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DISABILITY AND SPIRITUALITY Otherness Voice and Power Embodied Praxis at Holton Lee 1

2

Disability and Care Arts and Creativity Environment and Land Managemen t Spirituality Personal Growth 3

THE PROBLEMS 4

Oppressors in the old paradigm of power worldview with its arrogant eye and stare Patriarchal system Hierarchical dualism power Aggressive social systems unilateral power Power over domination imperialism Mastery privileged controlling competition Mainly rationalistic Linear thinking analysis reason and logic devaluation of world of senses Modernist either or Autonomy rugged individualism Ethos of separation and disconnection Independent self separateness self justification 5

Oppressed Weak submissive victims oppressed and marginalized vulnerable as the other objects Subordinate and powerless Disadvantaged Subjugated Includes the natural environment 6

BUT MUTUALITY with OTHERS Interdependence Interrelationship Transformation and change Individual group and organisational levels Social political and economic implications Enablement Empowerment Inclusivity Advocacy Awareness raising emancipation 7

NOT OPPRESSION of OTHERS Minorities Marginalised Oppressed Discriminated against Dominated Inequality Disabled people Land and Earth home Look at list in diagrams 1 2 8

PARADIGM CHANGE REQUIRED SEE MATERIAL BELOW UNDER PARADIGM CHANGE ETC 9

PRAXIS Linking A theory and B practice 10

A THEORY 11

Finding and Giving a VOICE and a LANGUAGE Empowerment through 1 Understanding and knowing spirituality research and development 2 Disability Arts and Culture 3 BSL Linguistics 12

OTHERNESS 13

OTHERNESS Paul Darke the sign of Otherness for disabled people exist all around us toilets parking spaces entrances passageways hearing and visual impairments the unity of identity and experience for disabled people that the signs falsely propagate is one of pathological uniformity rather than social objectification and exclusion Paul Darke 14

Signs and forms socially identify and construct disability as Otherness and are symbols that define the permitted spaces and places of difference and impairment The disabling sign as opposed to the sign of the disabled creates a hegemony of normality in the negation diversity of experience not only within all section of the community but more specifically within the disabled community The unity of identity and experience for disabled people that the signs falsely propagate is one of pathological uniformity rather than social objectification and exclusion Paul Darke 15

The alien nature of the sign is a reminder of the oppressive nature of a certain hegemonic structure that tyrannises any divergence from an accepted norm Normality is understood as somehow valid over the deemed to be invalid inferiority of the disabled Paul Darke 16

1 Understanding and knowing spirituality research and development A Spirituality B Disability 17

A SPIRITUALITY 18

RECENT THEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS and CHANGES Sandra Schneiders from Discussion Paper As the human enterprise gradually comes to be seen as two sex experience values such as the recognition of the other equality mutuality relationality interdependence and co operation are beginning to appear as not only women s strange ways of being but as human ways of being that may be preferable to imperialism domination rugged individualism and competition 19

1 The other is anyone different from the norm in Classical Western philosophy and theology that is white Western male and Christian which thus has excluded women people of colour the poor homosexuals and we add Disabled People It has been arrogant and imperialistic to submit everyone to this paradigm because the identity of the oppressed was obliterated lacking resources to question this status quo either theoretically or politically therefore we need to bridge the gap between experience and analysis and articulate and analyse the experience of oppression and exclusion academically and politically and begin to dismantle the palace of patriarchy 20

2 Social location is the determining condition of all knowing and challenges objectivity and patriarchal scholarship because we instead move to An unbiased universal and politically neutral pursuit of the truth and production of knowledge where one stands determines what one sees Feminist and liberationist scholars help force scholars out of the closets of pseudo objectivity and into the political marketplace in pursuit of a truth that liberates feminists and other oppressed people 21

Therefore there is a need to move from imperialist disembodied omniscience about subjects And instead authors state who they are where they come from and what effect location has on their work More substantive change is inclusion on research teams and faculties since increased inclusiveness is an evident necessity for valid research 22

3 Interdisciplinarity Liberation scholarship fosters movement across disciplinary lines thus re visioning theology Emerging scholarship is the reversal of male and patriarchal Enlightenment ideas and analysis for its own sake giving away instead to a synthesis in the service of social change 23

4 The emergence of spirituality as a legitimate academic discipline Studies experiential interaction between humans and divine In cross cultural interreligious and nonreligious research disciplines It operates under its own name or a variety of subterfuges Spirit is understood as the capacity of the human to transcend nature and create history Feminist scholarship has identified reappropriation of spirit as their primary objective recognising that accession to full human stature meant accession to spirit 24

Motivation for research the desire to respond to real life questions such as the search for meaning A shift because previously marginalised and excluded people now bring their agenda to the academy which demands a whole new approach to knowledge asking where it comes from and how it is established who generates it and what it is for Thus interdisciplinarity can respond more adequately than classical academic specialisations 25

Right relations among all beings and first of all human beings requires renewed energy and hope with the enormity of the human crisis all over the world 26

Dryer 2000 The spiritual revolution is global and very complex It began as a popular phenomenon and has now worked its way into the academy At one end of the spectrum is the New Age and the other is fundamentalism The split between religion and spirituality has occurred because mainline religion has failed to address the needs and desires of the seeking community Dyer suggests we understand the spiritual life in re shaping theological spirituality in terms of mutuality compassion and bodiliness 27

Disability Arts Environmen t Personal Growth Spirituality SPIRITUALITY AND PERSONAL GROWTH 28

SPIRITUALITY We cannot be right with God unless there is also some sense of being right in one s relationships with other creatures with the planet with the cosmos O Murchu We live in a divine milieu where every particle of the created universe is potentially revelatory of God use resources of creation in an ecologically and socially responsible way Truth cannot communicate itself only as correct belief but is dependent on the struggle for liberation 29

SECULAR PRAXIS reflexive practice informed by theory SPIRITUALITY PRAXIS spirituality aspect is consideration of power address cultural concerns of our day social emancipation liberation try to eliminate causes where we stand determines what we see emphasis on context understood through the lens of praxis ORTHOPRAXIS constitution of freedom 30

THE BASIC MODEL OF INCLUSIVITY dominant paradigm hierarchical patriarchal oppressive dualisms disconnections compartments oppressed marginalised powerless paradigm shift from I to we journey of change transformation freed from the need either to control or remain submissive Diagram 9 NEW PARADIGM WORLDVIEW in a new global community Oppressors and oppressed must change to new relation of mutuality inclusion Paradigm of power is mutual influence empowering with others relational power Interdependent non hierarchal 31

particular way of being in the world love of God neighbour are inseparable links psychological spiritual interpersonal political structure life to embody religious values professed entails choices decisions in all aspects of our lives 32

integrate life increasing wholeness healing divisions dualisms dichotomies not separating sacred vs secular or individual vs social not understood in individual terms embodied individuals groups organisations concern for empowering quality of life and what ought to be commitment to justice real issues responsibility conditions 33

SPIRITUALITY from Discussion Paper 34

Masson 1984 We need to be open spiritually by appreciating the incomprehensibility of God and acknowledging and valuing the diversity of cultures philosophies and theologies To profess God is love is idle apart from the effort to determine what love concretely is in each context with explicit tangible expressions of that love 35

Noffke 1993 Loving conduct is concrete because it includes both meeting needs or problems and also addressing the causes if they are to be eliminated which then requires the study of issues and systems so that we can convey at least basic understanding to others otherwise our practice risks shallowness or even counter productiveness Intellectual capacity and personal information are BOTH necessary for integrated spirituality 36

