Journalist Caroline Butterwick shares a deeply personal account of how creativity helped her navigate a recent hospitalisation on a psychiatric ward, grappling with the ongoing tension of truly representing – and the risk of romanticising – her experiences. Incidentally, the experience meant she had to pull out of writing a separate article for DAO's magazine, so this contribution, in some ways, comes full circle.

Matt Alton gives an account of a day in the life of a disabled writer, discussing favourite and not so favourite books, and reading and writing through a body in pain. Article here.

I Swear is the true-life story of Tourette Syndrome campaigner John Davidson following his adolescence and early adulthood in 1980s Britain. Alison Wilde critiques the context and impact the film has made. Review by Alison Wilde, read by Kate Stephens. 

Beyond the Visual at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds claims to be the ‘UK’s first major sculpture exhibition in which blind and partially blind practitioners are central to the curatorial process and make up the majority of participating artists’. It features work by 16 artists alongside creative approaches to audio description. Gill Crawshaw ponders if the show has something for everyone. Written and read by Gill Crawshaw.

Disability Arts Online (DAO) has received a £249,607 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to support a major project which will save the stories of the Disability Arts movement from being lost and share them through a digital archive, interactive timeline and podcast series. 

DAO was saddened to hear of the death of Nabil Shaban, disabled activist, actor and writer who was co-founder of pioneering disability-led arts organisation Graeae Theatre Company. Simon Mckeown, Disability Artist and Professor of Art at Teesside University sent the following tribute to his comrade-in-arms. Read the article here.

This year's Shape Open exhibition takes up the expansive space of High Wycombe's Brunel Engine Shed featuring work by 12 disabled artists alongside archival protest photography from Keith Armstrong. The works respond to the political backdrop continuous cuts to disability benefits and the ongoing fight for disabled people's rights in the face of oppression. Written and read by Sonia Boué. Content note: this article contains references to death and themes that may cause distress. Read the article here.

Molly Joyce is an American performer and composer whose work explores disability as creative material. Her latest album, State Change uses surgical records as musical lyrics and utilises various adaptive music technologies. Written and read by Kin. Read the article here.

ActionSpace artist, Nnena Kalu has made a splash by being nominated for the 2025 Turner Prize as a learning-disabled artist. Mark Sheerin reflects on the significance and brilliance of her Turner Prize exhibition at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, as part of Bradford City of Culture. Read by Mark Sheerin. Read the article here.

DAO editor Colin Hambrook gives an appraisal of the power of Benedict Phillip’s artwork ‘the agender of the agresiv dislecksick’ on the 30th anniversary of having first published the activist manifesto in Disability Arts in London (DAIL) Magazine. Read the article here.