Social Structures
Author: Philip Finn, Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute and Post-Doctoral Researcher; recipient of the Irish Research Council Enterprise Partnership Fellowship.
Life as an artist is precarious, even more so for disabled artists. First, disabled people face higher risks of poverty, social exclusion, and discrimination in their working lives and in public services. Secondly, for many in the arts sector income is sporadic, producing an insecurity necessitating on interim reliance on welfare payments to get by. This is felt acutely by disabled artists, often accessing crucial welfare payments and supports, who receive lower incomes from artistic employment, funding and grants. My research focuses on the role of welfare state payments and wider supports in facilitating or impeding disabled artists’ working lives.
The right to participate in the cultural life of the community is enshrined in a number of international documents, for example the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 27) and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (Article 15(1)(a)). In relation to the specific needs of people with disabilities Article 30 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires States to ‘enable persons with disabilities to have the opportunity to develop and utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential’. The Convention is central to elaborating a human rights model of disability underlining the recognition and participation of persons with disabilities in communal life. It necessitates accessibility as both consumers of culture as well as creators.
Most academic research on disability accessibility and cultural participation focuses on disabled people as consumers of culture, yet a number of studies highlight barriers to cultural participation as professional artists. These include barriers to physical accessibility, attitudinal discriminations including perceptions of art as a hobby or therapy for disabled people rather than a professional career and prejudicial ideas regarding ideal body types for performative practices. Similarly, there is an absence of organisational support systems facilitating education, training and professional development, or inclusive environments promoting disabled artists’ work and foregrounding them as role models.
A significant barrier, and the focus of my research, are the ways in which the rules and obligations underpinning receipt of welfare benefits can impede disabled artists’ ability to work. For example, artists in receipt of Disability Allowance have their payment (standard rate €208) reduced once their weekly income exceeds €140, with a potential loss of supports if earned income exceeds €375. This is often compounded for self-employed disabled artists by inaccurate income assessments caused by alternative assessment criteria and submission deadlines between social welfare audits and annual assessments by Revenue.
The rigidity of welfare system payments undermines participation in the labour market for all disabled people in receipt of them but is particularly significant for disabled artists. This is due to the often sporadic nature of such work as artists move between projects, or rely on commissions, grants and other funding to create and showcase their work. Such funding streams distributed by bodies like the Arts Council are included in assessments for welfare payments. As such, the talent of disabled artists is curtailed as they may apply for smaller awards and funding amounts (or avoid altogether) in order to comply with income assessment rules.
Allied to this is the fear of losing important supports, such as the medical card, necessary to the everyday well-being of disabled people as well as potential delays in receiving income when re-registering for income support. As the recent Indecon report illustrates, the additional costs faced by disabled people as a direct result of living with disability ranges between €8,700 to €12,300. This cost of disability is a significant driver of the disproportionate rates of poverty experienced by disabled people in Ireland.
The reduction or loss of welfare payments further undermines the capacity to meet everyday needs, particularly for disabled artists working within an insecure and precarious sector. This undermines both employment and cultural participation for disabled artists by discouraging take up of employment opportunities or by undervaluing their practices for fear of knock on effects on disability supports.
A key part of my research is drawing out a comparison between the experience of mainstream welfare payments and the new Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) Pilot Scheme. The new BIA pilot scheme provides a weekly €325 to creative arts workers while allowing them to earn other income from their work without it impacting their BIA payment. While the payment is designed to ensure a continuous income allowing recipients to pursue their creative endeavours it appears to reiterate the same issues facing disabled artists. BIA payments are assessed as self-employed income meaning they are likely to lead to a reduction or loss of disability supports. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this, alongside fears regarding a potential loss of the medical card and transport supports, discouraged applications from disabled artists.
The role of the welfare system is fundamental in ensuring participation in the cultural life of the community for disabled people as consumers, but particularly as creators. Acknowledgement of its role in facilitating disabled artists to develop and showcase their talents is acknowledged by the emergence of the Disabled Artists and Disabled Academics campaign group, the inclusion of specific welfare measures for disabled artists in the pre-budget submissions of the National Campaign for the Arts and the Music and Entertainment Association of Ireland, as well as the Arts Council’s co-funding of this research.
Recent government disability policy and strategy documents bear the imprint of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly in relation to recognising and facilitating the capacities of disabled people. Yet there remain significant barriers right across society undermining the full flourishing of disabled people, and the area of cultural participation is no exception.
This research project is jointly funded by the Irish Research Council, under grant number EPSPD/2022/178, and the Arts Council.
