Korean disabled artists’ experiences of creativity and the environmental barriers they face

Abstract

This study explores the essence of disabled artists’ creative endeavours and investigates what constitutes the environmental barriers that hinder their creative activities. For the research 12 disabled artists were chosen from a list of renowned disabled artists. The study found that creativity is the same for both disabled people and non-disabled people, but for disabled people their surroundings often make it difficult for them to establish their identities. These findings clearly illustrate that the empowerment of disabled artists through art education is crucial. They also show that social attitudes toward disability need to change, since negative views regarding disability art are underpinned by negative views of disabled people. In addition, relevant policies to advance disability art should be instituted and supportive measures to solve the financial problems faced by disabled artists must be taken.

Keywords:

• disabled artists
• creative activities
• environmental barriers

Acknowledgments

This article is a revised version of the first author’s 2013 doctoral dissertation submitted to Soongsil University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.