News – Disability drive

Arts Council England (ACE) has pledged to become an exemplary employer in addressing disability equality issues. The promise is made in its Draft Disability Equality Scheme 200710, published last week, which sets out its approach to achieving disability equality within its own organisation and within the arts and creative sector that it funds and supports. The scheme has been drawn up following widespread consultation with disabled people, including artists, disability arts organisations, and ACEs own staff.
Its 2005 staff survey showed that the level of dissatisfaction among disabled staff in several key areas was consistently higher than the average in the organisation as a whole, and led to the setting up of a disabled workers group. ACE aims in future to work more effectively with all funded organisations to make sure that their programmes and related activities meet the needs of disabled people and eliminate barriers to access. The draft publication draws attention to figures from a recent public survey which revealed that only 54% of the disabled people questioned had attended at least one arts event, compared with 70% of the non-disabled people, and 46% of the disabled people queried had participated in at least one arts activity, compared with 54% of the non-disabled people. It also cites evidence that the representation of disabled people as employees in the arts is particularly low.