Johnston 2000 The Spirit of Love the Source of all existence is the Being who cannot be encapsulated in words letters or images This love cannot be programmed and does not come from human effort alone but is a religious phenomenon when our being becomes being in love the very core of all authentic religion 37

B DISABILITY 38

Disability And Care Arts Environmen t Personal Growth Spirituality DISABILITY AND CARE 39

SPIRITUALITY AND DISABILITY CARE Holton Lee recognizes that inaccessibility is a major disabling factor and therefore we are working to create a barrier free environment We work with the understanding of the reformulation of disability as a social oppression 40

INCLUSIVE SPIRITUALITY Diagram 12 traditional Medical Model approach to disability paternalistic patronising professionals speak on behalf of disabled people Policy attitudinal change disability is socially constructed so reject patronising impairment understood as deviation from normality excluded from mainstream social life prejudice discrimination dignity taken away denial of democracy poor segregated done good to stared at and talked down to SOCIAL MODEL OF DISABILITY Insists on inclusion greater autonomy Respect dignity with right to participate fully in solutions to own problems remove environmental and social barriers structures Disabled people speak out for themselves and therefore change conditions of life thus overcoming disability imposed on top of physical impairments by way society is organized to exclude C Reinhart 41

IMPAIRMENT Is the functional limitation within an individual caused by physical mental or sensory impairment 42

If impairment can t be cured then result is blame culture failure blame low self esteem victim of services symptoms to present to other Doctors C Reinhart Doctor diagnosis eg broken arm cured 43

STRUCTURES in society ARE THE PROBLEM Disabling factors are my disability lack useful education discrimination in work segregated services poverty belief in Medical Model inaccessible information inaccessible transport prejudice de valuing C Reinhart inaccessible environment 44

The SOCIAL MODEL OF DISABILITY Is the basic conceptual tool of the disability movement It distinguishes between impairment and disability 45

2 DISABILITY ARTS AND CULTURE 46

Disability And Care Arts Environmen t Personal Growth Spirituality ARTS AND CREATIVITY 47

VOICE DISABILITY ART can help to Increase the profile of disabled artists Still seen as second class with low expectations Make art with cultural connections Encourage disabled people to consider the arts as a serious option rather than hobby Increase debate and challenge people s perceptions of Disability Art Address attitudes 48

Change people s lives through the opportunity to take part in or experience high quality arts activities Increase opportunities for cultural diversity in the arts Support excellence new ideas and activity to help build long term stability in arts organisations Investing in the creative talent of artists and individuals Penny Goater Juliet Prentice Square Roots 49

A PARADIGM CHANGE FOR ARTISTS Socially dominant paradigm modernist narrowed sensitivity to moral and spiritual issues un ecological unsustainable isolationist rationalism More than superficial change reject prevailing cultural attitudes demand change of consciousness individualism alienation psychological spiritual development blocked highly trained artists taught to think in modernist terms idea of helping to answer collective cultural needs rather than personal desires seems irrelevant Diagram 14 NEW MODEL of PRACTICE of ART Emphasis on community connectedness as agents of change beyond the gallery system responding to the needs of the planet in partnership producing art that is aesthetically social purposeful value based art Disability art as a medium of expression challenges perceptions highlights issues contributes to dialogue on position of disabled people in our society and thus helps to change policies and practices 50

SPIRITUALITY AND ART Art is more than words we can give imaginative voice to the spirit in nature Each person has an inner artist being creative helps to discover hidden parts recover self worth integrity and self esteem both human need for our inner soul to respond to the environment and a physical impulse to be creative there is an exchange between our inner and outer environment 51

CURRENT PRAXIS at HOLTON LEE Focuses on creative partnership personal creativity with social environmental responsibility with a creative response and sensitive interaction expressing artistic work which is in service to the whole C Reinhart 52

DISABILITY ART slides 35 39 from Sara paper for Russell Coates Developed over a period of 20 30 years Fuelled by desire of disabled people to Build careers in the arts Produce work which draws on their experience of disability To address a disabled audience 53

TERM DISABILITY Refers to art that is informed by the personal and or collective experience of the disabled self That is creative work across all art forms that has at its core the influence upon the artist of and Responses to a disabling world 54

IMPORTANT DISTINCTIONS between Disability Arts and Arts and Disability The arts of any given time provides a unique social commentary Disability Art is an identifiable culture and strong vibrant sector of the arts in the UK even though it did not exist 30 years ago 55

DISABILITY ARTS IS Controlled by disabled people A developing culture The culture of disabled people The creative voice of disabled people Empowering Political A disabled person s interpretation of mainstream arts 56

ARTS AND DISABILITY IS Controlled by non disabled people About integrating disabled people into the mainstream social inclusion Not about disability issues 57

QUALITY and INQUIRY INTO quality and values of Disability Art Define Disability art by saying what it isn t Not therapy Not art in hospitals Not workshops delivered to Social Services clients who look surprised to be there and done to Its history is Unorthodox Past is rooted in oppression And survival may have been nurtured by an injection of creativity from Position Paper to Arts Council Diversity Task Group by Tony Heaton 58

EDUCATION Some special schools specialise in educating a passivity rather than empowerment Teach learned helplessness rather than independence Don t encourage risk taking Normalising is not educating Mainstream education is riddled with prejudice and barriers Is largely unaccepting of Disabled people both as staff and students Where you taught by a Disabled person Position Paper to Arts Council Diversity Task Group by Tony Heaton 59

HOW TO EVALUATE Art from cultures different than our own which is the starting point for a predominantly non Disabled audience Position Paper to Arts Council Diversity Task Group by Tony Heaton 60

DIFFERENT CULTURES You can t just compare and contrast It needs an understanding of our culture and its manifest oppressions Not culture but cultures because A Deaf artist will have occupied a fundamentally different world than a physically disabled artist The special school may have reinforced a Deaf culture and history that was positive and affirming Someone who has just survived the mental health system will draw on a different experience Just as an adult with a sudden or gradual onset of impairment will Add to this the experience of a Disabled Artist from outside the dominant culture and the complexity is palpable Position Paper to Arts Council Diversity Task Group by Tony Heaton 61

Disabled people have to begin the process of discernment want to nurture but oppression can get in the way Don t want to kill a creativity that has begun to flourish against all odds in its infancy Time has to play a part like many movements in art history an evaluation takes place Certain works resonate and become iconic or Are seen as catalysts for change Position Paper to Arts Council Diversity Task Group by Tony Heaton 62

WRITING OUR HISTORY As we do certain works will help to define our culture As does the recent Arts Council Disability Arts publication see summary below They may articulate our collective voice Pioneering work to promote disabled Artists has started the defining process Others will be added as the debate broadens and will take their place in our history And their work will reside in a National Disability Arts Archive Position Paper to Arts Council Diversity Task Group by Tony Heaton 63

The quality of work many have evolved And have been nurtured from the unlikely source of a Day Centre or institution Our role models may be few Our movement is still young but a critical appraisal is due and timely Position Paper to Arts Council Diversity Task Group by Tony Heaton 64

PROBLEMS WITH APPRAISAL because of our status in society Trusting our values might be problematical for non disabled consumer because They do not share the oppression Will miss the joke irony pathos or point Instead To judge the quality they will need to trust us To make an investment in us To study our culture and Support our stand against the injustice and oppression Not as tokens but in an honest and meaningful way And will need to make a commitment Position Paper to Arts Council Diversity Task Group by Tony Heaton 65

