Disability and the arts : inclusive practice for health and wellbeing

Hadley and McDonald’s statement illuminates the seriousness of enabling and facilitating participation by people with disability (PWD) in all facets of society. Since 1981, the International Year of Disabled People, most western countries have instituted human rights legislation that protects citizenship and ensures the inclusion of PWD in their communities and societies. More recently, 182 countries (out of 193) signed the United Nations’ (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2015). These rights included Article 30, the right to a cultural life, which covered leisure and the arts. However, compared to the general population, PWD still participate less than those without a disability in all types of cultural activities. If access to cultural life is restricted then the advantages of participation in leisure activities are not achieved (Liu, 2009). Current social and cultural practices for PWD reflect a history of segregation and persisting issues of exclusion (Aitchison, 2003). Overall, it is widely acknowledged that PWD do not have the same liberties and prospects as non-disabled individuals (Darcy, 2019; Darcy et al., 2020). In this chapter we demonstrate how the inclusion of PWD in the arts produces individual, social and health benefits.