Structure, agency and community: Using online music gatherings to support social inclusion for people with disabilities in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Introduction

In the wake of COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns in the southern states of Australia, many community music and music therapy projects shifted to an online format. This paper discusses the formation and creation of four online music groups aimed at people with disability, including two groups for children and two for adults. The aim of the study was to explore the use of online technologies to support social inclusion and wellbeing when participants were physically isolated.

Method

This study positioned group participants as co-researchers to recognize the expertise many people with disability hold from being housebound or socially isolated. We adopted an action research framework in which participants provided ongoing reflections on the use of technology, access, musical foci and social interaction to iteratively develop the sessions through cycles of reflexive action. These data were triangulated with data collected through participant observation and individual interviews.

Results

The structured format of the sessions created online spaces for people with different disability, age and gender identities to explore their creativity together. Far from limiting participants’ autonomy and safety, the structured setting promoted their agency in decision-making and shaping the groups to meet their needs.

Discussion

Many participants interacted with the group or adapted to the online experiences in ways which the authors had not anticipated. While we were expecting our cohort to have expertise with social isolation, we found that they also had high levels of expertise as passionate musicians, which they used to frame the activities of the online gatherings.

KEYWORDS:

• Music therapy
• disabled musicians
• disability
• online
• community
• agency

Acknowledgments

Groups were facilitated by registered music therapists, Zoe Kalenderidis, Melissa Murphy and Eamon Roy.

Down Syndrome Australia supported recruitment through providing community interviews and distributing information in their newsletter.

Disclosure statement

Grace Thompson is associate editor of the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy. To avoid conflict of interest, Grace Thompson was fully masked to the editorial process including peer review and editorial decisions and had no access to records of this manuscript. No other potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Funding was provided by the Melbourne Disability Institute at The University of Melbourne in Australia.

Notes on contributors

Katrina McFerran

Katrina McFerran, PhD, is Professor and Head of the Creative Arts Therapy Masters Program at the University of Melbourne, as well as being Co-Director of the Creative Arts and Music Therapy Research Unit. She is a registered music therapist with the Australian Music Therapy Association, as well as being a researcher and author of numerous books and journal articles. Kat is also the creator of the freely accessible Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “How Music Can Change Your Life” and has created a TED Talk on “Coming Back from the Darkside with Music”.

Anthea Skinner

Anthea Skinner has a PhD in musicology and currently works as a Research Associate at the University of Melbourne where here research interests include disability music culture, adaptive technology and heritage archiving. Anthea has lived experience of disability and is well-known in Australia’s disability community through her work as a musician in the all-disabled band the Bearbrass Asylum Orchestra and as a journalist working for many of the nation’s leading disability publications including Link Disability Magazine and the ABC’s Ramp Up.

Teresa Hall

Teresa Hall, PhD, is a Research Fellow in the Global and Cultural Mental Health Unit at Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Her expertise is in knowledge translation and conducting research related to inclusive development and health equity, with a focus on the participation of people with psychosocial disability and mental ill-health in community and national governance processes.

Grace Thompson

Grace Thompson, PhD, is Head of Music Therapy at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on music therapy with disabled and autistic children, and delivered within ecologically oriented strategies. She is the co-editor of “Music Therapy with Families: Therapeutic Approaches and Theoretical Perspectives”.