All art is simply art, as you can see.

All art is simply art,
as you can see.

The Disability Arts Online portal has set itself the mission of sharing the arts and culture of people with disabilities with the world. And, to its credit, it is fulfilling this mission brilliantly. Whenever we want to contemplate the artistic achievements of the Blind, we take a look at the galleries here and... well, you can too! They are amazing.

Disability Arts Online is a disability-led organisation set up to promote the arts and culture of disabled people on the web and social media. Their raison d'être is first and foremost to support disabled artists by disseminating information about the artworks they create. They also give artists a platform to blog, share thoughts and images describing artistic practices, projects and everyday things related to finding inspiration for creativity.

DAO emphasises that just being an artist is a difficult path, and being a disabled artist requires extra layers of resilience and fortitude. Recognising this effort, DAO provides support by connecting artists with like-minded people, mainly through a social media network.

The portal primarily publishes editorials, blogs and artist showcases, creating a place to share and comment on opinions, reviews and interviews. Disabled writers and art contemporaries can publish their own art opinions, reviews or articles about their art practice here.

Art in a social, not a medical, model of disability

Disability Arts Online promotes an understanding of art and disability culture based on the Social Model of Disability, an antidote to the Medical Model of Disability, which, as we know, sees the Blind as rejected, in need of repair, needing to be brought into line with so-called 'normative' values.

The DAO, meanwhile, sees disability arts and culture as a supportive environment in which to share experiences of the barriers we face as disabled people and to appreciate our lives.

Inclusion in the arts world

As well as filling the portal with great content, Disability Arts Online offers the wider arts sector the opportunity to connect with disabled artists. Sharing professional opportunities on the listings pages, reading about their work on blogs and editorials, and in some cases through partnerships through consultancy services.

The Disability Arts Online calendar features events related to disability arts and culture, as well as accessible mainstream performances. Also listed is a section on arts professions and career opportunities, arts commissions, residencies and competitions.

When and where they can, DAO staff like to go out and speak at conferences and organise events at festivals. As well as running the website, each person on the Team also pursues their own artistic passions, for example director Trish Wheatley has extensive experience as a director and producer of performing and visual arts, and editor Colin Hambrook is a poet and has worked on a number of performance poetry events.

DAO is also committed to helping others in the arts and cultural sector improve their work with disabled artists and audiences. The way they work with each partner is based on their needs at a particular point in time. There is always a conversation at the beginning to find out how their know-how can help build the artist's knowledge and confidence.

A big part of this leads to fruitful, creative project-based partnership work. However, just as important is the part centred around sessions called Creative Case for Diversity - a way of exploring how organisations and artists can enrich their work using a wide range of influences and practices) and Disability Awareness - the practice of recognising, acknowledging and accepting an individual's experience of disability.

Invisible artists' perspective on their own disability and culture

The blog section of the DAO portal provides a space for disabled artists and writers to share their thoughts, give readers an insight into their artistic practice, and receive comments and feedback.

These blogs provide an informative but often humorous insight into how disability and impairment are experienced from the perspective of the artists themselves.

While we are on the subject of artists, we will not refuse to present at least a few profiles and a reference to their artistic achievements.

Andrew Bolton's main focus is on community murals, creating site-specific artworks in collaboration with various community groups, especially those who are invisible and whose voices are usually unheard. The genesis of his artistic path was a childhood story:

"As children, my brother and I were kicked out of the main public art gallery in our city - Ferens Art Gallery in Hull. We were probably running around or something, but I experienced it as a rejection from an exclusive, 'cultural' world that I would never be part of. I remain acutely aware of the tragic alienation people feel from art".

Helen Thompson is a visual artist with autism and ADHD. She enjoys celebrating nature through her art and works with a variety of media including. She is fascinated by the way the human body moves, and with a good understanding of anatomy and movement, she seeks a means of media to combine both systems into a coherent whole. She works by combining opposites: pastels, oils, watercolours and experimenting with cold wax.

"I like the way layers can be created to suggest movement. It's a slow process, but I enjoy building up the layers and it's a satisfying way to depict the figure in motion".

Adian Moesby is an artist and curator exploring personal and civic wellbeing through work that is at once playful, intimate, questioning and deeply human. His artistic practice is highly socially engaged. He is particularly interested in the spaces where art, technology and wellbeing intersect. Underpinning his work exploring the double crisis of climate change and mental health are the connections between the external 'physical weather' we experience and our 'internal psycho-emotional weather'. It brings a nuanced and insightful approach to the emotional context of working with climate change and the deep interconnections between the natural and social environment in contemporary life.

A collaborative network is a greater reach for inclusion

Disability Arts Online collaborates with other initiatives that have a similar mission, e.g. Unlimited, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Creative Diversity Network, D4D  (it's quite breakneck to develop this acronym when translated into Polish, so just have a look at the organisation's website and see the good work they do).

They also interact with projects that support the creation of resource materials that document the history of artistic practice for people with disabilities: NDACA  or the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive and Daisy  (Disability Arts in Surrey or DAiSY for short, is an umbrella organisation that promotes and celebrates the work of deaf, disabled and neuro-diverse artists and disabled arts organisations in Surrey).

Finally: it's good to know that such profoundly humanist projects are made possible not only by the UK Ministry of Arts and Culture, but also by... the British Lottery. We are immediately relieved that there is a source of funding for invisible art ;)

We, too, believe that there is strength in collaboration and networking - so we are taking action and will soon be showing off our network in Poland and our new INVISIBLE project partners.