Art by Disabled, D/deaf, and Neurodiverse Artists: Challenges and Opportunities in Inclusive Curating
Date: Monday, 23 February 2026
Time: 3PM GMT (4:00 PM CET / 10:00 AM EST)
IKT, the international association of curators of contemporary art hosted a panel discussion convened by Miguel Amado with myself, Elinor Morgan and Róisín Power Hackett. The recording can be seen here
Disabled, D/deaf, and neurodiverse artists have increasingly challenged historical barriers to participation in the art world, leading to greater mainstream recognition of their work. For example, the Turner Prize was recently awarded to Nnena Kalu, a practitioner supported by ActionSpace in London. In addition, MIMA in England organised ‘Towards New Worlds’, an exhibition featuring fifteen practitioners selected by Aidan Moesby, who previously collaborated with the institution through DASH’s Future Curators Programme.
In Ireland, Sirius Arts Centre produced a retrospective of Fergus Fitzgerald, affiliated with KCAT Arts Centre. The Museum of Modern Art in New York staged a presentation by Marlon Mullen, an artist based at NIAD Art Center. These developments have prompted curators to reconsider traditional definitions of art and to explore innovative ways to engage with disabled, D/deaf, and neurodiverse artists.
This webinar brings together leading curators and artists from the United Kingdom and Ireland, including Elinor Morgan, Aidan Moesby, and Róisín Power Hackett, all of whom are engaged in current debates concerning art by disabled, D/deaf, and neurodiverse artists in their respective countries. The speakers discuss the intellectual frameworks and methodologies used to organise exhibitions and events, as well as the institutional and practical challenges encountered.
The webinar provides knowledge and skills in institutional and narrative development, preparing attendees to collaborate effectively with disabled, D/deaf, and neurodiverse artists. It seeks to address gaps in expertise and capacity at both personal and institutional levels, thereby expanding attendees’ ability to create environments in which the voices of disabled, D/deaf, and neurodiverse artists are adequately and fully heard.
Reframed: Disability Aesthetics and Institutional Change in the Visual Arts
Reframed: Disability Aesthetics and Institutional Change in the Visual Arts was an online event on the 26th June 2024. It was presented by Disability Arts Online and the British Council, and curated by artist, curator and writer Aidan Moesby. It brought together professionals from Europe and beyond on two panels discussing the eponymous themes.
The significance of the British Council commissioning the event with Disability Arts Online in such a large international context should not be overlooked. It indicates an unprecedented interest in the visual arts and disability. What materialises remains to be seen, but this comes off the back of Shape Art’s exhibition Crip Arte Spazio: the DAM (Disability Arts Movement) in Venice and Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen showing at the Finnish Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale.
Disability and…Curating
Disability Arts Online and Graeae commissioned a podcast series called ‘Disability And …’ I discussed ‘disability and… curation’ with Jennifer Gilbert from the Jennifer Lauren Gallery. It was released as episode 8 – you can listen to it here.
We discussed many of the systemic barriers, often invisible, that impact the representation of disabled curators and artists. We discussed the nature of curation, and explored possible solutions to getting more disabled artists into mainstream visual art settings. Thanks to Chapel FM in Leeds, for hosting the conversation. This podcast contains some strong language. There is a full transcript available of this talk here.
A follow-up to this podcast came at the Foundry in London as part of Disability Arts Online ‘Contested Spaces’ exhibition, which I curated. For Episode 10 of the ‘Disability And…Podcast’ I chaired a panel which included curator and founder of Jennifer Lauren Gallery, Jennifer Gilbert, Senior Curator of Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art, Elinor Morgan and artist Ashokkumar Mistry. It also has some reflections from the audience. You can listen to it here