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A preliminary study of some broad disability related themes within the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
- Author:
- MARTIN Nicola
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 25(5), August 2010, pp.539-549.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Disablism is defined as discriminatory, oppressive or abusive behaviour arising from the belief that disabled people are inferior to others. In this article the author considers some broad disability related themes (by disabled performers and by others) focusing on her personal experience of the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Comedy is covered in most detail with particular focus on one performer. Reference is also made to other performance categories, such as drama, and to some influences from beyond the fringe. Consideration is given to whether disabled comedians can be disablist and whether disability equality legislation is impacting what happens in performances. Disablism, othering and freak show genre were amongst the themes which emerged. From the perspective of a disability aware audience member the author found that unreconstructed disablism in comedy appeared to be fairly widespread within the fringe, mainly manifesting itself via the idle use of othering language. In addition to this physical access to venues was very poor.