1. Start Here: Why disability access is important

Disabled people are the largest minority group[1] and yet evidence shows that they still face significant barriers in almost all areas of life. This includes the exhibitions sector, where we know there is still a long way to go to create equity for disabled people in every area. From those working in the sector to the audiences that ultimately come to exhibitions, greater equity is needed in order to increase the involvement of disabled people, thereby enriching our cultures, our exhibitions practice and ensuring that fewer people are excluded from participation in the sector.

Change has happened on a small scale in many ways; perhaps through people who are passionate advocates, either for themselves or for disabled people as a whole. Yet, to achieve true equality, there must be a focus on impactful change that is systemic and structural and not just small changes here and there. To make long-term impactful change there needs to be a move away from one off interventions and project-based approaches to greater structural change and an embedded, day to day approach. This section will examine what that change is and why it continues to matter.

[1]https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/resources/factsheet-on-persons-with-disabilities.html

It is necessary to start with an introduction of the social model of disability.  To some this may be a reintroduction.  It does not matter if you have or have not heard of this way of thinking – what is important is that it provides a very strong foundation for understanding what being disabled in our society means in practical ways.  It also provides us with a useful foundation to build a practical understanding of how to be less disabling.

The social model of disability is a term that was created by disabled people to describe their experience in the world. It says that what disables people are barriers that are present in society, not people’s impairments. Barriers can be physical, environmental, sensory, attitudinal, and systemic. For example a wheelchair user is not disabled until they come into contact with a disabling barrier such as steps and no lift access option or when a person starts a new job and reasonable adjustments are not offered or discussed. In order to make impactful change there must be focus on all barrier areas. Inclusion London provides a useful factsheet to develop understanding of the Social Model, whilst Unlimited offers an animated version.

The social model of disability is practical and useful.  The social model also tells us that it is not the responsibility of individual disabled people to remove barriers in society, it is everyone’s responsibility to take action to remove barriers. It therefore is something that needs to be applied in every area of exhibition work, by everyone. All exhibition makers and venues must act as though they are expecting disabled people to be present and remove barriers to access and access measures must consider and remove barriers for all: disabled staff, visitors, and artists.

Identifying and removing barriers is an important part of the Social Model of Disability. It is also a set of actions that can be taken to make things more accessible and a useful way to work out how to make impactful change more generally.

Identifying the barriers to change is a good first step to working out why disabled people are still less present than they could be and are often still excluded. Once you know the barriers, you can start removing barriers and take action to make impactful change. Here are some of the barriers to a more accessible exhibitions sector.

Lack of knowledge

is a persistent lack of knowledge and understanding about making the exhibitions sector accessible. A 2021 British Council report ‘Time to Act’ found that lack of knowledge, confidence, and experience in the cultural sector creates barriers for disabled artists and audiences. There is often a lack of knowledge at an organisational level which results in poor implementation of policy and practice and often knowledge is anecdotal or relies on individuals.

Lack of confidence / fear

There is often an individual fear of getting it wrong. If staff have not had, or taken, the opportunity to think about or enact access measures, there can also be a real lack of confidence. Fear and low confidence can also come from a strong desire to get things right; a well-developed, well-intentioned understanding that it is possible to get things wrong and a fear of criticism or failure. This lack of confidence can also happen when a disabled person within an organisation is not empowered to speak up on access or their expertise is not recognised or valued.

Not knowing where to start

Those who do want to act often feel they do not know where to start. Implementing access and making impactful change can feel overwhelming. This can lead to efforts that can focus on wrong barriers or actions. For example, providing BSL interpretation at live events, where you have not yet developed a relationship with BSL-using audiences, or investing money in very new access technologies that have not been designed or tested by disabled people.

Not knowing where to start can also mean that there is a lack of understanding of the nuance of making impactful change. This can look like requiring disabled bookers to have an access card, where lots of those who could benefit from barrier removal would not want to identify as disabled.

Lack of consistency

Where good practice has taken place it is often not consistently embedded. It often sits either as in a project context or is threatened by not being part of core activity or budget lines.  Lack of consistency can also affect where the passion and remit of a staff member looking at access is not shared across the organisation or written into policy and plans. So, when that staff member leaves, so does their knowledge and access practices.

It is useful to face the reality that disabling barriers are built into many of the structures of society. This means that, though there is a lot that can be changed, there are some things that cannot. Recognising this does not mean that organisations cannot try to change what they can and speak up about what they cannot change. Facing up to this reality means that it can be called what it is: ableism.

Ableism is defined as “behaviour which unintentionally excludes or actively discriminates against disabled people and is most commonly manifested in poor… access or not putting in place sufficient support mechanisms to enable disabled people to succeed”^[1]. Some people do already know about the social model but it is not fully embraced or understood. This can inadvertently lead to ableism. Or, they don’t understand the impact that it has when a social model approach is not followed or not followed consistently.

The ACE report also shows that 9% of audiences to National Portfolio museums were disabled people in 2022/23.^[2] This compares with 22% of the working age population according to the ONS. That means there is likely to be a lack of understanding of the impact of not removing barriers. The positive impact of removing barriers is often spoken about but what is less mentioned is the impact of not making things accessible by consistently removing barriers through improved practice and policy. Because disabled people are less present in the cultural sector there are fewer people within it who might speak about the negative impact of disabling barriers. This results in ableism: discrimination against disabled people.

Not providing accessibility also means that disabled people are still excluded. The Scottish household survey 2022 Only 56% of Disabled adults had attended a cultural event venue compared to 80% of non-disabled adults^[3]. By not proactively providing accessibility museums and galleries actively exclude disabled people.

Ableism is also not taken as seriously as other types of discrimination.^[4] Often not providing accessible environments is seen as acceptable and because disabled people are so often excluded from society, ableism is less visible. Taking ableism seriously, listening to and believing disabled people, speaking to them as equals, and taking action to be anti-ableist, is one reason why making impactful change so often does not happen and why this resource is full of ideas and resources to work against ableism.

^[1] https://attitudeiseverything.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Seven_Inclusive_Principles_for_Arts__Cultural_Organisations_working_safely_through_COVID-19_1.pdf

^[2] https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/research-and-data/diversity-data/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-review-2018-23 page 19

^[3] https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-2022-key-findings/pages/11/

^[4] https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8db739b1-74c8-4dcf-a405-216335e305b5/files/m919ce933cdc7e3c410d81c9ece92d49b#:~:text=These%20are%20well%2Dknown%20and,group’s%20status%20in%20multiple%20societies. p3