There is Disability Art of real quality Lets make a start to evaluate it before others decide to do it on our behalf Position Paper to Arts Council Diversity Task Group by Tony Heaton 66

CELEBRATING DISABILITY ARTS Publication extracts Arts are a powerful way of increasing awareness of the rights of others and of bringing diverse groups together Disability arts has broken new ground developed new ways of working and helped the arts sector as a whole take access issues more seriously 67

The movement developed during the past 20 30 years fuelled by the desire of disabled people to make careers in the arts Produce work that draws upon the experience of disability Address a disabled audience The radical disability politics that arose in the 1970 s which gave disabled people a sense of worth and a feeling that we could take control of our own lives through setting up and running our own organisations 68

Members are from all disciplines of the arts By overcoming prejudice creating our own careers and coming together to set up support systems we became part of a wider network Disability arts grew from a desire to struggle against discrimination and therefore linked with the radical struggle to change the position of disabled people in society Disability arts could provide an alternative to the mainstream not merely access to it and represent the ideas of disabled people Rather than rely on negative stereotypes and power of disability by non disabled artistically concerned people 69

Quality issues are linked to questions of control since many integrated companies make very dubious use of disabled performers Disability arts provides a platform for political debate The political movement helped disabled people to expect more to have confidence in their own abilities to work together and be taken seriously Disability politics also led the move away from the impairment groups model that typified charitable provision for disabled people Several organisations emerged in the move to gain respect and independence for disability arts 70

Johnny Crescendo Disability art is young Disabled people are becoming part of the social agenda with their stories issues and lives Traditionally lives that have been buried locked in the attics of guilt and repression and ignored by the pursuit of false perfection Disability art uncovers this silent history reveals disabled people as part of the human race and Gives a sky for their dreams to take shape 71

The art of any given time provides a unique social commentary The mainstream is made up of many rivers of consciousness mixtures of diversity and madness joy and sorrow Disability art is not mainstream but is a river of hope that challenges our exclusion from modern day culture It provides an effective way of conveying important messages the battle for inclusion messages from those at the sharpest end of the oppression we call disability Messages that confirm that we are strong angry and proud and should be accorded the basic rights that go along with that 72

Disability art comes from our very soul it cannot be bought but it can be supported When disabled people are accepted in society only then will the dam burst as our river flows into the mainstream Johnny Crescendo 73

CURRENT KEY ISSUE How to preserve and archive what has been achieved in the past 17 years in disability arts Holton Lee are planning to create a physical archive and creating content for it Which includes oral history projects and work designed to aid disability arts organisations in preserving their own work And planning a conference to develop a set of guidelines on the preservation of our past to value what was created and to pass it on to those who come after 74

It did not exist 30 years ago But now disability arts is a strong and vibrant sector of the arts in the UK Deaf arts has been about defending an existing culture from the threat of extinction Whereas the rest of us have been working to create a culture where we had none Allan Sutherland 75

DA21 DISABILITY ARTS IN THE 21ST CENTURY booklet extracts below Elspeth Morrison Dr Paul A Darke Barbara Lisicki Moya Harris 76

National conference held at Holton Lee January 2001 C Reinhart 77

Elspeth Morrison Even though issues surrounding separate impairment groups were different we all had one thing in common that the world often viewed still does us as people without rights hopes and dreams 78

The History of Disability Art As recipients of art practice arts delivered to you Given in a therapeutic manner 1981 But greater awareness in local authorities that disabled people had rights Not having art done to us anymore A notion based on the social model of disability which states that It is the way the world is constructed that is the most disabling thing for people with a variety of impairments 79

The major experience of disability is about barriers 1987 DAIL Disability Arts in London a fantastic communication tool a lot of flack for being too political To say that people had a consensus about what Disability Arts was or indeed still is would be wrong I m quite shocked at how little impact we ve had Unless we actually get together and get out there really nothing is going to change 80

Dr Paul A Darke paper Now I know why disability art is drowning in the river Lethe Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will Martin Luther King 81

Disability Art is potentially the most significant art movement of the late Twentieth Century because of its potential It deconstructs the constructions which society creates through its art and other hegemonies of normality Hegemonies which legitimate a society s own sense of that is good art a normal body and a vibrant culture as the epitomisation of a civilised culture 82

Disability Art saw the art world and establishment through its exclusion of disabled people as playing an important role in society s and its constituent cultures broader exclusion of disabled people and its continuing denial of disability as a social issue Disability Art philosophy is based upon legitimating the experience of disabled people as equal within art and all other cultural practices Not as an equal opportunities issue but as part of a process of re presenting a more accurate picture of society life disability and impairment and art itself 83

Disability Art is a challenge to an undermining of traditional aesthetic and social values It is virtually a sociology of the art of society art exploring its own disabling practices and processes It utilises the social model of disability and society to explore disability not impairment per se and society through arts practice and culture as a collective and individual experience of socio economic exclusion in a society that is marginalising demeaning and exploitative of the images and experience of disabled people 84

It is about the nature of barbarism of contemporary culture in relation to itself through exploration of the construction of otherness and disability As most non disability canonical art practice still is structured around the culturally hegemonic or normality the medical model of life let alone disability Disability Art is nothing other than a threat to the core values of the aesthetic values of contemporary cultures art or any other Thus it is perhaps the last great revolutionary art at humanities disposal that is solely humanitarian and non ideological in intent 85

The problem is that we never see any actual Disability Art since it is mis or re interpreted Most seen is pseudo therapy workshops products impairment orientated workshop works form a craft basis or developed in an empowerment course or low level Community Arts or to fulfil a Lottery application for equal opportunities prerequisite or heroic works that assert the potential normality of disabled people to fit in with inspirational role modelling The situation is only getting worse Art participates fully in the production of the world as it is 86

The changing relationship between cultural ideas Disability Art and the processes and practices of cultural institutions If the function of culture is to encourage galleries art schools and venues to legitimate the hegemony of normality and reinforce the otherness of disabled people then a reevaluation of Disability Art is overdue Particularly with the ever increasing cultural imperative of homogenisation of global capitalism when one considers the increasing alienation and exclusion from the broader elements of cultural life ie abortion genetic screening statementing in schools or sectioning in the community for all but the few normalised disabled 87

The degree to which the Medical Model of life disability is presumed to be natural has increased within society and arts practice with the arrival of biotechnology Now permeated into the arts since they get their money from biotechnology pharmaceuticals and pseudo scientific forms of human management The public sector also set their commissioning agendas to those of commercial partners To legitimate their own funding as relevant to current social issues and trends 88

The initial period of hope and the founding principles for Disability Arts Forums are that they are run and controlled by disabled people combined with a belief in the social model of Disability which frames and structures the work they do The appearance of support masks a more insidious reality the proactive assertion of cultural assimilation at the expense of actual cultural diversity Superficially a new cultural capital of Disability Art is being created across the UK and being welcomed into the mainstream of contemporary art culture in the same way that Disability Theory has been taken on board by the mainstream 89

Others Disability Artists still working with the memory of the original philosophy of Disability Art are more sceptical about both Disability Theory and especially about Disability Art They argue that all equality has meant in reality is amongst the elite of the disabled community there is now a class of disabled people themselves exploiting other disabled people for their own career or financial benefit 90

