About inclusivity: Is there room for persons with disabilities in art and culture?
Written by Haiza Putti | Read in Indonesian
Have you ever thought, why it is rare to find artists with disabilities in mainstream art exhibitions? Or maybe, about the segregation between artists with disabilities and artists without disabilities? In fact, in many cases, art products such as shows, films and music cannot be fully enjoyed by persons with disabilities. So, is there a place for persons with disabilities in the world of art?
Since the end of 2022, TFR has been conducting a field research with the Open Arms project initiated by the Selasar Sunaryo Foundation to understand the actual conditions of accessibility in the world of art, as well as the community's ongoing initiatives to empower persons with disabilities through art.
In this research, together with Open Arms, TFR visited several areas that serve as the hub of the art in Indonesia, namely Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Bali and Malang.
This article will be an introduction to a series of research papers, as well as exploring the issue of disability to the roots of the lack of inclusivity for persons with disabilities, along with their position in art.
Photo: A work by Nanang (Muhamad Haryanto), a person with visual disability, an artist of touch
About disability and constraints in various aspects of life
In Law (UU) No.18/2016, persons with disabilities are described as individuals with physical, intellectual, mental and/or sensory limitations; anyone can become persons with disabilities during their lifetime. That is because research showed that the risk of becoming a person with disabilities exists in anyone, whether caused by illness or accident.
World Health Organization (WHO) data at the end of 2022 showed that there were at least 1.3 billion (1 in 6) persons with disabilities worldwide, or 16% of the global population. Although the number is not small, in reality there are still many obstacles for persons with disabilities. In terms of mobility access alone, persons with disabilities experience 15 times more difficulties than people without disabilities. Persons with disabilities also continue to fight against stigma, discrimination and difficulties in physical accessibility, education and employment.
A research by Fx Rudy Gunawan, “The Existence of Disabilities in a Culture of Normality” (2014), found that when a person experiences disability, it is likely that their access to many things will be cut off, one of which is the ability to enjoy cultural products.
“They then become the marginalised in the culture of society. When a person becomes a person with disabilities, they automatically loses a number of their rights." (Fx Rudy Gunawan, 2014)
Fx Rudy then explained the reality of persons with disabilities who still encounter many obstacles in living with the wider community, including:
Accessibility constraints and barriers;
The lack of integrated and comprehensive data collection on persons with disabilities that complicates policy implementation;
Lack of information about disabilities that affects the attitude of the public.
The lack of understanding of the needs of persons with disabilities results in various stigmas, including myths about persons with disabilities who are seen as a disgrace, even bringing bad luck.
Ableism: The root cause of various barriers to persons with disabilities
Obstacles and hurdles faced by persons with disabilities stem from one main systemic problem, namely the mentality of ableism. Slamet Thohari, an academician and founder of the Centre for Disabilities Studies and Services of Brawijaya University (now the Centre for Disabilities Services of Brawijaya University/PLD-UB), explained that ableism is a perspective in which everything that is not “normal” according to the majority (people without disabilities) will be deemed abnormal.
“Ideology (ableism) makes an impression on the human subconscious, that it seems as if (there are) human standards, and others (beyond standards) are not right. It's as if persons with disabilities have to follow the logic that is considered normal," Slamet explained in the discussion "Hacking Obstacles" at Selasar Sunaryo Art Space.
Slamet further explained that this view actually has its root as far back as the Ancient Greek civilisation, when physical fitness and intellect became a benchmark for perfection. As a result, persons with disabilities are considered as having an “unfinished body”. This logic continued to develop, and in the modern era, disability is considered a medical problem. As a result, persons with disabilities are seen as sick people, which then builds the perception that they are not normal.
We can see one of the consequences of this stigma in Law No.4/1997, before it was revised in a law issued in 2016. The original law used the term “handicapped” which is defined as “impaired” individuals. This term in Law No.18/2016 was changed to “persons with disabilities”, who have “limitations”.
