{"id":25969,"date":"2022-11-01T09:15:54","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T16:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=25969"},"modified":"2023-03-01T18:22:48","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T18:22:48","slug":"everybodys-voice-is-unique-disability-in-the-performing-arts","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/everybodys-voice-is-unique-disability-in-the-performing-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Everybody&#8217;s Voice Is Unique&#8221;: Disability in the Performing Arts"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5><strong>By Allison Kirkland<\/strong><\/h5>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>Kelsey Peterson<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8216;s journey in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/move-me\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Move Me<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will resonate with anyone who has undergone change and found something different but just as beautiful on the other side of that change. Using dance and choreography as a guiding framework, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Move Me<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> culminates in a performance, mixing disabled and nondisabled dancers, and scored by a disabled composer. Co-director Peterson has always danced, but here dance and choreography become not just a way for her to process and communicate what it means to inhabit a changed body, but shows how the body influences how art is created.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Gaelynn Lea<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dance is an art form in which the body is centered, so thinking about the ways disability affects dance might be obvious, but dancers aren\u2019t the only artists whose physical disabilities influence their artmaking. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/violinscratches.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Gaelynn Lea<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a folk singer and violinist, points out: \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My voice is unique partly because my body is smaller\u2026 everybody&#8217;s voice is unique to their own body shape and size.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because of her height, Lea plays the violin in a way that brings forth a unique tone, and some mistake it for a viola. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has been releasing music since 2012 and won NPR\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=n6oSeODGmoQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tiny Desk concert contest in 2016<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This past year she composed original music for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Macbeth <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on Broadway starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga, and credits the experience with opening up doors for her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Life after Desk: Catching up with 2016 Tiny Desk Contest winner Gaelynn Lea\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZWIFNGClc20?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lea\u2019s body also influences her work lyrically. \u201cWith osteogenesis imperfecta you break bones in situations where other people wouldn&#8217;t. So, I think the idea of impermanence and accepting change and mortality made its way into my lyrics,&#8221; she tells me. &#8220;There are frustrating aspects of disability\u2014for me that\u2019s mostly around society and stigma and things that are outside of my body\u2014but at the same time, I have a really rich and beautiful life. So that idea of holding the good and the bad, and not letting one dominate the other, is a theme in a lot of my music.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Ryan J. Haddad<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is vital to see disabled performers in the arts, but due to a lack of access\u2014whether that\u2019s inaccessible venues or a scarcity of funds to provide American Sign Language interpreters\u2014there is a dearth of opportunities. What would it look like for the stage to be an inclusive and welcoming place for performers of all abilities?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ryanjhaddad.com\/\"><b>Ryan J. Haddad<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is an actor and playwright whose solo play <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hi, Are You Single?<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a real and raw examination of what it\u2019s like to be a gay man with cerebral palsy. This rising star recently got a shoutout from writer and public intellectual Roxane Gay on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rgay\/status\/1579222398385393665?s=20&amp;t=2wt9lqfCb0XVKPHC-rlTTQ\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. In winter 2023 he will be performing in his next play, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dark\u00a0Disabled Stories<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in its world premiere at the Public Theater in New York.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_25971\" style=\"width: 1930px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25971\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25971\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/ryanjhaddad-areyousingle.jpg\" alt=\"Ryan J Haddad in HI, ARE YOU SINGLE? \/ Williamstown Theatre Festival Photo by Daniel Rader\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1002\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/ryanjhaddad-areyousingle.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/ryanjhaddad-areyousingle-600x313.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/ryanjhaddad-areyousingle-1280x668.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/ryanjhaddad-areyousingle-768x401.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/ryanjhaddad-areyousingle-1536x802.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-25971\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ryan J Haddad in &#8220;Hi Are You Single?&#8221; at Williamstown Theatre Festival [Photo by Daniel Rader]<\/p><\/div><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When asking Haddad about his hopes for the future of disabled artists in the performing arts, he says, \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My future hope is that we&#8217;re just always there, we&#8217;re always at the table, we\u2019re always thought of. That we&#8217;re not erased as we have been for hundreds of years\u2014erased, hidden, institutionalized.&#8221; The key to this, he adds, is access.