20 Stories High, Graeae Theatre Company, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, LEEDS 2023, Young Disabled Artists and Community Activists have launched The Access Manifesto – an urgent and pioneering call to action, encouraging arts organisations and cultural institutions to be more accessible to Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent young people throughout the UK.
Advocating for ‘A New Chapter for the Arts’, The Access Manifesto is a practical, step-by-step guide – aimed at helping arts organisations, venues and individuals to take significant strides towards making the arts more accessible for all.
Theatre companies 20 Stories High from Liverpool and London-based Graeae Theatre Company first joined forces in 2023, to collaborate on their award-winning show High Times and Dirty Monsters, which also addressed the challenges that young Deaf, Disabled, and neurodivergent people face. Maisy Gordon – one of the actors in the show, and Ayzah Ahmed, a Graeae participant – particularly felt that the activism needed to continue, knowing that many of the arts spaces they visited were failing not only them but also the majority of disabled people they spoke to.
Subsequently bringing together 60+ Deaf, Disabled, and neurodivergent young people and young adults from across the country to further explore the issues, they collated their thoughts, ideas, and provocations to create a practical step-by-step guide for arts organisations and venues to take bigger steps in making the arts more accessible for young audiences, participants, and artists.
The response? The Access Manifesto — a beacon of change, developed by those directly impacted and designed to inspire and guide the arts sector towards a more inclusive future. They invite you to join them in embracing this new chapter for the arts. Together, we can create a world where every young person, regardless of their abilities, can enjoy and participate in the arts.
“I believe that the Access Manifesto is the first big step to great change… now I just hope that the Arts really listen and apply all that everyone has said.”
Ayzah Ahmed, Co-Author of the Manifesto
The Access Manifesto maps out an 8 point plan that can be embraced by all organisations and institutions – simple changes to things like layout, staff training, recruitment, and most importantly, an open and empathetic attitude.
An estimated 16 million people in the UK have a disability:
– An estimated 2 million people are living with sight loss
– Approximately 11 million people are Deaf or have hearing loss
– Around 1.5 million people have a learning disability
– 6.8 million people live with a mobility-related impairment.
This represents 24% of the total population. That’s 1 in 4 people…
While 24% of working-age individuals are disabled, only 7% of people working in the arts are disabled. Disabled employees in the arts are 20% less likely to advance to senior roles compared to their non-disabled counterparts, according to Arts Council England.
Whether knowingly or not, the Arts Sector continues to exclude disabled people — both as audiences and as artists.
The Access Manifesto is aimed at deepening our understanding of the lived experiences of disabled individuals and to recognise the critical importance of accessibility for everyone.
Read the full manifesto here