Crippen Cartoons cartoons at the cutting edge of disability

An alliance of disabled people working across the UK creative industries have come together to campaign for an inclusive cultural recovery following the Covid 19 pandemic.

Called ‘We shall not be removed’, this is an emergency response led by disabled people for disabled people working across the UK’s creative industries. Designed as a forum to advocate, campaign and support D/deaf, neurodiverse and disabled creative practitioners and organisations through and after COVID.

In an article following the first on-line meeting of the group, Disability Arts Online Magazine reports that as disability arts communities have become more and more isolated due to the current crisis, so it seems our concerns have been increasingly put aside by the authorities and by the media. Our position within society has become ever more fragile within a very short space of time as new policies responding to the pandemic have ignored the plight of disabled people

The last decade has seen a flowering of disabled people’s talent in every artform and increasing levels of inclusion across the cultural mainstream, but all this progress is threatened by the pandemic.

The aims of the alliance are:

● To ensure a sustainable future for disability and inclusive arts in the UK through and after the pandemic

● To amplify the voices of D/deaf, neurodiverse and disabled creative practitioners & disability arts organisations at a time of crisis for the arts and for disabled people

Launched on 6 May with an inaugural meeting held on 4 June, membership of the new alliance has already reached over 150 individual disabled creative practitioners, disability arts organisations and those that work inclusively, from across the four UK nations, across artforms and across impairment groups. New members are actively sought to ensure the alliance reflects the full diversity of disabled people working in creative industries.

For more information please click here to follow the full article in the Disability Arts Online magazine.

To access the open letter to the Culture Ministers please click here.

To contact the organisers email – weshallnotberemoved@gmail.com

And for twitter #weshallnotberemoved

Description of cartoon for those using screen reading software

A large broom labelled ‘government clean up’ is sweeping a blue liquid down an open drain. The liquid which is identified as Covid 19, contains pieces of card representing disability arts groups and organisations and include Graeae Theatre, Candoco, Drake Music, Disability Arts Cymru, Access all areas, Shape arts, Hijinx and DAO. Across the top of the page is an email address – weshallnotberemoved@gmail.com – and a twitter hash tag that reads ‘weshallnotberemoved’.