This presentation will address the matters of justified differential treatment in music education in relation to disability and the concept of reasonable accommodation that is formulated in the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). CRPD approaches the social construction of disability from a politicised perspective and declares that refusing to make accommodations results in discrimination. From the perspective of teacher autonomy, this presentation focuses on two aspects of reasonable accommodation: (a) its definition and (b) its implications for music education practice. Responsibility for reasonable accommodation is considered through practical illustrations that address matters such as musical notation and instrument selection. The presentation is based on an article by Sanna Kivijärvi and Pauli Rautiainen (2020), ‘Contesting music education policies through the concept of reasonable accommodation: Teacher autonomy and equity enactment in Finnish music education’, published in the peer-reviewed journal Research Studies in Music Education.

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• Policy Brief
  
  
  
  

Art as a spiritual and healing vehicle for the disabled.

Alphonse Mucha said,” Art only exists to communicate a spiritual message”. Art opens the door to communication of new hope from despair.   There is quite a bit of pain, depression and isolation invisible and visible disabled communities. The need for hope of a better outcome than the one I have currently had of isolation and despair.   Art comes as a healing balm to heal the wounds of life and disability. It creates out of that pain comes a passion fo connection and need   Many disabled people suffer from despair and isolation. Our discussion and presentation will illustrate our art as a healing personal journey and how this personal journey to heal ourselves from isolation and despair and manifested into art programs to serve other disabled people in the Philadelphia Community.

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Additional Resources

• Nancy Shell’s Biography
• Interview with Nancy Shell
• From Frozen to Flourishing
• Freedom Quilt Project
• Metro Story
• My Hero
• Johnson House Quilter Stitches Together Stories of Freedom
• Good Raised Up

This session will offer an introduction to critical disability studies and its practical implications for arts education. The presenter will distinguish between the medical, social, affirmative, and political/relational models of disability with a focus on what each might offer practicing arts teachers supporting students with disabilities in their classrooms. Participants will learn practical strategies to create environments that en-able rather than dis-able their students and explore considerations for the design of arts learning experiences that are accessible, inclusive, and just.

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We believe that all voices are essential and highly imaginative. As such, our workshop will explore the intersections of theatre and disability justice through a collegiate program entitled Inclusive Theatre Group. Inclusive Theatre Group fosters a safe, non-judgmental ensemble in which disabled, able-bodied, and neurodivergent community members and Coastal Carolina University students tap into their creative voices through theatre. Inclusive Theatre Group builds community, nurtures creativity, and re-awakens a sense of play and fun in order to enhance collaboration, social & emotional wellness, and self-determining confidence. Our workshop will provide research, insights, and tools targeted towards university theatre programs in an effort to encourage how a disability-inclusive theatrical community within a university setting can support universal design and radical imagination. Distilling research from group interviews, storycircles, and play-making, we will share aspects of a toolkit, detailing disability-inclusive theatre as a modality for equitable opportunity, universal design, and communal well-being.

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• Session Overview - White Paper
  
  

The internet is saturated with viral media featuring disability; from video clips of a food service employee feeding a disabled customer, to the story of a high school electing a teen with Down syndrome being elected to prom court. This phenomenon is known as “inspiration p*rn,” a term coined by the late disability activist Stella Young. It refers to the objectification of people with disabilities in the media, which serves the purpose of making the consumers, namely people without disabilities, feel good inside. The message, either implicit or explicit, can range from, “If this disabled person can do XYZ, what’s your excuse?” to “Look how compassionate this able-bodied person is for offering basic human decency to this poor disabled soul.” It can imply that disabled people are to be pitied, portray an unrealistic view of disability, or that disability is simply a mindset. However well intentioned these stories may be, they cause harm to the disability community. This presentation will focus on how to identify objectification of disabled voices, how to center disabled voices in order to prevent perpetuating these problematic messages, and interrupt the systems of oppression towards the disability community.

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• Session Presentation 
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Additional Resources

• Stella Young at TEDxSydney 
  
  
  
  

Presenter will discuss the Child Find Mandate as a basic right for every child to be enabled to receive a free: and appropriate public education which includes access to music and the arts as part of a well rounded education (ESSA, 2015).  Legally required in every State under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1990)  there is inequity of implementation and dissemination of information to parents and families preventing children across the nation from receiving early Intervention and other specialized services through elementary to secondary school settings. How do we get the information to the individuals who need it?   Legally yours - The Child Find Mandate is our inclusive right for your child’s successful life. Session is suitable for all caregivers, educators, administrators, parents,  family, and members of the professional services community.

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Additional Resources

• Text - An Attitude and Approach for Teaching Music to Special Learners
  
  
  
  

Fran and Ruth: disabled artist-mothers have endured scrutiny, intrusion, judgement and criticism in adding to the population. Willing and equal the task of motherhood, Fran and Ruth’s stories of motherhood are full of unencouraging reprove. As artists, however, they suddenly realized, they’ve not made art about this.Fran and Ruth will discuss lack of representation of Deaf/disabled parents and its intersection with being a disabled artist. What happens to the narrative of disabled artist mothers in areas such as our reproductive rights, our freedom to choose birthing procedures? How can children of disabled artist-parents be supported? Fran and Ruth will share with you a dissertation on why we as disabled artist-mothers do not represent these issues in our work and how important is it for disabled mother-artists to make art about being a disabled parent? What can institutions, arts and cultural producers do to support disabled parent-artists careers?

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Teachers are expected to fit dominant narratives of the workplace, typically characterized as white, male, middle class, able, heterosexual, and Christian. Teachers who don’t share these values tend to remain closeted, left to resolve inner conflict on their own, in favor of peaceful communities. This comes at a tremendous personal cost, negatively impacting teacher engagement and well-being. Presenters will discuss personal narratives of isolation and conflict in the workplace due to non-privileged identity statuses such as being neurodiverse, female, and having different religious beliefs that the norm. The demonstrated artmaking exercise and micro-resistances can help teachers process, clarify, and understand the intersectionality of their identity in relationship to environments in which they work, empowering teachers to cope with conflicting feelings which arise in everyday encounters. Through experimental writing and journaling, participants will learn skills to address this internal conflict, enabling them to coexist within their work environments.

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• Session Transcript
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• Session Overview - White Paper

Additional Resources

• Live Chat
• Text Mixer