No disabled people s culture has been created what has resulted is the strengthening of the normalised hegemonies that oppress and deny the validity of disabled people per se which emanate from contemporary art any other cultures Unfortunately Disability Art has been appropriated by the mainstream not merely in order to neutralise its potential for socio cultural disruption but also to explicitly reinforce the original hegemony which Disability Arts was set up in opposition to normality 91

An appropriation reinforces the traditional Biotechnology companies and other conglomerates with millions of pounds to spare have used arts funding as a subtle way of gaining either public support for practices or products One s set of dispositions thoughts and actions of your own class culture which you presume to be virtually natural is Through culture and sub cultures falsely legitimised to be universally applicable and moral Whereas it is purely a social construction used to structure one s life based upon class and ideology 92

Thus current arts funding can be seen as gaining specific validation for significant social issues such as bioengineering Which merely gives the impression that we live in a pluralistic and egalitarian society As such Disability Art funding is the lie behind which the truth of injustice flourishes with our consent We have colluded with the Arts Boards and Council and this has undermined almost the entire worth of Disability Art We have undersold ourselves and been sold out by the public art funding bodies Which do exactly the same to other traditionally culturally marginalised groups other than disabled people 93

The same practices and processes are true for the working class black and ethnic minority people as well for their own benefit By handing over the power of Disability Art in hope of finding funding the actual meaning passed on to the funders Who then have control of contemporary art culture 94

Post structuralist and Cultural Studies Have repeatedly looked at the changing historical definitions of race gender masculinity and gayness Producing studies which have revealed striking change not simply identifying the barriers and policies to rectify inequality But also the very definition of the terms themselves A similar analysis and shift in significance combined with any degree of intellectual rigour has not happened in relation to Disability Art 95

This lack has participated in the apparently effortless appropriation of Disability Art by the guardians of our art culture Allowing it to quickly slip from the grasp intellectually and practically of disabled people Consequently the Arts Council of England ran with the idea of disability equality as its own invention and exploited it for their own purposes a purpose implicitly normalising in ideology and practical outcomes And they supported and enabled mainstream organisations to attract and work with disabled people mainly so that they could tick equal opportunities boxes and be seen to be working on audience development not actually to make a difference 96

Mainstreaming The conscious change was about mainstreaming disabled artists A practice that is very different to Disability Art and the work of Disability Artists Mainstreaming is about reinforcing the existing structures cultures and traditions of art practice It is not about validating alternatives or even attempting to ameliorate the mainstream As a result of the submission of Disability Arts to ACE cultural diversity moved on to be subsequently replaced by the far more marginalising practice of cultural assimilation though it was still to be labelled cultural diversity 97

Disability Art moved from being about wanting to change the nature of art and social culture radically To being used by many disabled people And took a direction which soon defeated all of its own original aims and intentions Which meant the majority of disabled people and Disability Artists are in a worse situation than they had been in before This took place in the late 1990 s was not the fault of disabled people who moved into institutions which had for so long excluded them 98

30 pieces of silver Providing well paid jobs linked to equal opportunities issues of access employment and training in the culture that had previously excluded disabled people We all took our share of the 30 pieces of silver So current practices do nothing for disabled people and only serves to create a situation where the more normalised disabled people will increasingly will not be excluded as they were before superficially 99

Normalised disabled people Most disabled people will increasingly be denied their basic human right the right to life The normalised disabled person will increasingly be used as a tool of legitimacy to marginalise or dehumanise others within the disabled community The parading of assimilated disabled paraolympians ex or current models and other television tokens will increasingly be seen As long as they politicise disability and maintain a visible attempt to normalise 100

Collusion Thus further mystifying the real socio political issues of disablement The denial of the mass of disabled peoples rights has ended up being legitimated by so many disabled peoples collusion with the institutions thus being used as role models in order to maintain control over the notion of normality itself Paraded by the media in order to exclude the majority of disabled people who do not wish to or unable to pass as normal of habitus or cultural capital 101

They represent a normalised education ambition class or morality Or as the normalised acceptable face of difference And thus negate the entire notion of difference in the process of reinforcing the hegemony the values the hope of conformity and normality It is impossible not to collude in it in order to achieve any degree of success in its establishment terms Therefore collusion and betrayal is unavoidable Success and survival meant adaptation Most disabled people who are successful have played the game and been rewarded for complicity 102

as supposedly disabled people as radical holders of the social model of disability flame Assimilation is inescapable given the nature of the cultural beast An art culture normalised habitus open to a few disabled people is what has been developed by some disabled artists and administrators Disability Art has been truly displaced The commercialisation of funding and undermining of Disability Art means that it is now nothing more than jobs for the few and a return to art therapy for the majority 103

Individual artists fill the void giving DET training DAF s provide palliative project work to local authorities to relieve boredom the boredom of day centre attendees Arts Organisations hold conferences and seminars for mainstream organisations begging to be let in The price was high the mainstream has completely castrated what was the aim of Disability Art Which could have instead freed us all from the chains of mainstream including itself 104

Thus enabling the mainstream to bind itself within its own illusions every more tightly Organisations will go so far as to distort the facts in an attempt to deny the validity of Disability Art when it impinges on their own discriminatory practices Often with no self awareness but with a sense of threatened normality so fragile The difference between cultural diversity and cultural assimilation it is the difference between you helping me disabled to be me or you nondisabled helping me to be like you 105

HISTORY OF DISABILITY ART Initially it was a rupture in the apparently linear journey of cultural capital It did not fit the codes traditions of the art habitus of the mainstream Therefore initially culturally incomprehensible As a new culture it rejected the traditional and presupposed validity for itself In opposition to the dominant hegemonies of normality oppression And undermined the core values of traditions of mainstream art as constructions to the most resistant to the de illusionment of normalcy 106

Issues Consequently art culture code makers must make the incomprehensible and threatening message use the same codes and understanding to fit what is invisible to them into a visible structure that will enable them to understand it Thus understanding Disability Art is achieved by reconstructing it to be about issues comprehensible to those who define contemporary art habitus ie access equal opportunities and training Such issues practicalities do not challenge individuals or organisations hold over art 107

Instead Disability Art is distorted to reinforce and reinvigorate the traditions and values it was originally seeking to demolish ie a constructed belief system which they the guardians of art assiduously defend Consequently the idea that their view of what is naturally superior of Western Art Culture class capitalised and medicalised affected the definition of what Disability Art is in order to make it more understandable and codifiable Culture layered the medical model of disability as a personal tragedy which merely seeks normalisation to be reintegrated on to Disability Art through state sanctioned initiatives controlled through funding bodies 108

And now remains lined to issues of equal opportunities audience development and or training Disabled Artists are supported to get into art schools to train in the traditions of art creation understanding and appreciation But Disability Art is not taught at all The way of seeing has not changed at all All that has happened is that some disabled people are now allowed to experience the privileges of the few in the appreciation of what is the current notion of art 109

ART CAPITAL IS NIL Disability Art as a radical new way of thinking that undermines the superstructures of contemporary Western capitalist notions of art is nil Even the new distorted and appropriated form has no value to a contemporary art establishment The very process of only linking it to social issues and re medicalising it displaces it from mainstream art culture in to being based on a simplistic and na ve ideology based on values of normality 110

