Editorial: finding the right words

• Sophie Hatchwell with Kate DeRight, Mike Layward and Natalie Osbourne
• Download a PDF of this editorial
• Key Words: Inclusion, disability, access, race, age, gender, sexuality, equitable museum space.

Writing about inclusion, disability and access in the arts is a varied experience: rich in opportunities to say something meaningful, yet fraught with challenges. Terminology, the process of finding the right words, epitomises this. Inclusion and access have become buzz words in the arts over the past two decades, with changes to government policy driving publicly-funded museums to broaden their audience demographics and improve accessibility [1]. As concepts, inclusion and access seem to promise that art, museums and galleries will be open to all and will actively cater to all: that all groups in society will see themselves represented in the spaces of art practice and display. This ambition is embodied in the idea of the equitable museum space [2]. Yet, despite this laudable aim, more work remains to be done, not only to continue to improve the accessibility of museums and galleries, but also to formulate a critical framework for understanding and analysing inclusion. This special issue explores inclusion and access in their broadest sense, reflecting on the many characteristics these notions touch on, from disability, to gender identity and sexuality, to age, and to race. This list is by no means exhaustive, and inevitably, it has been impossible to cover all in equal depth. The aim instead has been to demonstrate the breadth of voices that need to be heard when speaking about inclusion. Nevertheless, following discussions with our museum and gallery partners, we place a special focus in this issue on disability: something our collaborators were eager to explore, as part of a wider reflection on their respective approaches to access within the museum and gallery setting.

Fig.1 ‘Works created by Sense art makers Yiannis and Marteena working with artists Annette Pugh ARBSA and Karoline Rerrie as part of the RBSA-Sense collaboration Making Together 2018-19, © RBSA 2019

Writing about disability, as when writing about any protected characteristic, requires us to be sensitive to how people self-define. In creating this Special Issue, we have encountered a plethora of ideas about what ability/disability is: from those who define themselves as disabled, neuro-divergent, visually impaired (amongst other identities), to those who refuse all labels and any attempts to construct normative categories. In response to this, we make no attempt to establish an overarching narrative about what inclusion is or what disability is. Instead, reflecting on the diversity of the topic, we aim to embrace multiple viewpoints by creating a platform for a variety of voices. Much scholarship on disability embraces the Social Model of disability- briefly put, the idea that 'people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference' [3]. While our publication concurs with this view, we are interested in exploring the topic of disability beyond a focus on barriers, either societal or otherwise, instead questioning what happens to our understanding of disability, and inclusion more broadly, when we approach these subjects from alternative perspectives (including, but not limited to histories of visual culture, gender studies, museology, and education studies).

This collaborative editorial embodies our multifaceted approach. Recognising the importance of listening to different voices and offering a platform for different viewpoints when dealing with disability and inclusion, we have invited three arts practitioners working in this field to say in their own words what inclusion, access or disability means to them. Some argue a strong case for societal change and the need to transform our ideas of [dis]ability using the arts, while others celebrate the inroads already made towards inclusivity in the field. Cumulatively, they demonstrate the range of voices speaking up on this important issue, and advocate for a collaborative, pluralistic approach to inclusion in the arts.

A final word…

As stated, our aim in this Issue is not to present an exhaustive survey of inclusion, access or disability in the arts today. Nor is it to present a fait-accompli of what inclusion should do or mean. Instead, we seek to open up a conversation about the benefits and challenges of making our galleries and museums more welcoming places to all. Some articles in this Issue will therefore highlight examples of good inclusive practice in our galleries (Ford, Brown, Smith); others offer new critical perspectives on art works that address race, gender, or disability (Wilbur, Martin, Douglas, Hatchwell, Radcliff); many of these advocate for more research and critical discussion on the representation of this subject matter.

In the spirit of this Special Issue, this publication is accessible for those with a visual impairment through alt text, and all future editions of MAP will be accessible in this manner.