Colin Hambrook established Disability Arts Online in 2004. Since then he has been editing and maintaining the journal and its social media outlets. In his blog he comments on aspects of stuff going in within Disability Arts and the specific arts programmes Dao is engaged with.. as well being known to vent the occasional rant.

'Opening Up Creative Culture' - Colin Hambrook discusses audio-description and the work of the RNIB Cultural Inclusion department

25 April 2013

Blog

I have long objected to the idea - encouraged in art school - that visual artworks, should by definition, only be able to 'speak for themselves' - and that any written or spoken text interpreting a painting or a photograph simply 'got in the way' of the viewer's imagination. Words, when used creatively, and in an accessible way add layers enhancing the viewer's experience of the artwork, rather than telling people what to see. Yesterday, Zoe Partington, Cultural and...

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Colin Hambrook asks where do we find Disability Arts and activism?

15 April 2013

Blog

The Disability, Arts & Diversity Symposium: 'From the Personal to the Universal' at Salisbury Arts Centre last week, promised to be "an in depth look at Disability Arts and activism from the viewpoints of artists, producers, presenters and policy makers." There are myriad implications for Disability Arts and its activist role in the wider social context, but to my mind the Symposium itself did little to address the issues. I wonder if somewhere along the way, the glory of...

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Liz Crow Bed's In at Salisbury Arts Centre to talk about disempowerment and discrimination

12 April 2013

Blog

You would expect that a symposium on Disability Art as Activism will centre around the role that the arts play in addressing political issues. There is still time to get involved in disabled artist Liz Crow's live marathon public sleepover taking place in Salisbury Arts Centre. Liz takes centre stage in a large bed. Her purpose is to talk about what bed-life means for us as disabled people. She highlights the contradiction between the demands of the Benefits Agencies in making you present...

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Trish Wheatley invites you to take the DAO Reader Survey

3 April 2013

Blog

The new look DAO has been live a few weeks now and we are keen to get your feedback on this and all aspects of DAO. We started doing an annual survey last year. It's really important that we hear from you so that we can continue to make improvements and deliver the content that really matters to you. We also use quotes anonymously from the survey as evidence of the need for DAO in our funding applications so good honest feedback really does help us to survive in challenging financial...

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