It is impossible to get a Disability Art exhibition in a mainstream art venue because it will be compared and found wanting Why have artists seeking inclusion and access to the values of mainstream when they can have the real thing That is either normal artists or artists with disabilities who reinforce the existing values that the gallery and staff have been inculcated into As a result of art hierarchies those Disability Art events put on are invariably marginalised as par per se or held as overarching social issue education based events 111

Disabled Artists who get showcases completely deny any relevance to Disability Art or even the notion of a social model of disability But instead are feted as inspirational role models despite being severely crippled Disability Art has been distorted to become a tool simply to address issues such as disability access training and audience development Which is key to its undermining as a serious art philosophy or as part of a process to develop a culture of disabled people 112

The art establishments take any DET offered in order to ensure that Disability Art is seen as nothing other than either education or as a means of communicating an awareness of a social issue Thus it is defeated by its own adherents Recipients then manipulate distort and finally control it to fit its own medicalised view of disability as fundamentally about issues of integration or normalised social valorisation It is not about valuing disability as intrinsically valid but rather defining for society filtering through the broader culture what are the parameters of normality and what and who are the acceptable faces of otherness ie the normalised other 113

It was is important to increase levels of perception about Disability Art educate the receive into the nature and meaning of its politics But many disabled artists have instead made work which is simplistic and shallow in content by being overtly political in relation to the social model of disability Others do DET linked to an exhibition as part of a funding agreement Both of the above reduces the art to mere communication or education in content meaning or theory Rather art needs to be difficult 114

Hierarchisation of art artists with disabilities inculcate into an art habitus and get funding and access to venues successful because their work is within the tradition of art which makes it comprehensible and non threatening to establishments who control art economies and so define the nature of art capital In this way art language is legitimated as a superior form of communication thus increasing the sense of satisfaction the tradition has with itself By allowing the right type of artist entry to the art culture tradition those who have the means to appropriate it 115

Consequences Disability Art is reduced to an issue of access or mere envy Thus appropriation of Disability Art is negated and turned into the very thing it originally set out to oppose And the mainstream s privilege is legitimated further by a certain type of disabled artist not a Disability Artist wanting to be allowed in to the mainstream Art competencies are demonstrated in work created in the knowledge of accepted art capital Thus the language that permits exclusion of those who challenge or seek to access it A language which never needs to be spoken 116

Establishment processes sit in judgement on funding applications and reinforce the negation of Disability Art and The apparent mainstream success of artists with disabilities within culture per se Disability Artists are in a no win situation Often with no education Who are merely allowed within the inner sanctum of art production if they reinforce those values Masquerading as normal in a non normal body 117

Conclusion Disability Art has been lost except in the activity of a few Disabled Artists who work at the margins of not just art culture but at the margins of culture per se A culture of disabled people will not come out of Disability Art as it is now funded practiced or theorised by either disabled people or the mainstream arts culture Disability Art was an art practice with a theoretical basis that was about revealing the hidden force of the effects of the majority of culture s social uses Not just in relation to disabled people but to all people As a result Disability Art and Disability Artists have become a major tool of the hidden forces used against disabled people to legitimate their our continued en mass exclusion from not just art culture but culture per se 118

Barbara Lisicki The arts funding system likes the stuff that doesn t have content They are obsessed with integration Yet a charitable box with people feeling sorry for us But disability culture comes from our experience as disabled people Which informs our art making our identity as a disabled person part of what you produce and Be out about it 119

Instead Get together an action so politics meets culture And people give time energy skill 120

Johnny Crescendo If we don t write our history non Disabled will write it for us How we got where we are today is essential to our culture and from that art can flow It s important for us to tell other people what it s like Disability Arts reaches out to people who are outside our movement and creates a lifeline to pull people in A lot of people are left behind in institutions and day centres 121

control Unless we reach back for them we can t be honest as a community about our voice The real politics is that we re not in control as a movement The people who are in control of the segregated bit are social workers charities and professionals People who hold and disperse the money hold the power The benefits system doesn t know what the social model is The whole system is run on fear 122

You can use other people s experience The most important thing is listening to other people s stories and experiences as disabled people Disability Art can break down more barriers than Disability Politics because more people are interested in the arts A popular song could transmit the message better than a whole academic thesis it is more accessible 123

Adam Reynolds An artist has an immediate response to the world around Its essential to begin to reclaim disabled artists To re write the way that work is seen The DA movement needs to re write history Art history should be re written to put forward our experience more strongly Until we agree on where our antecedents are we re not going to find out where we are going Leads to a clearer direction 124

No longer trying to be one tribe But a group of tribes who all work together and feed off each other We had no models for our art study Whereas if the history is there young disabled artists will understand about this work More work will be developed Need more disabled people in the education system and as activists Recognising them in print so people coming through colleges and universities will see it Realising that artists throughout history and every discipline in the arts have disabilities 125

DEAF ARTS Dr Paddy Ladd John Wilson have been excluded from Disability Arts developments 126

DEAF HOOD A lack of understanding about what Deaf Arts culture actually is Within the disability movement and across societies at large There is an international dimension and global citizenship the strongest feature of Deaf hood The Social Model s main achievement would ensure Deaf Disabled individuals equal access to mainstream society Requires ROOTING OUT all the institutionalised discrimination that lies hidden beneath the more obvious barriers 127

Culturo linguistic model But there is another dimension and level of reality that the model does NOT touch That is both the individual and collective levels Deaf people perceive themselves intellectually emotionally and culturally to be a collective entity The signs Deaf and we are inseparable Living within a collectivist culture Which is in contrast to Western majority cultures which are fundamentally INDIVIDUALIST cultures 128

Western policy makers and Governments are already culturally inhibited from recognising COLLECTIVIST cultures simply because they are not even aware of the differences operating So everything to do with Deaf people is framed on the individualist level since that is how society treats all the other collectivist cultures So legislation is equally ineffectual as far as righting the wrongs enacted upon minority cultures within those societies 129

Education Is the way culture ensures its survival Determines its cultural health Plans for its future Best way to wipe out a culture is to wipe out its language By preventing it being passed on to next generation Thus education is the battleground for ALL MINORITY CULTURES Therefore their primary focus is inwards Putting energy into surviving maintaining and developing all forms necessary to sustain the life of the collective 130

If minority cultural organisations do not receive this energy the quality of collective life suffers Community becomes a less powerful resource for sustaining its individual members eg Aboriginal First Nation and Indian peoples Languages and cultures bind themselves together to create and maintain themselves Deaf community has far more in common with language minorities than any other construction Languages are glasses revealing whole worlds And we need to know language culture and customs 131

Language is not another access tool But is the key to another dimension Language operates in depth as well as breadth Lack of language access also means lack of cultural access to understanding the million ways British society works None of which has been accessible to sign language using communities Therefore little idea of how it thinks feels or works The degree to which a culture looks outwards depends on the degree of oppression and internal damage it has to contend with and repair 132

For certain minority cultures everyday is cultural wartime A permanent state of emergency Which is the Deaf communities reality in the 120 years of Oralism They want economic cultural and linguistic independence But the West conceives of reparation in terms of money but This is not how collective cultures operate and the West is unable to comprehend or act and thus continues to ignore the whole question Minority arts can help re enrich those cultures and restore cultural traditions 133

statistics There are 10 million people who have become hearing impaired in later life 50 100 000 have BSL at their first or preferred mother tongue And they do not think feel laugh cry or fight in English Hearing impairment is not the significant issue and making it so reinforces the medical model But Oralism has so subtly dominated the discourse A more insidious happening is when Deaf children are being forcibly experimented on being forced to have implants all hailed as another oralist miracle of science 134

