Movement and every disabled person who creates art as a way to resist ableism. Please make sure to support and celebrate the disabled artists you love.

There are far too many examples of disability art for me to cover them all. Feel free to leave any other examples you love in the comments!

Sources

Brown, S. E. (2014). “Remembering Lucy Gwin” by Steven E. Brown. Disability Visibility Project. https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2014/11/10/remembering-lucy-gwin-by-steven-e-brown/

Cameron, Colin. (2007). Whose problem? Disability narratives and available identities. Community Development Journal. 42. 501-511. 10.1093/cdj/bsm040.

Holloway, R. (2021). Artists as defenders: disability art as means to mobilise human rights (Human Rights Defender Hub Working Paper Series No. 10). Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York. https://www.hrdhub.org/workingpaper10

Pelka, F. (1997). The ABC-CLIO companion to the disability rights movement. ABC-CLIO.

Welsh, S. (2018). Piss on pity: How a new archive captures the radical spirit of the Disability Arts Movement. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/disability-arts-movement-national-collection-archive-barbara-lisicki-tony-heaton-a8416036.html

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Thank you for reading/supporting my work on Substack. If you’d like to also support my work on Ko-Fi where I focus more on disability history, you can do so here. I also have an ebook of 34 poems about chronic illness that you can purchase here.