When you think about accessibility in the music scene, we mostly discuss making music accessible to patrons of festivals and concerts. Due to the work of Attitude is Everything, a charity who “connect disabled people with music and live event industries to improve access together”, there has been significant progress towards disabled access requirements being the norm at major venues and events. 16 festivals (including Glastonbury and Reading Festival) and 18 concert venues across the UK are now the ‘Gold Standard’ on Attitude is Everything’s Charter of Best Practice. Over 210 venues and events have gained some tier of award to date, Usher Hall and Heriot-Watt University Student Union being the only Edinburgh venues (both in Bronze standard). Compared to other major cities, Edinburgh is very much lagging behind, and the University of Edinburgh’s venues lack compared to Heriot-Watt University, so there is definitely still work to be done.
However, across the UK we do see the attendance accessibility being improved, especially festivals and other events. The same progress is not seen in the number of disabled artists performing at music events across the country. 20% of the working age population in the UK are considered disabled, yet most festivals do not knowingly programme any disabled artists. Nor do the public regularly see disabled artists perform, even on the local level. As grassroots venues are often the most inaccessible, many disabled artists’ careers can rarely transcend past them, leading to a lack of dialogue and networking within their local music scene as another barrier altogether. We are in a cycle where there is very little visibility of disabled artists in the mainstream and few starting at entry-level. In your local music scene, disabled people are making music that is largely invisible.
Unfortunately, disabled artists and bands are often grouped together at niche events, no matter the difference in style or genre between them, in the name of accessibility. However, artists such as the late Ian Dury, and a current love of mine, Mystery Jets, show that of course disabled artists can connect with wider audiences on the main stage.
In 2019, Attitude is Everything started the Next Stage Project to promote access into the music industry for deaf and disabled artists. This started by surveying a snapshot of 96 UK based artists with access requirements who were performing or seeking to perform. They found that 1 in 2 respondents encountered barriers at the majority of gigs they played and 70% had withheld details of their impairment or health condition out of fear that this would cause a negative relationship with a venue or promoter, 59% of those who did reveal details of their impairment had their requirements met. 2 in 3 had compromised their health in order to play a gig.
There are some steps to combat this, of course the first being making all venues accessible, which may not be a physical step but a clear organisation of artist and crew. Call outs to artists should advertise the accessibility of their venue to avoid the harm and danger to health caused when disabled artists feel they must withhold information about their requirements. Actively seeking out talent from more diverse backgrounds to programme a disabled artist, will mean organisers will most likely find a great artist that they love and fits their event without patronising disabled musicians. Furthermore, music-lovers can make an effort to find and support great disabled artists and tap in to some fantastic music.
Image “mystery jets” by “wonker“ is licensed under CC BY 2.0.