Students with Disabilities on Fine Art Degrees

Abstract

The Arts Council and Skill: National Bureau for Students with Disabilities were concerned that disabled students were not gaining access to professional training in the arts. As part of a project to encourage institutions to improve access, the Arts Council funded Skill to conduct a survey of existing provision for students with disabilities on fine art degree courses. Forty institutions were surveyed. Respondents were asked both about the facilities available to students with disabilities within their own college, and about their own view of the feasibility of disabled people studying fine art. The picture that emerged varied greatly between colleges; most colleges had responded to the needs of individual students, but few had taken any systematic approach to widening access. There was also a discrepancy between respondents who felt certain disabilities would debar students studying fine art, and others who had had practical experience of teaching students with those disabilities. The survey forms part of a wider project by Skill and the Arts Council.