Disabled Musicians In The Covid Crisis Lockdown may have added an extra layer of complication into the lives of disabled musicians, but many have shown a customary resilience Report by Neil Churchman
Ben Lunn, who has autism, is a highly regarded young composer with a growing international reputation. The emergency hit his work hard, and fast. A theatre project in the UK was cancelled in its entirety. Two premieres of his work in the United States were scrapped, and a residential summer school project in Antwerp was reduced to a series of Zoom conversations. “If we had gone into this from day one knowing how long it was going to last, maybe it would have been easier to mentally plan,” he says. “But because things are changing so rapidly from week to week, the insecurity means we can’t take advantage of that time we have been given.”
“Obviously I need to have quite a hermetic lifestyle, and I am quite lucky in the sense that my disability is more to do with fatigue and interaction. Using sites like Zoom works very well for me, but for visually impaired or deaf musicians it can be impractical, and that instant shift to online without considering issues of accessibility has just left them out.” Uncovering prejudice For Lunn, one of the most distressing effects of the pandemic has been how it has reinforced what he sees as the deep-rooted prejudice against the disabled. “I haven’t felt too much isolation personally, but there’s been a real underlining of what our value is in society,” he says. He points to the scandal of Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) forms being sent to disabled people once they had contracted Covid-19. “It’s as if, being disabled, we wouldn’t want to be resuscitated,” he says. “And there’s the fact that many disabled people weren’t getting support straight away, and this idea that the ‘weak’ would die, but the economy would keep going.” His view was echoed by Drake Music, a charity campaigning for disabled musicians. It is also deeply concerned about public attitudes. “Musicians have said to me they feel disposable. Being sent DNR forms to sign is unconscionable,” says Drake communication officer, Becky Morris Knight. “The pandemic has uncovered a lot of ableism in how society is set up. In much the same way as the Black Lives Matter
The Musician • Autumn 2020
Photo: Brian Hartley / stillmotion
For many musicians with disabilities, lockdown has been a perfect storm of mental, physical and financial disruption. The pandemic has magnified the problems they face as artists, and the obstacles and negative attitudes that confront them in everyday life. But it has also highlighted innate qualities of resilience and creativity, 34 and hinted at new and better ways of working which have the potential to make the post-Covid industry more accessible and inclusive.
Ben Lunn finds it difficult not knowing how long the pandemic is going to last
“The pandemic has uncovered a lot of ableism” Becky Morris Knight
