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Lyn Gardner praises the courage of a £3m Unlimited initiative for disabled artists in programming bold work, explaining why disabled art “has to be good or it demeans the art form”.

“Works of art which lack artistic quality have no force, no matter how progressive they are politically,” declared Mao Zedong, and although I don’t often find myself in accord with the late Chinese Communist leader, I reckon he was right in this instance. Great art often has a social function, but not every piece of work made with a social or political agenda turns out to be great art.

Purpose and artistic quality was an issue raised at Mind the Gap’s recent event in Bradford on learning disability performance, where a range of international speakers and participants considered issues around ownership, as well as quality and positioning in work made by disabled artists.

Jez Colborne, a resident artist with Mind the Gap, spoke eloquently about owning his own work from initial idea through to its delivery, and Dennis Nilsson, an actor with Moomsteatern, a learning disability company from Sweden, said that when he is on stage he is not disabled, but an actor. David Amelot from French learning disability company Compagnie de l’Oiseau-Mouche, said that performing allowed him to show that he was a “real actor not a monster... Keep reading on The Guardian