Inclusive online community arts: COVID and beyond COVID

TLDR

Community arts aim to promote inclusivity for learning‑disabled and autistic participants, but the Covid‑19 pandemic forced a shift to online delivery that raised concerns about accessibility and quality. This paper examines accessibility and quality issues in the Creative Doodle Book, an inclusive online practice with learning‑disabled participants. The study draws on over 20 interviews with learning‑disability‑focused community arts groups to identify barriers to access and support expectations. Results show that online participation can foster new skills, broaden networks, build inclusive capital, and enhance agency and self‑advocacy during and beyond Covid.

Abstract

Inclusivity is an underlying principle of community arts, particularly for learning disabled and autistic people for whom the arts can create spaces of equity and inclusive participation. The Covid-19 pandemic required practitioners to find ways of replicating this sense of inclusivity through online delivery. This "digital turn" raised two recurring concerns. First, the accessibility and inclusivity of online activities; second, the quality of alternative digital provision. This paper examines these themes in the specific context of the Creative Doodle Book, which modelled inclusive online practice with learning disabled participants. Drawing on over 20 interviews with learning-disability focused community arts groups, the paper explores barriers to access, but also issues surrounding support and expectations. However, the focus is equally on the benefits once within an online "space", including new skills, widening networks, the development of inclusive capital and the opportunity to enable greater agency and self-advocacy both during Covid and beyond.