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Resources

D/deaf and disabled artists and arts workers face additional barriers in establishing a career the creative industries. Below we have collated various resources that you might find helpful in developing the creative practice for you or your organisation.

The page is split into the follow sections:

Documents

The documents below have been informed by past events and experience and we update them as any new learning occurs – they are live documents. We are very happy for other people to use them and we encourage further input and suggestions – which can be emailed to all@boptheatre.co.uk.

If any of our internally developed docuemnts are not accessible to you, please get in touch and we will work with to establish potential ways we can help you access them.

  • Accessible Event Planning Tool Kit: This document is a checklist that BOP use as a reference when planning events.
Accessible Event Planning Tool KitDownload
  • Accessible Marketing Toolkit: This toolkit is a checklist that BOP use as a reference when creating marketing material.
Accessible Marketing ToolkitDownload
  • Access Statement Template: This is an example of one of the ways we might help someone to write and Access Statement. This is a way of communicating your access requirements in general or for a particular project or activity – for instance travel. Access Statement examples to follow end July 2020.
Access Statement TemplateDownload
  • BOP Equalities Monitoring Form: This document is a preview of the questions we ask in our Equalities Monitoring Form. The version we send out to people who work with us is a Google Form, so the questions are check boxes that people can select. Circular icons for a question indicate only one option can be selected, square icons for a question indicate multiple choice is available.
BOP Equalities Monitoring FormDownload
  • Freelancer Access Requirements Form: This is the form we send out to all freelancers we engage in work to ensure that we are made aware of any access requirements they might have. We are then able to more easily accommodate these requirements in a way that is useful for the individual. By sending it out to everyone we work with we ensure that even people who might not have raised their access requirements to us prior to that point are given an opportunity to update us on their personal situation.
Freelancer Access Requirements FormDownload
  • Freelancer Access Requirements Form (Digital): This form is a varyiation of the standard Access Requirements form, but has been adapted to focus on how to make digital working environments (such as Zoom) accessible to individuals.
Freelancer Access Requirements Form (Digital)Download
  • Live Captioning (Not for Zoom): Created by Electronic Note Taker Louisa McDaid, this documant outlines the ways in which you can provide live captions for meetings held of providers such as Microsoft Teams or Google Meet.
Live Captioning (Not for Zoom). Created by Louisa McDaidDownload
  • Live Captioning (for Zoom): Created by Electronic Note Taker Louisa McDaid, this documant outlines the ways in which you can provide live captions for meetings or events held on Zoom.
Live Captioning (for Zoom). Created by Louisa McDaidDownload
  • Mental Health Resources: This document is a list of external organisations whom provide support for people who may have be experiencing some porr mental health. Please remember, these are external resources and BOP does not have any control over the support they provide.
Mental Health Resources, compiled by Sandra AllandDownload
  • Website Accessibility Guide: If you are developing and updating a website, this document contains some useful guidance for you to keep in mind in regards to making sure your website is as accessible to many people as possible.
Website Accessibility GuideDownload

Artist Interviews

We have spoken to some of the UK’s best and brightest D/deaf and disabled talent from the performing arts, so you can understand the decision process that steered them through their career and discover what they believe is important to give yourself the best chance at establishing a career.

Nickie Miles-Wildin

Nickie Miles-Wildin biography

Nickie Miles-Wildin is a director and theatre maker. As an actor she’s well known for her role as Miranda in the Paralympics Opening Ceremony London 2012. Directing credits include: Bingo Lingo (co-director/Wild N Beets), Disability Sex Archives, Two Can Toucan (TwoCan Theatre), Nana’s Jumble (Kazzum), Staff Director on Mosquitoes (Dorfman, National Theatre), Associate Director on Tommy (Ramps On The Moon National Tour), Assistant Director credits: The House of Bernarda Alba (Graeae/Manchester Royal Exchange), Lost and Found (GDance), Blood Wedding (Graeae/Dundee Rep/Derby Theatre), Waiting Game (Kazzum), Wheels on Broadway (Graeae). Nickie is an Associate Artist for Kazzum. In 2014 Nickie co-founded TwoCan, Gloucestershire’s first professional disabled-led theatre company. Nickie is currently Resident Assistant Director at Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre.

Caroline Parker

Caroline Parker biography

Most recent with House of Krip/Fittings Multi Media Arts for the Vogue Ball 2017 in Liverpool. Previously played Antonia in Birds of Paradise production ‘Miranda and Caliban – The Making of a Monster’ which took place in Hong Kong and Glasgow simultaneously. TV appearances include Doctors BBC, Murphy’s Law BBC, Stuart a Life Backwards BBC/HBO, Switch BBC. With such companies as Krazy Kat Theatre, Hot Coals Theatre and The Bone Ensemble Caroline has also consulted/directed tweaking their visual creations. Finding and evolving the funny, and clear physical storytelling.

