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Wales is largely a rural country, big on mountains, winding roads and tiny villages, but lacking in joined-up accessible transport systems. Hand-in-hand with rural issues and the problems of the Valleys where mining and heavy industries have collapsed, we have unemployment, poverty and isolation. Add the complications of language, with many towns and villages in the north and west being mainly Welsh speaking, while the south tends towards English. Multiply all these barriers many times for disabled people, who are more likely to be unemployed, poor and isolated, anyway. There you have it. What chance disability arts? How can disabled people start to think about celebrating their culture when the struggle to simply get to the supermarket is such a nightmare?

It has been a long, slow haul for the growth of disability arts in Wales, and its evolution has followed a different path to the scene in England. Going back twenty five years to the International Year of the Disabled in 1981, we can see the first small changes. As a result of events held during that year, Arts for Disabled People in Wales (ADPW) was established, with the remit of working towards equal opportunities for disabled people in the arts.

Initially ADPW was led by non-disabled people. In Wales at that time, the growth towards disabled people’s rights was slow, and in the arts, barely noticeable at all. Although equal opportunities were on the agenda, there was little recognition of the need for leadership in the arts by disabled people. Certainly there was no understanding of the disability arts movement, which was then at an embryonic stage in England.

ADPW ran small arts projects which were led by non-disabled people for disabled people. The projects were successful and very much enjoyed by participants, but that was it. There was no progression from ‘Having a Go’ at taster days or similarly informal sessions. It is fair to say that during the 1980s, many arts organisations in Wales would have been nonplussed at the idea of disabled-led arts aspiring to be anything other than community events. Anyway, the majority of arts venues were then hideously inaccessible, even for audiences.

In the late 1980s ADPW, inspired by what was happening in England, attempted to set up a disability arts conference in Cardiff. Sadly this never went ahead, due to lack of support from the membership. Feedback from members was ‘we want to be integrated’. Disability arts smacked too much of segregation, and there was suspicion of ideas ‘imposed from England’. For several years there were no moves towards disability arts. Other arts providers, usually those working in the community, ran projects for disabled people, but still the focus was on ‘Having a Go’, with integration seen as the way forward.

The early 1990s brought significant changes. ADPW became Arts Disability Wales (ADW), and an important amendment was made to the constitution, ensuring that at least 51% of board members at any one time were disabled people. This remains the same today; our board members are valued for their experience and commitment to the organisation, disabled and non-disabled alike.

In 1994 ADW held its first ever cabaret at City Hall in Cardiff, with dance, poetry and song by disabled performers. Around this time the disability movement in Wales was gathering strength, though the principles of disability rights were slow in filtering through to the arts generally. A few disabled performers and writers were keen to develop a disability arts scene in Wales, but the barriers were still considerable.

Despite the gloomy scenario, the late 1990s saw a new interest in arts among the disabled community. When disabled people met to discuss access or political issues, the conversation often turned to the arts. ‘How can they get it so wrong?’ was a familiar grumble, followed by ‘Where is our control? Where are our voices?’

There was much work to be done at grassroots level, so in 2000 ADW employed a Development Worker, and project work now focussed on raising the profile of arts by disabled people. The first new project was cADWyn, a visual arts competition for disabled visual artists. The response was astounding, and contact was made with many ‘new’ disabled artists. The work of twelve finalists was reproduced on a series of high quality postcards which were distributed to the public, free of charge, through one hundred arts centres and libraries across Wales. Such was the success of this project that, six years on, some venues are still requesting postcards.

In 2003 ADW established The Write Stuff, a creative writing project led by Allan Sutherland, an established disabled writer from England. The project involved ninety-two disabled people across Wales. Eight groups met regularly with tutors at accessible venues – yes, we found the venues, though I won’t pretend it was easy! The initial plan was to have two groups working from home, for those who could not attend meetings. This option was so popular that eventually six groups of writers worked from home, making contact with tutors through email, post and telephone. For those attending group meetings, we paid travel expenses, and provided sign language interpreters and Personal Assistants where necessary.

The outcome of this project was Hidden Dragons, the first anthology of poetry and prose by disabled writers in Wales. Some of the contributions were in Welsh; a small step towards embracing the two main spoken languages of Wales.

Although rural issues can create horrendous problems for disabled people, at the same time artists and writers are using the isolation and the beautiful environment as their inspiration. Interestingly, artists are also bringing their experiences as disabled people into their work, which is incredibly exciting.

A notable event in the summer of 2003 was a disabled women’s cabaret, part of the Women in Tune Festival which takes place over one week in summer in the middle of very, very rural west Wales. The cabaret was organised and crewed by disabled women, with accessible camping, ramped stage, sign language interpreters… Fabulous! The audience was a mix of disabled and non-disabled women, who gave the show a standing ovation.

In 2004 ADW had another name change to Disability Arts Cymru (DAC). We continue to stage cabarets, which have a growing audience, again a mix of disabled and non-disabled people. Established disabled performers come from England, but all events include up-and-coming Welsh disabled performers. After Dark was our first Deaf Arts cabaret. We worked in partnership with Deaf Association Wales, whose input has been invaluable in this new phase of audience development.

Partnerships with other organisations can be extremely positive; ‘mainstream’ arts learn about access issues and disability arts, while disabled artists learn from the established organisations. Partnerships are excellent for dealing with those old concerns; there is less talk about ‘integration’, and much more about what we can learn from each other.

Funding is always a problem, as access costs for any disability event are high. DAC has been fortunate to have the ongoing support of the Arts Council of Wales, as well as numerous charitable trusts which support our cause, but we know how much thinking and planning goes into good access. Hopefully one day all arts organisations will budget and plan for access, leading to regular programming of disabled-led work.

Successes and hiccups have been many; the progress of disability arts in Wales is a steep learning curve, and the story is only just beginning. This June we held our first residential stage school for 12 disabled actors… Just watch this space.