Deaf-accessibility for spoonies: lessons fromtouring Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee whilechronically ill

Khairani Barokka (Okka)

What I received from this reading was an understanding of awareness around hosting or building a production, suffice to say the hardship that Barokka endured was disregarded by organisers and that their chronic illness was subjected to repeated paperwork to find and secure funding to openly share their illness with the world.

A courageous and long recovery journey to reflect on the awareness needed to bring a greater sensitivity towards intersectional understandings within the arts. While all 3 points resonate with education teaching, I will only quote one, which I feel is currently the most concerning amongst young people and the arts.

“ (b) The need for greater acknowledgement of mental health issues in particular during production, and for a full spectrum of perspective on how deeply mental health issues are associated with lack of avenues to success in the arts for disabled practitioners;”

This is a revolving theme amongst young creatives in the arts, and while stress is embedded into education, its also a trigger for mental health, could I use this paper to help bring a greater sensitivity to our students in workshops that allows the student to find guidance in material understanding that is trigger free or sensitive towards mental illness and disabilities.

The other side of this is the staff is fully aware or trained in how the university treats/deals with disabilities and mental illness and how can we equip staff with a better understanding of navigating student needs and the arising crisis of mental health within arts education. Barokka was mishandled by their arts organisation in their request for support during their production that shown added extra pain and stress to their show, what I question in my own practice is why sometimes I find out when certain students are in the 3rd year of their degree, that they have hidden disabilities or learning needs, that should’ve been shared across all teaching teams from the moment this became apparent to their student learning experience. 

Is this a request I can bring to the academic team? That allows the technicians to build upon their teaching that requires a personalised learning plan for those students who are disabled or/and have mental health issues. Generalised teaching is sufficed only until it is not.

“I’d made sure to enforce rules on Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee: it would be D/deaf and hearing-impaired accessible, and only performed in wheelchair-accessible venues. The script was put on a Google Document, and the shortened link was given to D/deaf or hearing-impaired audience members, who were asked to identify themselves beforehand and were given iPads or iPhones with which to read the poetry. In Vienna, the URL was projected onto a wall, which meant anyone who saw it inside the gallery – or indeed outside it, as I performed in a window space facing onto the street – could read the script”