Thank you to everyone who joined us for our panel discussion at Music Mark music education conference, both in the room and on twitter.
We discussed the topic: Music Hubs and disabled musicians: A blossoming partnership?
Our panel included Carien Meijer and Jonathan Westrup from Drake Music, Peter Bolton from Kent Music and three of our associate musicians: John Kelly, Gemma Nash & Sarah Fisher.
We captured questions, thoughts and comments live in the room from participants. These offer a great starting point for thinking about how well inclusion is really embedded in music education.
You can also scroll down to read the full Storify of the #DMPanel hashtag.
Comments during #DMPanel
- Irony overload: I’ve worked in 2 SEN/D schools, both fairly poor for access in staff areas (no accessible toilets for adults)… no provision for the possibility of a disabled person *working* despite otherwise amazing access support for pupils
- I voted yes because the question was “Has it become more inclusive”. There’s been progress. Doesn’t mean I think we are there yet #LongWayToGo
- Is a key issue re-educating society as a whole to embrace music-making in all it’s forms, not to just go down the traditional music routes?
- Yes! Musical traditions unfortunately can uphold access barriers, esp. re: accessible music tech
- We need to learn from other sectors – in particular the dance sector has some great examples
- Progress has been made for supporting special schools. The main challenge now is providing progression opportunities for disabled musicians.
- So should we ask the question… what is inclusion?
- There’s a danger of having just one specific inclusion/SEN/D offer, or one person in a hub responsible for it. Is that real inclusion?
- Advice: engage directly with disabled people. Immerse in vibrant disability arts scene
- Advice for hubs: Simple, get the right partners and specialists round the table. We can’t all be experts in everything!
- Great session – thought provoking. Let’s keep sharing, doing, trying, risk-taking and achieving until we have a truly inclusive musical offer.