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lea is also committed to accessibility, and specifically only books accessible venues when touring. \u201c[Dancer] Alice [Sheppard] is a huge inspiration. She says that the show begins when people look at the ticket link or the poster, which means that for art to be really inclusive it needs to be inclusive all the way through.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Haddad calls this &#8220;radical access,&#8221; pointing out that &#8220;full access&#8221; is a misnomer because \u201cnothing is ever a hundred percent, and there will always be people who need things that are different than what we planned for.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Lachi<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In an effort to raise awareness and fight against some of these barriers, Lea and her colleague <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linktr.ee\/lachimusic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lachi<\/span><\/a> [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lachimusic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>]<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who describes herself as a blind Black EDM singer, founded RAMPD: Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities, in May of 2021. A membership organization for disabled artists and music professionals, one of its first big projects came in April 2022, when the organization advocated for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grammy.com\/news\/rampd-recording-artists-and-music-professionals-with-disabilities-roundtable\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">accessibility features for the 64th Grammy Awards<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Live Performance of Dis Education at Disability:IN\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1rhIIoOpzvc?start=90&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thanks to their advocacy, a ramp to the stage and visible ASL interpreters were provided at the ceremony for the first time in Grammy history. \u201cAs much as I relate to other folk artists on the road touring, and we can joke about the ridiculous nature of that lifestyle, there&#8217;s a big part of my experience that they just don&#8217;t relate to because they&#8217;re not thinking about access,\u201d says Lea.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>RAMPD Up<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The goal is to keep [RAMPD] going long beyond when [Lachi and I] are involved. A network where [disabled artists] can get support and camaraderie and put out messaging that shapes culture. Just sharing a space with other professionals that know what you&#8217;re talking about, [where] you can bring your full self and bounce ideas off a community\u2014anyone who&#8217;s a professional [and] disabled deserves that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lea says there\u2019s another barrier that\u2019s more subtle than physical access: the way disabled artists are portrayed in the press. \u201cIt is often not about their art; it&#8217;s always about their disability or their advocacy. If it is about their art, there [can be] untrue or unhelpful ways to frame it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This includes using outdated terms like \u201cwheel-chair bound,\u201d or describing a disabled artist as an inspiration just because they are making art in a body that\u2019s different from the norm. She sometimes has to educate journalists as she\u2019s being interviewed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thinking about these types of interactions is something that also influenced Haddad\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dark Disabled Stories<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an autobiographical monologue that speaks to the assumptions we make about each other, both disabled and nondisabled. The play was inspired by his experience walking the streets of New York City using a walker, where his disability is visible all the time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ryan J. Haddad: Falling For Making Believe | Under The Radar 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4VRw1BoxK68?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes strangers would comment on his body, ask questions, stare, or try to help. \u201cI might be making assumptions about those strangers in the same way they are making assumptions about me,&#8221; Haddad tells us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Inclusion and Access Are Just the Beginning<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/howlround.com\/moving-disability-visibility-disability-artistry\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moving from Disability Visibility to Disability Artistry<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, disabled theatermaker Morgan Skolnik posits that disability inclusion and access are just the beginning of a new kind of theater, and defines disability artistry as &#8220;work that is informed, from the beginning and down to its core, by some aspect of the disability experience.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;We need to do more than include disability,\u201d writes Skolnik, \u201cWe must allow it to shape our world.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even as doors are opening for artists like Lea and Haddad, there\u2019s still a long way to go for disabled performers. Making our way forward will involve getting honest about the assumptions we might be making about people\u2019s bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.allisonkirkland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>Allison Kirkland <\/i><\/b><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a writer based in Durham, North Carolina, who writes at the intersection of disability and the arts. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @alliekirkland<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Allison Kirkland Kelsey Peterson&#8216;s journey in Move Me will resonate with anyone who has undergone change and found something different but just as beautiful on the other side of that change. Using dance and choreography as a guiding framework, Move Me culminates in a performance, mixing disabled and nondisabled dancers, and scored by a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":25970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1357,938],"tags":[],"topic":[1216,1248,2064,1250,1251],"class_list":["post-25969","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond-the-films","category-interviews","topic-arts-and-culture","topic-dance","topic-disability","topic-music-2","topic-theater"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Disability in The Performing Arts | Blog | Independent Lens | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From Kelsey Peterson to Gaelynn Lea, Lachi, and Ryan J. 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