Keynote : Outlier to Mainstream: Artists with Intellectual Disabilities Today
Addressed by Dr. Olivia RAYNOR
“…… when founding the center (UCLA’s National Arts and Disability Center, NADC) ……. “One of the most important decisions we made was to exclude art therapy and the use of the arts for rehabilitation purposes as part of the scope of our work,”
In past decades, the artistic development of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities was limited to therapeutic services or leisure activities. Over time, the transition from institutions to home communities slowly brought about profound changes, opening the door to the use of arts programs for self-expression, social integration, and vocation. As a result, today it is recognized and accepted that artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities are entitled to the same access and opportunities as artists without disabilities, to explore their talent, pursue an education, participate in their communities, and get meaningful employment.
Plenary : Road to Dignity and Empowerment
Addressed by
Mr. Richard PHOENIX
Mr. Takashi YANASE
Ms. YEUNG Mee-ling
Families of People with Intellectual Disabilities
- Mrs NIIKURA Fumiko (Japan)
- Mr Pradit PRECHANONT (Thailand)
- Madam Mak Miu-ling (Hong Kong)
“I AM A MAN WITH DOWN SYNDROME AND MY LIFE IS WORTH LIVING!”
Said by Frank Stephens, actor and award recipient of Quincy Jones Exceptional Advocacy, Global Down Syndrome Foundation when he gave his testimony before the US congress in 2017. His statement trumpets not only on the right to life for people with Down syndrome, but also for those with intellectual disabilities. More importantly, it also calls people’s attention to their right to self-autonomy.
Art seems to be a door to the road to dignity and empowerment for people with disabilities. With their various limitations, and in particular for those with intellectual disabilities, art making serves as “an unusual opportunity to express through their work and to impact favorably on other’s perceptions of them and of their abilities.”* Supporters including their families and service providers are invited to share their stories with these artists behind the scene: how they strive to provide the artists a valuable lifestyle and the urgent need of the social support contexts to allow these artists’ preferences to be respected.**
*Robey, K. (2015). Impact of fine arts participation on self-determination and locus of control among persons with developmental disabilities
**Pernia, S.R. (2006). Self-determination and adults with intellectual disability. SD-DS: International Medical Journal on Down Syndrome, 10(3), 45-48.
Parallel Session (A1) : Art Education
Addressed by
Mr. Gaëtan LINO
Ms. Clarie LEONG
Dr. Sophia LAW
Mr. WU Kwok Ping
‘Nothing about us, without us’, is the slogan of the disability rights movement in 1990s. How true is this slogan applied to the area of Art Education? According to a commentary* on Studies in Art Education, only seven articles in the related studies covered the topic on disability, and two more in 2015. Having said that, art education for people with disabilities is really there outside.
(*Derby, J. (2013). Nothing About Us, Without Us: Art Education’s Disservice to Disabled People. Studies in Art Education: A Journal of Issues and Research, 54(4), 376-380.)
If the principle of Art Brut, not to “teach”, is to follow, or, to “teach” after a careful and detailed study of how? From the different perspectives of four art educationists in different roles, they look at how an institution can innovate and breakthrough under the current framework on the art education for people with intellectual disabilities.
Parallel Session (A2) : My Career
Addressed by
Ms. Sue ROFF
Mr. José María BATALLA
Mr. Taro OKABE
Ms. Jurita CHIU
Will there be an art career in future? As far as Hong Kong is concerned, according to the Special Topics Report No.62, only 4,000 people with intellectual disabilities were employed, about 7.2% of the population who were non-students with intellectual disabilities. In 2016, a survey conducted by a local social welfare organization even showed that the types of jobs available to people with intellectual disabilities were generally few. Most of them were repetitive in nature, such as cleaning and packaging jobs. People with intellectual abilities are not able to find jobs that commensurate with their capabilities and characteristics.
Four leading persons in four entities either of non-governmental organizations or commercial company from different countries/region bring us new visions: to be a professional artist, to join the creative team of a design house, to receive artistic training to become part of the art field, or even to connect and collaborate with other industries in searching for opportunities to develop one’s career according to his/her working mode and interest.
Let’s jump out of this career-oriented paradigm: not to ask people with intellectual disabilities to look for a typical type of jobs available in the market, but to develop and start up a career according to their own interests and creativity.
Parallel Session (B1) : Appreciation and Facilitation
Addressed by
Ms. Alice FOX
Mr. Makoto NOMURA
Mr. Masato YAMASHITA
Mr. LAI Chun-ling, Dick
“Very talented!” exclaimed by a professional artist. “No, that is an awkward manner!” a rehabilitation worker sighed. “Very talented!?”
For the purpose to raise the self-care ability of people with intellectual disabilities and speed up their integration with the society, rehabilitation workers and carers often provide their service by giving instructions and to improve their behavioral performance. As a result, it is quite difficult for these workers and carers to appreciate their individual characteristics. Even though the art facilitators can unearth the “talents” of the people with intellectual disabilities, they still face the dilemma: whether the originality of the creators is to be maintained, or, to fully “develop” their potential? For the latter, intervention is inevitable, no matter it is intentional or unintentional.
Four art facilitators from UK, Japan or Hong Kong will share with us their approach and view in their collaboration with creators with intellectual disabilities. How they allow choice making, time, mutual trust, trials, risk-taking and failure to happen during their practice of “appreciation and facilitation”, in order to experiment and explore the way to further develop the individual quality of the latter, as well as the opportunity to promote their artistic creations.
Parallel Session (B2) : Social Inclusion
Addressed by:
Mr. David DOYLE
Mr. Hang LI C
Mr. CHOW Tak Hung
Ms. Jessie CHUNG
Equality is no longer just about securing equal treatment, but really about an acknowledgement of the very personhood of persons with disabilities as persons. An innovative concept - “Inclusive Equality” was introduced by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) via its 6 General Comment adopted in March 2018. It is a holistic model of equality which reaffirms the social nature of disabled people as members of social groups and the full recognition of humanity through inclusion in society.
Inclusive Equality goes beyond the previous equality models, it offers solutions for the “dilemma of difference” and embrace differences among human beings. Painter and Self Advocate, founder of a design house and representatives from two art organisations will share with us how they, in their respective role in the society, promote the right to participation of the people with intellectual disabilities through art creations, in different social and cultural development settings and contexts, in order to enable a genuine implementation of equality throughout the society.
1. Degener, T. (2018). Inclusive Equality - a human rights based approach to discrimination [Class handout]. Leeds, England, University of Leeds. Retrieved from https://bodys.evh-bochum.de/files/Dateiablage/bodys/files/Caroline%20Gooding%20Lecture_paper_Theresia%20Degener.odt.
2. Quinn, G. (2018, October). Equality + Disability Policy in the 21st Century. Speech presented at the 2018 East Asian Disability Studies Forum Conference, Taipei, Taiwan