Photo: Documentation of TFR’s visit to the Bhakti Senang Hati Foundation, Bali
Disabilities and the art: The rise of disability porn and super-crip
A PLD-UB study with the British Council explained that within the scope of the art, there is often discrimination against artists with disabilities that comes in various forms, such as the dismissal of the works of artists with disabilities and the lack of access to enjoy artworks.
This dismissal takes the form of poor appreciation for the aesthetic quality of works created by persons with disabilities, although that doesn’t mean that there is no appreciation at all. Unfortunately, such appreciation often stems from compassion by people without disabilities.
“Pity has, so far, placed works of persons with disabilities in an inappropriate place; making it just a tool to trigger tears and objectify individual artists with disabilities," wrote the report "Mapping Art and Disabilities in Indonesia" (2018) by PLD-UB and the British Council.
Slamet explained that this condition is driven by the view that disability is a gratification. Just as all forms of “pornography” are enjoyed as gratification, “disability porn” describes the habit of viewing persons with disabilities as impaired people who must be pitied.
Then, when a person with disabilities makes an achievement, they are showered with praises and even used as inspiration. "They can do it, why can't I?"; this sentence is familiar to Slamet, who is also a person with disabilities.
Such reasoning then gave birth to a super-crip perspective, i.e. the habit of enjoying the art of a person with disabilities due to the assumption that it is something extraordinary. It may start well, but such perspective arises from the perception that persons with disabilities are those who are outside the normalcy.
The trap of “normal” reasoning and aesthetics for persons with disabilities
The study also found that the representation of persons with disabilities in the world of art is still minimal. This creates a lack of inclusiveness of art events and physical access to art spaces, including art galleries and music concerts.
We can even see the lack of fulfilment of facilities for persons with disabilities in the international music scene. This is experienced by Eric Howk, the guitarist of the famous rock band Portugal. The Man. Howk uses a wheelchair after sustaining a spinal cord injury.
In an interview with THE RED BULLETIN, Howk said he experienced a myriad of challenges every time he goes touring. From entering the tour bus to accessing the venue, Howk found that most concerts have minimal accessibility for wheelchair users.
Howk stated, "There's this one-size-fits-all approach to accessibility for a lot of things. But having flexibility and adaptability gets things done better." However, the awareness of access raised by Howk over the past few years has had a positive effect: local music promoters are slowly starting to build accessible facilities for all.
Apart from the lack of physical accessibility, there is another problem faced by artists with disabilities, namely the limited exploration of persons with disabilities in their work. It is not uncommon to find persons with disabilities using reasoning and aesthetic understanding of people without disabilities in their artistic practice.
Slamet explained, “Because art is very exclusive, persons with disabilities also use the logic of persons with disabilities to express themselves. For example, I found a poem written by someone with a visual disability. They wrote that the moon goes out, shines.” This expression does not originate from the aesthetic experience of people with visual disabilities.
Photo: Documentation of works at Tab Space Bandung
Endless efforts to build inclusivity in art
Exclusivity in art, including fine art, resulted in the lack of accessibility in mainstream art spaces and programmes. Even so, several initiatives by individuals and communities have been carried out to improve these conditions.
One example is the provision of sign language interpreters to accommodate Deaf friends to enjoy the concert of the legendary Indonesian ska band Type-X. There are also various alternatives for people with visual disabilities to enjoy movies.
Various initiatives by institutions have also spread to several cities that act as the art hub in Indonesia, such as the Jogja Disability Art in Yogyakarta, Tab Space in Bandung, as well as Ketemu Project and Rumah Berdaya in Bali.
However, in increasing inclusion and accessibility in the world of art, Slamet emphasised that there are two important points that need to be noted. First, artists with disabilities need to be given space to interpret the aesthetics of their own lives, through the methods and perceptions they feel.
Second, the most important foundation to increase inclusivity is the involvement of persons with disabilities, both in the planning and implementation of activities and policies, because “there's no us without us”.