For many Deaf people the bridge between English and British culture doesn t exist So we cannot make progress until each culture understands more about the other To close Deaf schools in the name of inclusion is cultural genocide Now need to examine how to work together to create understandings that are needed to bring others across And have to do it in the face of those in power who want to lump us all together Basic issues still need to be spelled out 20 years on People need to be able to express their deepest and most profound human experiences in the language of their collective To have a deaf person as a guide using your own language thinking along the same lines 135

National conference held at Holton Lee January 2001 C Reinhart 136

NATIONAL DISABILITY ARCHIVE James Wear first AIR in 2001 Then located Archive at Holton Lee 250K by Arts Council C Reinhart 137

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WHAT IS DISABILITY CULTURE Simon Bridenden 1989 From DAIL magazine 143

If you have struggled and fought to become assimilated to merge with the majority you do not want this achievement to be knocked The overwhelming urge to become part of normality leads one to devalue the world of disabled people and to avoid contact with that world Disability culture is deeply threatening because it values the lives and experiences of disabled people as important in themselves The idea of disability culture begins with the recognition that we are valuable people in ourselves and we need not avoid each other or hide behind a cloak of false integration No longer building our lives on denial and disvaluing our background and experiences 144

Only people who value themselves and listen carefully to their own voices have a culture of their own rather than a secondhand culture gifted to them as the price of silent acquiescence to unthinking normality Disability culture is that which is common to our lives and which informs our thoughts and activities It is our aspirations and dreams as well as struggles and nightmares It is the art we produce and the organisations we have built It has given us the opportunity to share experiences come out of the shell of private confusion into the public world of politics and performance art 145

In our multicultural society we proudly take our place alongside other cultures and lifestyles which demand a space to communicate and be themselves Learning to realise our differences rather than disguising them Taking control of our lives and organisations in order to create a form of politics born out of our uniqueness not led by professionals or other non disabled people The culture of disability comes out of our ghettos as a form of defiance It is the web that binds us together on the basis of what is common but leaves room to move and grow 146

Built on appreciating many things including being patronised or ignored in the past Not wait for academics to decide our history is important but begin to chart it ourselves by listening to and recording reminiscences of older people with disabilities It is about expressing ourselves in whatever way comes naturally not about shutting ourselves off from society Rather take our place in society fortified and empowered by the knowledge that we do not need to discard our cultural identity as the price of integration 147

DISABILITY PORTFOLIO booklet Start here 148

3 TRAINING IN BSL LINGUISTICS At East Holton NVQ Assessment Centre 149

OFFERS THREE PROGRAMMES an Introduction to the level 4 NVQ Interpreting programme which runs over 2 weekends Level 4 NVQ BSL Language Units Assessment Programme which is spread over 4 months Level 4 NVQ Interpreting BSL English Assessment Programme which is spread over 8 months 150

COMMENTS from participants Lovely BSL linguistics course such a great place to work really like the way you have it organised Have decided to try to get the NVQ4 language units at CCM Particularly enjoyed the environment and appreciated the helpful friendly approachable manner leaving weekend with more confidence and motivation Excellent 2 weekends good team fantastic assessors very approachable wonderful location and facilities 151

Role of Deaf Arts extracts from Celebrating Disability Arts Deaf arts has had a strong influence on the development of disability arts and for many is an important part of the movement with the inclusion of Deaf people sign language is treated as an essential part of good access provision p10 152

Put in material from Disability Portfolio photocopied pages Link Dr Paddy Ladd from DA21 above 153

and B PRACTICE Praxis 154

CURRENT PRAXIS at HOLTON LEE is inclusive and holistic with full participation shared power Holton Lee can help educate people who are here staff volunteers guests We don t exclude and discriminate don t create segregated services nor do we segregate families but are inclusive and ask people what they want and need C Reinhart 155

DISABILITY is this from Colin Barnes diagram or from Sara s rejected page Is the loss or limitation of opportunities to participate in society on an equal level with others due to physical and social barriers The social model of disability puts the problem outside of ourselves and back into the collective responsibility of society as a whole It incorporates architectural barriers Financial barriers Education Transport and legislation 156

ADVANTAGES The advantage of the social model is that it makes the problems solvable You deal with disability by removing barriers ending discrimination giving civil rights to disabled people 157

PARADIGM CHANGE AND POWER 158

A Paradigm shift requires us to move and change from I to we to a new paradigm of relational power and collaboration Through a transformative journey and Psychological revolution 159

THE BASIC MODEL OF INCLUSIVITY Diagram 9 dominant paradigm hierarchical patriarchal oppressive dualisms disconnections compartments oppressed NEW PARADIGM WORLDVIEW in a new global community paradigm shift from I to we journey of change transformation freed from the need either to control or remain submissive Oppressors and oppressed must change to new relation of mutuality inclusion Paradigm of power is mutual influence empowering with others relational power Interdependent non hierarchal marginalised powerless C Reinhart 160

A CIRCLE OF FRIENDSHIP Oppressors in the old paradigm of power worldview with its arrogant eye and stare Patriarchal system Hierarchical dualism power Aggressive social systems unilateral power Power over domination imperialism Mastery privileged controlling competition Mainly rationalistic Linear thinking analysis reason and logic devaluation of world of senses Modernist either or Autonomy rugged individualism Ethos of separation and disconnection Independent self separateness self justification Results in Dualisms Dichotomies Extremes Either or Separated realities Irreconcilable opposites Splits A Paradigm shift requires us to move and change from I to we to a new paradigm of relational power and collaboration Through a transformative journey and Psychological revolution a model of reality with a new worldview and order an evolutionary spirituality which views with the Loving Eye in a circle of mutual connectedness and web of relationships living an evolutionary spirituality An inclusive companionship paradigm for being in the world Living in a circle of companions and web of mutual and inclusive relationships in true communion with openness respect reciprocity compassion interdependence interconnectedness interrelationship listening love and compassion and co operation with a passion for right relationship care empathy and concern It is deep mutual and egalitarian None are superior or inferior since are lives are interwoven We live with integration both and empowering with others equally and in solidarity with recognition of the other with radical unity and diversity and transformed loving in democratic and interactive relationships Friendship in a non hierarchical web of relations linked in generative web of communion with each other and rest of creation in a great web of interbeing and web of connectedness which implies shared risk and cooperative evolutionary learning Respect for process synthesis the holistic felt experiential affective Oppressed intuitive metaphorical and bottom up growth living in a Co creative Weak submissive victims dance of human body mind and cosmos oppressed and marginalized The incomprehensible mystery of divine love is poured out for the sake of vulnerable as the other the world objects Subordinate and powerless Disadvantaged Out of the circle grows the mighty flowering tree which shelters Johnson 1998 Subjugated all the children of one mother and father Fisher 1995 Includes the natural environment Any spirituality that values a privatised and vertical love relationship with God at the expense of communal horizontal love of neighbour is inimical to holistic spirituality Au 1993 A paradigm shift is required so we can embrace a wider reality which is fundamental to authentic spirituality It is dangerous because the unsettling presence of God is in and proceeds from the world of the poor and those engaged in justice peace and the integrity of creation according to 161 theologians O Murchu and Soelle

A CIRCLE OF FRIENDSHIP living an evolutionary spirituality a model of reality with a new worldview and order living an evolutionary spirituality which views with the Loving Eye in a circle of mutual connectedness and web of relationships 162

