In my application to Sync, I wrote:
I’m looking for a fresh perspective. I want to learn from others about leading in the arts, especially in disabled arts. What strategies work? What doesn’t? What tools exist that could benefit our communities? How can I grow as a leader? How do we lead in difficult times while protecting our energy, balancing the weight of responsibility, and making tough decisions? Leadership in our context is not just about skills—it’s about resilience, accessibility, and community care. I’m ready to deepen my learning and bring that knowledge back to strengthen the Deaf and disabled arts sector.
This is a critical moment for disabled and Deaf communities to connect and collaborate more often. Deaf people bring a wealth of tools and knowledge; I know the broader disability community does too. I want us to work together to close the gap so that the well-known slogan in our communities, “The future is accessible,” can become “The present is accessible.”
And the first steps for us began on September 10th, with our first session together. I enjoyed it, especially learning more about the past of Sync, the folks involved in this project, and each other. We are trying to figure out how we will settle in this program.
As we discussed the different drivers, what motivates us, I found it interesting that a lot of us picked security as our top three drivers. As disabled artists, we often face insecurity and instability. Within Deaf community in Canada, 40% Deaf people are unemployed (compared to 6.9% of Canadians).* Those who are employed, often do not earn a living wage. Those who do earn a living wage, do not often earn enough to have more freedom to live the life they want. Those who are employed, often have a glass ceiling of audism and ableism pushing them down, preventing them from doing the jobs they truly love.
Wanting security is definitely not necessarily a bad thing! But the gap between our security needs and abled bodied artists’ security needs- it is huge. How can we change this? This is what’s been on my mind.
*Source: https://cad-asc.ca/our-work/employment-and-employability/