Caroline also does the stand up comedy circuit, is a member of Abnormally Funny People. In the cabaret circuit Caroline performs in her unique style signed songs, she recently gave a TEDx talk on ‘Singing Without Her Voice’. At the 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony she signed the closing number ‘I am What I Am’ alongside Beverly Knight. In 2015 Caroline won three best Actress awards for her role Mabel Morgan in BSLBT Zone film ‘If I Don’t Lose, I’ll Lose’ at the Cenedeaf III Rome film festival, Clin d’Oeil and Cannes Disability Film Festival 2016.

Kinny Gardner

Kinny Gardner biography

Kinny is from Leith, is Hard of Hearing and is 58 years old. Studied Classical Ballet and at The Martha Graham School with Martha Graham herself. West End credits: ‘Godspell’, ‘The Rocky Horror Show’, ‘The Mousetrap’ and ‘ Chicago’. Rep. and tours include: ‘The Pirates of Penzance’, ‘Marat/Sade’, ‘The Threepenny Opera’, ‘Assassins’ and ‘Cabaret’. Kinny is a principle guest solo artist with The Lindsay Kemp Company with whom he has toured the world in ‘Flowers’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘The Big Parade’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Variete’ and ‘The Last Dance of Elizabeth the First’. He retains the honour of being the only person permitted to re-create a Kemp company work outside of Lindsay Kemp’s own, re-staging ‘Variete’ for Youth Music Theatre U.K. He is Artistic Director of Krazy Kat Theatre Company and a Development Adviser to BBC Cbeebies.
Awards: BBC Community Hero Award, British Citizens Award, British Empire Medal for services to Theatre and Disability (Queen’s Birthday Honours List).

Amelia Cavallo

Amelia Cavallo biography

Amelia Cavallo is a blind performer from the USA with experience in acting, singing, dancing, aerial circus and burlesque. She is also a multi-instrumentalist, musical director and composer. Recent stage performances include Tommy (Ramps On The Moon) Into The Woods (Royal Exchange Manchester) A Winter’s Tale (Taking Flight Theatre), Beauty and The Beast (Theatre Royal Stratford) and The Threepenny Opera (Graeae Theatre Company) She has also composed, MDed and performed in original works called Sailing Through The Dark (Liberty Festival) and I Breathe (Flying Diplodocus). She also works as a freelance MD and composer for PAD Productions, Extant Theatre and with her band, Sunshine Savage. Amelia was a sway pole performer in the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony, and also performed at the cultural Olympiad in Rio with Graeae Theatre’s production of The Garden in September, 2016. When not on stage, behind a musical instrument or dangling from a height, Amelia can be found working towards her Phd in disability politics and theatrical performance at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

  • Theatre Tech BSL The Technical Theatre BSL (British Sign Language) Project aims to promote technical theatre for Deaf people. They do this through exploring and translating technical theatre words and jargon into BSL. This in turn will provide greater access for Deaf people to training and employment in technical theatre.
  • Shape Arts Resources to help improve your organisations confidence in working with disabled people, and making your organisation more diverse and inclusive.
  • Unlimited – Demystifying Access: A guide for producers and performance makers – how to create better access for audiences to the performing arts.

Academic paper: ‘Enhancing relaxed performance: evaluating the Autism Arts Festival’

by Ben Fletcher-Watson and Shaun May

‘Relaxed performances’ allow theatre spectators to experience a non-judgmental environment, featuring adjustments to make them more accessible to a range of audiences. The Autism Arts Festival attempted to develop the idea of relaxed performances further to create an entirely autism-friendly festival in Canterbury. The organisers developed a suite of features to make the festival more accessible, and the suite as a whole was effective at increasing the accessibility of the festival. Moreover, discussions with performers indicate that the festival, as an ‘autistic space’, was conducive of both a sense of community solidarity and engagement with the politics of neurodiversity.

Easy to read description


This paper looks at relaxed performances, which are theatre performances where it is OK to talk or move around during the show. Relaxed performances are often enjoyed by people on the autistic spectrum. This is because the lights are less bright, the sound effects are quieter, there are more theatre staff to help, and you can read about the theatre and the show before you visit, so you feel more comfortable and relaxed.

This paper looks at the Autism Arts Festival, which was a two-day festival of theatre, films, comedy, and art where all the performances were relaxed. The people who ran the Festival wanted to make sure that people were comfortable before and during their visit – especially if they were autistic. To do this, they tried lots of new things, such as videos of the paths around the theatres, and free toys to fidget with. We found out that most people who visited the Festival thought it was friendly and welcoming. We also found that people used lots of different things to help them feel comfortable.

The people who made the shows told us that the Festival felt like an ‘autistic space’, which means a place where autistic people feel at home. They liked meeting other people on the autistic spectrum. They had interesting conversations about how autistic people and people who are not on the spectrum could work together and learn from each other.

Enhancing relaxed performance: evaluating the Autism Arts Festival