University of Atypical for Arts and Disability is voicing a call to action to support disabled artists, arts workers and audiences, who are facing the biggest cuts to disability benefits on record.

As the leading disabled-led arts organisation in Northern Ireland we work with d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists, employees and audiences. We commission, support and promote their work regionwide and year-round. As a voluntary and arts organisation we have faced more than a decade of real-time cuts in public funding that in turn impacts the artists we support.

In an unequal society we understand that barriers to accessing services and engaging fully in our community still exist for disabled people.  We know all too well that taking part in the arts means extra expenses including transport, fuel, carers costs, translation costs, mobility devices, assistive technologies, and more. The benefits system is vital to meeting these additional costs.

The current Westminster government has announced plans to cut benefits that disabled people rely on, by £5 billion a year. These proposed cuts will disproportionately impact disabled people who represent one in four of the UK population. The Westminster government’s official projections suggest that 3.2 million GB households could lose £1,720 a year in benefits, with those numbers only increasing if Northern Ireland politicians choose to cut our benefits in the same line.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is explicitly intended to meet the extra costs of disability, regardless of employment status. Employment Support Allowance (ESA) is for people who are out of work or looking for work. Access to Work covers some of the cost of supporting disabled people while in work, for example assistive technologies and interpreters.

The government plans to significantly increase the eligibility criteria for PIP, excluding more people from accessing this benefit. PIP is an absolute necessity for disabled people to achieve an ordinary and equitable standard of living. It also opens up access to Carer’s Allowance, thereby losing PIP will have a significant knock-on effect on the disabled person’s support and the carer’s income.

Proposed reductions to Access to Work will limit disabled people’s eligibility for and access to this service. This will put an onus on employers to meet these costs, and pose an increased financial levy on prospective employers. This will reduce opportunities for equitable employment for disabled people. Jess Thom recently posted about the cut to her Access to Work, making it impossible for her to continue as artistic director at Touretteshero. This is worrying. Taking away supports for disabled people to live and access work will not enable or empower us as disabled people into employment, quite the contrary.

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Annual Survey for 2023-24 reported that only 9% of artists employed across the arts sector were disabled; disabled people were less likely to attend arts events as audiences or participants; and the disabled workforce remains below that of the Northern Ireland average, with around 1 in 10 reporting a disability, compared to 1 in 4 in the general population. Over half of disabled artists in Northern Ireland experience mental health challenges and anxiety as a barrier to making their work, compared with 22% of non-disabled artists. The proposed benefit cuts are likely to further exacerbate these inequalities.

While global voices have been invalidating the merit of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives, inequality still exists and the need for us to uphold and improve standards is more important than ever. The diminishing of the importance of society addressing inequities to access and barriers to engagement will increase these barriers, rather than support the disabled community, as suggested.

The proposed cuts to benefits will drastically impact the freedom of disabled people to choose how we live, how we work, how we socialise, and how we engage with the arts sector. It will discolour and diminish the diversity and quality of disabled people’s contribution to the arts in Northern Ireland and across the United Kingdom.

We stand in solidarity with the d/Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent people and organisations across the United Kingdom who are organising against these cuts, including Disability Action NI, The Black Box, Unlimited, Graeae, Criptic Arts, DASH, and the disabled actors and producers who have written an open letter calling for the government to abandon “inhumane and catastrophic plans to cut disability benefits”.

We do not yet know how pending changes will be implemented in Northern Ireland. We believe that changes happening in Westminster may signal what will happen in Northern Ireland. In the next 3 to 4 weeks in June, MPs will be asked to vote on the proposed changes, and our devolved government will also be tasked to make decisions regarding Northern Ireland. 

We ask our local Members of Parliament (MP) and Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Northern Ireland to listen to the voices and lived experience of disabled people in Northern Ireland. We ask them to amplify the injustice and looming disaster that faces disabled people without significant reversal of the proposed changes.

We call on you, the arts sector, the wider disability sector, our allies, friends and supporters to come together to decisively oppose these cuts. We are sharing resources and actions you can take as disabled people and allies to resist the cuts, and to support those who will be most severely impacted if they go ahead.

What can you do?

• Come to the Ledger Studio on Tuesday 10 June from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm to galvanise our sectoral voice, develop a unified stance, and support each other. 
• To politicians: we call on Northern Ireland MPs and MLAs to stand against the proposed changes in benefits, especially PIP, Access to Work, and ESA, and to support the wider arts sector.
• Contact your MP and MLA to express your concerns. One of the most important things we can do right now is shift the consensus in Westminster, and add to the existing group of MPs who have deep reservations about these cuts. You can find your MP using this list of the 18 Northern Ireland Members of Parliament. You can find your MLA using this Assembly ‘Locate Your MLA’ page.
• Join Disabled People Against Cuts (there is a Northern Ireland DPAC chapter). 
• Make your voice heard on social media and use the tag #WelfareNotWarfare #TakingThePip
• Respond to consultations and express your concerns. You can respond to the government’s Green Paper until 30 June 2025. Disabled People’s Organisations Forum England has created a document to summarise and help people understand this Green Paper. We don’t know yet when consultations will appear in Northern Ireland, but we will keep you updated.
• Sign petitions: Disability Rights UK and Scope both have petitions, and there is an open letter for disabled people in the arts and creative industries. Disabled arts workers can also contribute to this document of anonymous testimonials about experiences with PIP.