An inclusive companionship paradigm for being in the world Living in a circle of companions and web of mutual and inclusive relationships in true communion with openness respect reciprocity compassion interdependence interconnectedness interrelationship listening love and compassion and co operation with a passion for right relationship care empathy and concern It is deep mutual and egalitarian None are superior or inferior since are lives are interwoven We live with integration both and empowering with others equally and in solidarity with recognition of the other with radical unity and diversity and transformed loving in democratic and interactive relationships Friendship in a non hierarchical web of relations linked in generative web of communion with each other and rest of creation in a great web of interbeing and web of connectedness which implies shared risk and co operative evolutionary learning Respect for process synthesis the holistic felt experiential affective intuitive metaphorical and bottom up growth living in a Co creative dance of human body mind and cosmos The incomprehensible mystery of divine love is poured out for the sake of the world 163

From essay awakening to feminist consciousness Mere realignment is not a sufficient corrective because the domination paradigm is simply perpetuated through buying into a different one Replacing one regime with the other doesn t stop dehumanisation but instead requires a change of consciousness By resisting we follow a reactive trend of thought and action rather than being engaged and committed to growth and positive enhancement as we live out a holistic spirituality for life which undergirds all our thoughts and actions Then a metanoia can be brought about 164

Leading to healing and positive transformative action which can help to change given situations and be truly empowering rather than further debilitating Struggling and resisting only confirms victim status but instead as we transform ourselves and our world By gathering empowering resources of strength which can help us to choose and sustain life A change to some sort of mutuality is a twosided process where the subjugated are empowered and the privileged listen and give up power over others Not an exchange of places but all are converted from domination subordination to a new relation of mutuality 165

A new world order could be centred around interconnectedness diversity co operation and evolutionary learning With a paradigm shift where we move from survivalist behaviour living in fear to an evolutionary spirituality which we choose Not with revolt but with a different way of being with mutual participation and selfhood A collective consciousness change can help to restructure the power dyad Wholeness is not linear perfection but includes an interdependence with others self earth and the sacred It is not an individualistic activity but instead encompasses political personal social ecological and interpersonal concerns 166

Patriarchal systems are often very subtle with their overarching canopies of individualism and separateness We can end up living within them with a false sense of well being But we can decide to take responsibility and redefine power and live out relationships of mutuality and love with expanded consciousness With a vision of the goal of a paradigm of power as mutual influence where dominantsubordinate relationships with hierarchical or unilateral power are replaced with a new paradigm of power based on relationships of mutuality with relational power and collaboration 167

This paradigm requires us to live out relationship instead of emphasising the disconnection and separateness of the model of the independent and separate self but rather models a growth in relationship We can thus seek full humanity and spiritual empowerment and strength achieving our potential Our hope and power is in living out our freedom together with enough of us to effect that change as instruments of change It is costly to effect change but more dangerous to sit on the side lines hoping things will change 168

THE PROCESS OF AWARENESS Osiek Zappone 1 initial fearfulness 2 rejecting the confronting challenge 3 experience a turning point 4 anger at oppression 5 move on to face the effects 6 live in the impasse feeling there is no way forward with new found awareness experience and embrace alienation before Experiencing a break through 169

Experiences of consciousness raising begins a process of conversion which helps us to reconstruct personal and social relations Ruether 274 5 170

PUT in other material about change and transformation from Report 171

ATTRIBUTES OF THE JOURNEY DOMINATION Own the pain and actively appropriate the experience of love holding hearts before our inner God during the transformation in the dark Both categories perish and are demolished into the new order of participation SUBMISSION Experiences of pain domination oppression exploitation Recognising a dissonance between what is and what ought to be Diagram 19 Understanding Personal is political challenges us to transform human relationships and institutions and to restructure in accordance to equal humanity and the integrity of all people To do so we need to hand over our powerlessness and controlling power so we can be transformed and be able to love ourselves others and God as we become personally and societally more healthy Interpersonal depth is a mirror of social depth the psychological life of the nation corresponds to a great extend to that which is unconscious in individuals but whoever dares to hold up a mirror to underlying common psychological sickness is perceived as a social threat because they dare to name the denied and unwanted parts of social consciousness To name what is dissonant as people speak out of their pain may result in being further marginalized because they hold up a mirror to those who are comfortable and complacent in their dominant roles Therefore we need Divine pedagogy along with those who can discern and guide in the dark night as we journey with others who are also attempting to recover and release repressed energies which have been violated by the surrounding culture and therefore split off from consciousness and submerged in the psyche Belief systems and day to day practices have imprisoned us all in roles which deny humanity Those who then make this journey are participants of the most universal social change In fact the survival of the world order is at stake as we struggle to rescue ourselves The fruit is that the goal of replacing individualism with love will have been achieved The Spirit empowers inspires inspirits and helps us to embody and bring the oneness we already share leading us to an every fully equality and mutuality with all persons Love of neighbours enemies earth and cosmos each have potential to lead us into loving intimacy with a God who calls us lovers and friends Our idea of God needs to undergo transformation with a radical redefinition of God and just changing the language is confusing and unsatisfactory The incomprehensible God transcends and transforms present images and symbols so we can internalise and relocate and reinterpret this God of love something which cannot happen by theological reflection alone but through experience in the dark night when we personally experience the continual contemplative purification of the human person as a progressive hermeneutic of the nature of God In this contemplative love not given on demand and experienced beyond conscious control we are purified from projections Then we can give theology the insights it needs to search out new doctrines of God God is faithful and will reveal us to our selves if we put our faith not in ideology but with our inner God We are then purified from violence and readied for communion equality and mutuality It is not theory but deep within our psyche affirmed by God within We realise that we can live out this change when we are able to love others more deeply as more integrated whole and complete persons God is a mystery Presence Power Love God and love are inseparable it is not possible to tear them apart God is our capacity to love and is the power and spark that animates our love The new paradigm is one of participation where the whole pattern of domination is demolished The new paradigm of sharing one body one life mutual selfhood as friends Zappone 1991 Fitzgerald 1996 Dryer 1993 Soelle 1984 Eisler Loye 1990 172

EXTRACTS FROM RESEARCH DATA from co researchers 2nd person interviews and writing 173

Simple practical issues like making all our buildings and services as accessible as possible Meeting the individual needs of guests by having open and honest dialogue through feedback forms and discussing with individuals and organisations about what they need from us and what we need from them simply allowing people to play an active part in their own destiny Our job is not to control them within the constraints of our organisational structure but to enable them within a flexible structure built 174 around our guiding principles

Equal access means people can more readily achieve their potential Our aim and ethos is for people not profit for marginalised and discriminated against people It takes time to develop deep democracy We don t provide a product that our guests consume they take part in our lives join our community This is how we establish and embed an informed authentic relevant and embodied spirituality within our praxis 175

As an organisation we have a broad understanding of living spirituality rather than initiating conversation about it It is important not to impose any type of thinking or understanding on others Developing spirituality is often imperceptible and subtle and has to do with values and attitudes Spirituality at Holton Lee is something best understood by being lived out particularly in relationships between members of staff trustees and volunteers and between staff and guests It is something more likely to be caught than learned 176

Increasing awareness of Spirituality and earthing it is not a once only event but an ongoing process which needs to be reviewed and revisited throughout the future Spirituality undergirds the whole and cannot be separated from its Mission and Vision statements and needs to be taken into account when working out the practical application of these statements 177

