Resource List:  Projects, Toolkits, and Resources related to Cultural Participation of Persons with Disabilities

This Resource List presents projects, organisations and initiatives reviewed during the extensive research conducted across Work Packages 1 and 2 of DANCING. It also includes initiatives and projects presented to us by participants in the qualitative research. This Resource List complements the Toolkit for Cultural Organisations that presents findings and recommendations.

This Resource List aims to highlight projects, initiatives, toolkits and reports that have a focus on cultural participation by and involving persons with disabilities, the accessibility of cultural content, and the overall relation between disability and the Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS). In doing so, this Resource List includes references to existing tools and resources which may be of interest to organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), cultural organisations, as well as academics, policymakers and civil society organisations.

This Resource List does not provide a systematic quantitative review, but instead includes a list of selected projects and tools carried out/produced in Europe, many of which have been supported by EU funding. It is important to note that this List is not exhaustive and does not provide a comprehensive appraisal.

The idea of this Resource List arises from findings of WP1, which highlighted that there is still a piecemeal approach to cultural participation of persons with disabilities with many obstacles to ensuring their inclusion and the accessibility of cultural content and venues. As argued in other academic outputs of the DANCING project, good practices in relation to accessibility and inclusion are fragmented and often confined within the specific and limited timeframes of projects.[1] A recurring theme among participants in the empirical research of the DANCING project was the ‘loss’ of good practices. This happens either because such good practices are linked to a project, with a specific timeframe and funding, and are discontinued after the end of a given project, or because such good practices rely on the distinct expertise of certain employees, artists or cultural workers, and discontinue following the exit or retirement of such an expert. Interview responses frequently indicated that, despite the publication of numerous guides and checklists promoting good practices across different countries, cultural organisations still face challenges in their proper use and implementation. Moreover, the adoption of a systematic approach to embed accessibility and inclusive practices into the CCS and into mainstream cultural activities seems still very slow. This is engendered by the tendency for cultural funding not to include specific accessibility budget lines, or, even when they do, such funding is allocated for bespoke (often short-term) projects rather than for sustained, long-term actions aimed at integrating accessibility into all cultural goods and services. For example, a participant of the DANCING research observed that although many innovative projects and ideas for increasing accessibility exist, accessibility rarely becomes mainstream.[2] Hence this Resource List aims to support and stimulate mutual learning to avoid fragmentation of efforts and the engendering of existing piecemeal approaches.