Hardships Faced by Disabled Songwriters and Building a Safe Disability Artist Community

cliftop123

My name is Gavin Clifton, and I am The Disabled Writer. I was born with cerebral palsy, and I have a speech impediment. Still, I never let this stop me. I am a bestselling children's book author, songwriter and disability advocate.

I am writing my own autobiography about living with cerebral palsy to educate others on the triumphs and struggles I have experienced throughout my life. It's getting published in October.

As a passionate advocate for inclusivity and accessibility, I believe it is crucial to understand the unique hurdles that disabled artists and songwriters may encounter in pursuing their musical aspirations.

Specifically, I would like to gain insight into your perspective on the following questions:

1. What do disabled songwriters face the most common hardships in today's music landscape?

2. Do you believe that building a safe disability artist community is a practical approach to address these challenges?

3. If so, what initiatives or strategies do you recommend for creating such a community?

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these important matters.

Hannah_Alumni

Hello @cliftop123

Welcome to the community!  

I am sorry no one has been able to answer your queries. Have you managed to get some perspectives to your questions since you posted?

I also wanted to tag @Richard_Scope and @Abdi_Scope. They are part of the CP Network and may be able to help you with finding members of the Cerebral Palsy community here at Scope to possibly answer as well  

Richard_Scope

Hi @cliftop123
We've met before in other groups and I know some of your work.

To answer your questions. I don't know of any disabled songwriters that have "made it". So I guess therein lies the problem. Getting noticed. 
Building a disabled artist community to showcase talent would be a good start and would be somewhere for talent agents to engage with artists.
For me the community would have to be and online space because it removes the geographical barrier and could be available around the clock.