Throwing Out The Playbook: Insights from the 2021 ABLE Conversation

This blog was originally posted on the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs' blog, which can be found here.

By: Jordan Campbell

On Saturday, November 20, the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs (BIAESN) hosted the 2021 ABLE Conversation: Anti-Ableism, Representation, and Accessibility in Arts Education symposium with keynote speakers Rebecca Cokley and Gaelynn Lea. The symposium was powered by Creative Generation. After the keynotes, participants had the opportunity to engage in small group discussions on the insights they gleaned from the presentations. 

Both keynote speakers shared anecdotes from their respective roles in work around disability justice. Some of the most illuminating moments were their calls to action, challenging the audience to “join the revolution” of normalizing disability culture, in the words of Gaelynn Lea. 

Rebecca Cokley is a program officer in the President’s Office at the Ford Foundation, developing disability rights program strategy, the first of its kind at the organization. Prior to joining Ford, Rebecca was the co-founder and director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress (CAP), and previously served in the White House during the Obama Administration.

Gaelynn Lea, a musician and disability rights advocate and speaker, won NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2016. Since then, she has toured in 45 states and 9 countries, captivating audiences around the world with her unique mix of haunting original songs and traditional fiddle tunes. Ms. Lea is also the Vice President of Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities (RAMPD).

During the breakout sessions, participants discussed some notable takeaways from the keynotes. BIAESN collaborated with the team at Creative Generation to synthesize these ideas into a few big collections of reflection. We share those takeaways below. 

“Solidarity Work”

In her talk, Rebecca Cokley discussed the language in the drafting - and the intentionally “careful crafting” - of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which takes into account the changing dynamics of what disabilities might mean in the future. “It's dynamic, it's not static, it doesn't stay in place,” she said of the disability community. Ms. Cokley, whose mother was influential in the passage of the ADA, reflects the views of those who helped write the legislation: “How do we write a law that's got a definition, but is elastic enough to allow it to expand the contract as needed?” 

Among the many useful insights offered, one of the more powerful moments from Ms. Cokley’s talk was her call to action for the disability community’s allies:

“You can be a voice promoting inclusion, you can bend the arc of justice into a ramp. [...] I'm inviting not just the one in five of you who is one of us, but the additional four out of five of you to join us and preserve these rights. Because the world is a more just place when your sister, your friend, your neighbor, and your mom are at the table. So, it's on you to help ensure that their rights continue to be protected. I welcome you to the fight.”

Several breakout groups discussed how the keynote speakers pushed for an expanded definition of disability, and how non-disabled allies can actively contribute to substantive change. “We spend a lot of time talking about the work as solidarity work, and sort of the commitments that we make to our students that guide our practice as educators,” mentioned Jenna Gabriel. “We acknowledge this idea that special training and special skills are important, but that when we've really made a commitment to valuing our students and welcoming them into conversations, if they're about accessibility, we just figure out how to do it. And we figure it out in collaboration with young people.”

Preparation, Access, Opportunity

In her talk, the themes of preparation, access, and opportunity continually arose for Ms. Cokley - in particular, how the confluence of the ADA and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) work together best when all three mandates of the laws (preparation, access, and opportunity) are met:

“Back in 1990, when the ADA was passed, only 2% of people with disabilities went to college. Today, roughly 11% do and that is because we're one of the first times in history policies are somewhat working together. […] We've seen disabled people achieving great things in that time that would have seemed impossible before. But there still are so many people facing ableism, autism, and structural barriers.”

The interconnectedness of preparation, access, and opportunity bleeds into education, she notes: “This system specifically focuses on special education as a place... It's the room over there. It's the outside trailer, it's where those kids go, instead of acknowledging the fact that we know that roughly 60% of kids with disabilities spend 80% of their time in a general education setting. Special education is about rights. It's about access to civil rights and access to supports that students are entitled to, by law as a result of their disability.”

During the post-keynote discussion, participants resonated with this message. “Our group wanted to uplift this framing of preparation, access, and opportunity,” shared Elisabeth Staal. “We found that very helpful in connecting the dots between those phases of our work.” 

The Joy of Disability Culture

In between presenting a live performance of her deeply meaningful songs, Ms. Lea shared a change in terminology and, more fundamentally, the way we view disability:

“Instead of  embracing anti-ableism, embrace disability culture. [...] Disability is a completely natural part of the human experience. It's been here since the dawn of humanity; everybody's body changes throughout time. If we all live long enough, we'll probably all be disabled at some point in our lives. Disability is nothing to be afraid of or pitied or feared. It’s diversity that you can be proud of and have an identity, just like any other form of diversity of race, or gender or sexual orientation. It's just part of who you are. And if we start thinking about disability from this diversity perspective, then we realize, well, of course, if we want to celebrate diversity, in other ways, we have to include disability because it's a joyful and welcoming way to live in the world.” 

Several groups found this shift in thinking to be helpful, noting that they hoped to make “disability culture” a part of their own individual work while also planning to advocate for a change in perspective at the institutional level.

A Final Call to Action

Upon reflection of Ms. Lea’s call for folks to “join the revolution,” one discussion participant summed up perfectly the overall theme of the day. “How can we be the revolutionary on the inside of our organizations and harness our own creativity and creative power to not overthink access solutions?” she asked. “What decision can I make today that furthers accessibility and inclusion in our organization?” This participant’s question for stakeholders in the field perfectly encapsulates the challenge ahead, reminding us that individual contributions really matter. Gaelynn Lea shared a similarly powerful anecdote about a music teacher who made those bold, ‘revolutionary’ accommodations for her as a young musician: “I learned the violin, basically, because the teacher was willing to think outside the box - willing to throw away the playbook.” May we all challenge ourselves to throw out our respective playbooks.