Disability Arts Online and Mind the Gap present The Disability and...Podcast

Paul Wilshaw, Assistant Producer at Mind the Gap talks to Emily Blackwell and Charlotte Jones about Mind the Gap's touring outdoor show Birdie and access when working with artists with neurodivergent or learning disabled artists.

This month Disability Arts Online's Founding Editor Colin Hambrook chats with actor Arthur Hughes about his leading role in the newly released Disney+ Tudor spy thriller Shardlake. This podcast is in memory of Shardlake's creator C.J. Sansom who sadly passed away shortly after this podcast episode was recorded.

This month Paul Wilshaw, Associate producer at Mind the Gap talks to Cutting Edge Theatre's Artistic Director Suzanne Lofthus and Associate Artist Abigail Brydon about the work they do in Scotland.

This month on the Disability And... podcast, Disability Arts Online's Founding Editor Colin Hambrook talks to writer and Chief Executive of CRIPtic Arts, Jamie Hale, about how CRIPtic came into existence and their thoughts and approaches when working with disabled collaborators.

This month, Mind the Gap’s Associate Producer Paul Wilshaw chats with artist and activist James Leadbitter, a.k.a. the Vacuum Cleaner, about his work around the topic of mental health, his work abroad, and how the arts help support people's mental health. This podcast contains some strong language. James Leadbitter's website.

This month Disability Arts Online have been taken over by audio visual artist, curator and producer AlanJames Burns. As part of their content takeover, AlanJames talks with Professor Julia Watts Belser who is a professor of Jewish Studies and Disability Studies at Georgetown University. They discuss their experiences as creative practitioners, members of the disability community, and as climate activists.

This month Mind The Gap's Associate Producer Paul Wilshaw chats with writer and actor Chris Hannon about the representation of disability in pantomimes and how Chris makes pantos more inclusive. Chris has acted in Coronation Street and Doctors and for the past 13 years has been the Dame in the Wakefield Theatres panto.

This month Eleanor Lisney and Eric Wu are in conversation. Eleanor Lisney is a Disability Arts Online board member, she's also a co-founder of disabled women's collective Sisters of Frida and of Culture Access CIC. Eric Wu is a nutrition and dietetics student and mental health community organiser at King's College, London. Eleanor and Eric discuss cultural identities within the East and Southeast Asian communities.

This month, Mind the Gap Associate Artist Daniel Foulds chats with playwright and activist Leanna Benjamin about her experiences of being on the Graeae ‘Introduction to Playwrighting’ course, being ‘Artist for Change’ at Leeds Playhouse, and the barriers she faces in the theatre industry.

This month on the Disability And...podcast, founding editor of Disability Arts Online Colin Hambrook chats with Baluji and Linda Shrivastav about the Inner Vision Orchestra, Jazz Orient, and Dot Aware: a wearable braille device to assist visually impaired musicians in the working environment.

On the 50th Disability and...Podcast, Mind the Gap's Assistant Producer Paul Wilshaw chats to learning-disabled writer and researcher Daniel Foulds about Disability Pride Month, identity politics and finding solidarity through the difficulties of managing multiple impairments.

This month on the Disability and...Podcast, founding editor of Disability Arts Online, Colin Hambrook, chats with actor, writer, poet and comedian Jasmin Thien. Jasmin reflects on her intersectional experience of the performing arts as a disabled migrant to the UK, of Chinese heritage. They also discuss how Jasmin got into the arts and her recent debut as an actor with Extant Theatre’s Super Power Panto.

This month, Mind the Gap’s Assistant Producer Paul Wilshaw chats with Professor of Theatre at York St John’s University, Matthew Reason and Mind the Gap's Head of Learning & Support Melissa Conyers about University education and how the two organisations have come together to create an accredited course in theatre for people with learning disabilities and autism.

This month, Disability Arts Online founding editor Colin Hambrook chats with writer and activist Will Reynolds about audiobooks, and the importance they have in his life.

This month Paul Wilshaw chats with founders of TripleC and the Disability Artists Network Community (DANC) Cherylee Houston and Melissa Johns. He asks them about their careers as actors and how their experiences led to the formation of Triple C and DANC. This podcast contains some strong language. TripleC website

This month, artist and creative practitioner Steph Robson, aka Hello Little Lady, chats with award-winning theatre maker and equality strategist, Vici Wreford-Sinnott. Steph asks Vici about the importance of regional identity, the Northeast's role in disability arts history, and the current regional and national landscape for disabled artists. Related links: Vici's theatre company Little Cog's website. Steph's blog, Hello Little Lady.

This month, Mind the Gap's Associate Producer Paul Wilshaw, chats with theatre and TV freelance actor Rob Ewens about some of his successes on screen and stage.

This month, DAO Founding Editor Colin Hambrook chats with Disability Arts Shropshire's (DASH) recently-retired Artistic Director Mike Layward about changes within the visual arts sector that he's observed over his 25 years with DASH.

This month, Mind the Gap's Associate Producer Paul Wilshaw speaks to Touring Director Tamara Searle and Ensemble Member Scott Price from the award-winning Australian theatre company Back to Back Theatre, about the company and its recent UK tour of The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes.

This month writer, workshop facilitator and creative mentor, Omikemi and multidisciplinary artist, socially engaged practitioner and creative producer, Priya Mistry, aka whatsthebigmistry, chat about sustainable and caring approaches to the arts. Both are members of the Onyx Collective, a group of artists supported by Disability Arts Online who share the lived experience of disability and racism. This podcast contains some strong language.