Sask. disability advocates release ‘Axis of Access’ to highlight accessibility in the arts

A Regina community group has released a document in an attempt to try and increase disability education across the province. Damian Smith reports.

The Dripping Honeys showed their talents at the Artesian on Friday – in support of an initiative aimed at improving disability access in Saskatchewan’s arts community.

The group is made up of five people with disabilities – including Ammanda Zelinski, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of three.

Since she started when she was a child, Zelinski says that the performing arts have always been like “therapy” to her.

“What the arts mean for everyone in the disability community, is that they can be pretty surprised on just how they can expand on talents that they never knew they had,” she said. “At the same time, creating true allyship and friendship in all sorts of places.”

The performance was part of a larger discussion about disability accessibility in Saskatchewan.

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After a three-year process, “Axis of Access” was given out to audience members by the Listen to Dis’ Arts Organization and the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance. The twelve-page document hopes to push forward several calls to action.

“We want people to be hospitable and kind to people who come in, who might have needs that you’re not familiar with offering or attending to,” explained Traci Foster, the director of arts with the Listen to Dis’ Arts Organization. “Or also not treating a person either like they’re not there or there’s somebody to be pitied.”

Shaylee Rosnes, who’s an actor for The Dripping Honeys, is also an administrative associate with Listen to Dis’. She saw Friday’s performance and outreach as a positive step for disability education.

“I’m very, very proud of the team that worked to put this together,” she said. “How everything came together so nicely and just letting you [have a] really impactful event, both through letting art speak and through the document that we created.”

It’s a reminder that the arts can work very well in bringing people together – a fact Em Ironstar, the executive director of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance is certainly aware of.

“The work we do really gives people a sense of community,” she said. “I think that part of that is really what keeps people coming back to performances and events like this.”

Those in attendance hope that it can be music to the ears for those wanting to create more access for those with disabilities in the arts.