TRUSTEES DISCUSSION at spirituality awareness raising day The importance of a flat non hierarchical organisational structure with no them and us Ensure an environment and ambience through which the Vision and Mission of Holton Lee may be enhanced without being an imposition of those involved Interrelationship should not be simply functional and ways need to be found to strengthen relationships between all involved in the work of Holton Lee A blend visionaries and doers is important 178

Loving relationships are an essential expression of spirituality evidenced in the importance of Respecting each other Being willing to listen to each other with the desire to understand Recognising each others intrinsic worth Accepting our differences 179

Guests and visitors benefit from the atmosphere created through relationships Nurturing of spirituality is essential and needs to be taken into account when engaging staff Responsibility for ongoing nurture of spirituality needs to be within the organisation within a recognised Personal Growth and Spirituality Group The Spirituality Statement and Policy is a reference point for all involved with Holton Lee and needs to be revisited at regular intervals A belief in equal value of each individual and working for the best for both workers and guests 180

Spirituality is seen primarily in the way that people relate to each other working as a number of small teams within one big team without an imposed management Without the ethos of love and care spirituality at Holton Lee would be an empty phrase The application of the spiritual principles of loving relationships such as respect listening and a desire to understand each other also helps in time of conflict resolution But it may also be worth considering a training session on resolving conflict Due to the shortage of income and therefore staff there is a resultant pressure with the volume of work which has repercussions little time for relating 181

To try to rigidly tie down spirituality at Holton Lee in tablets of stone would be to lose its very essence since it is alive and must be free to develop as the Spirit of God wishes it Organisational changes reflect the desire to acknowledge and maximise the contributions of all involved With the importance of creating the space to listen to each other Accepting our differences Whilst still being efficient in any decision making process Impossible to separate the secular and spiritual at Holton Lee 182

The understanding and identification of spirituality has been a process which evolved as we continued to meet and exchange observations and experiences and must be an on going process We have not wished to impose upon others what could have been limited by the interpretation made by six individuals and a statement on spirituality which would have been a compromise made by us in order to come to a conclusion Spirituality at Holton Lee is alive and clearly evident in many ways 183

Its development may need to be a gentle and continuous nurturing of where it is already embedded rather than any dramatic change in approach Like the inherent strength in a plant there is the power to break through and thrive when encouraged by the right treatment Spirituality is primarily with the people of Holton Lee enhanced by the beauty and accessibility of the land and its flora and fauna 184

Co researchers continued Spirituality is about a way of being so people will feel free to be at Holton Lee Therefore we must be willing to be open at deep levels to be able to co operate with the Spirit s movement and not block it A genuine authentic journey is transformative costly and real and affects others and our own quality of life Contextualised in our personal and organisational lives 185

As organisational context and environment for praxis we learned that it is not about compartmentalising life but rather trying to offer a context in which people can experience the fullness of who they are in body and soul All Four Aspects combine to enlarge and enhance the dimensions of life 186

Tony a spirituality culture has been permeated throughout the organisation The organisation is non hierarchical not saying you are director and have got to solve the problems a sense of achievement and empowerment building up peoples confidence and ownership rather than telling people what will be done 187

Co researchers Spirituality is personal and social an integration of body mind and spirit Discovering our inner potential and coming into fullness of life 188

3rd person interviews Spirituality underpins the whole ethos With a holistic approach Spirituality is all of life the environment people caring self development creativity dialogue process connecting universal and cosmic A lot of energy and sense of community and need for connection Earthing it by continuing to live it within Four Aspects and in continuing dialogue between them Holton Lee is not just a place but a state of mind 189

Co researcher half day group reflection Spirituality involves us all at head and heart level Research group was catalyst and driving generator seeding insight and understanding across the organisation percolating to the other Aspects Through the research process people have changed The world is skewed up but at Holton Lee we have changed how we live not in accordance with the current worldview but with the view of the founding vision Community is a fragile thing working for the good of the whole while maintaining a sense of wholeness to keep from being divisive We learned together from the bottom up gaining heightened awareness and deeper learning not with fixed opinions The research process facilitated us individually as a group and organisation to make the paradigm shift and transformation from the old paradigm to the new As we learned deeply from each other 190

WHAT WE LEARNED from co researcher interviews Time was needed since spirituality is not a quick fix but rather a process Language was a problem The need to listen and respect each other during research and development process Structures don t work without participation and co operation because it is made up of people who enliven them Treating people with mutuality so all have equal opportunity 191

Process is a two way reciprocal relationship Enabling ownership and growth We need to have our own embodied knowing Spirituality and love go together and is not a topdown imposing and doing to others Spirituality happens in relationships particularly if the organisation can provide a conducive environment to facilitate such a quality of life and ethos so it can be lived Spirituality has more to do with being And needs a great deal of awareness raising and naming and is precarious and vulnerable until something is put into place 192

Monitoring the vision Need a group to keep the practice healthy And a person with specific responsibility for further development Have an external consultant or spiritual director so we can continue to offer an open place of exploration to others while remaining open to change and be challenged Demonstrate a new social model people can learn new things in interaction between Four Aspects Pass on our understanding of ethos and vision to new staff so jointly owned Need a pastoral group to look after the well being of the Holton Lee Community 193

What has been sustained and developed is the founding ethos a place of welcome integration learning an extension of the vision of Post Green There is power and strength in a truly authentic ethos that has passed on to the others who take it up It has in its inception to be real felt more than words and continue to be felt We work to create a fully inclusive environment so all can have as equal an opportunity as possible to enjoy what we work to provide 194

The Tomorrow living the vision principles based on what we learned about the organisation as context Spirituality woven throughout organisation So is now radical in setup with sound and helpful foundation People must spend time within the place and organisation in order to understand it at heart level since spirituality is lived out in loving relationships and so is precious and fragile within the organisation All within our secular organisation with its sense of community need to recognise spirituality as our sense of identity 195

It is manifest by being in relationships So organisation can help to provide an environment to help facilitate people to live in a healthy way but we can t organise or ensure spirituality Those who visit will tell us if what they experience is not the same as what we say We are on cutting edge along with others around the world stretching the boundaries re spirituality If the organisation isn t acting respectably then there isn t integrity or integration The shared research process resulted in a community of us and in the process we realised as an organisation that we need a wide range of thinking with respect for where people are at so we can learn from each other 196

We started learning from bottom up and worked our way up rather than starting from the topdown An impact was that lives have changed since we realised change happens not by telling people what you know but by helping them to expand grow and open up Wherever care and love is given of the land and people we meet God in different ways The vision needs to be picked up otherwise it could just be a centre run without the ethos and its own long background It is seeing everyone as important and being inclusive of all people within a place which is also fully accessible 197

OTHER EMPANCIAPTORY PRAXIS List other happenings Aidan s writings look at all of it in my green folder Look at Eisland Lisa Mercer Shakespeare Exploring Disability What does embodied mean re spirituality and disability DA21 booklet Celebrating Disability Arts booklet Liz and Lynn Cull 2 papers P 41 in doctoral report Add Tony Sara s papers on the Disability Arts Archive x 3 And Disability Arts or Arts and Disability paper Sara And Disability Arts and Culture at Holton Lee paper Sara The Bible in Transmission Spring 2004 various papers What is Disability Culture Tony Position Paper to Arts Council Diversity Task Group by Tony Heaton Disability Arts Portfolio Scottish Parliament papers Tony 198