Disabled artists – a perspective of possibilities

Abstract

This paper presents an issue concerning the perspectives of possibilities for disabled artists to participate in culture and art. The author attempted to characterize the current state of possibilities and the relationship between disability and changes in functioning of the personalities of disabled artists involved in occupational therapy workshops and other institutions supporting the professional adaptation of a selected group of people unprofessionally involved in creative stimulation. The author stressed the importance of fulfillment of the general artistic education of all kinds of disability as a fundamental element of activities aiming at confirming those artists in the attitude of full and independent functioning in the public space and culture and art. The author presented an excerpt of his study the aim of which was to make an attempt to assess the psychological results of participation in the author’s experiment, i.e. the cycle of education for creative activities of a 50-person group of young artists. In his study the author applied the ACL Adjective Test by H. G. Gough and A. B. Heilburn (1980) and an authorized survey. The changes which occurred as a result of participation in the experiment were evaluated through comparison of a retrospective self-image (I before my participation in education for creative activities) with the current self-image (I currently) of artists with motorial disability. The obtained results of the analyses revealed numerous essential and profitable changes in functioning of personalities the investigated individuals.