We asked disabled musicians what barriers they face. Here’s what they told us.

In mid-2024, we were commissioned by Irirangi Te Motu NZ On Air to investigate the accessibility of the recorded music sector for tāngata whaikaha Māori, d/Deaf, and disabled music makers in Aotearoa. We collaborated with 30 music makers from across the motu to better understand their experiences of accessibility while recording and releasing music in Aotearoa, as well as the wider context for access, ableism, and disability advocacy in the local music industry. This report was released in April, and NZ On Air committed to seven of the 18 recommendations we made.

Whilst the Aotearoa music industry has been progressively making positive steps towards being a safer, more inclusive, and more diverse space through initiatives such as SoundCheck Aotearoa, disability advocacy still has much room to grow. We already know from existing data that disabled folks are 32.4% less likely to attend live performances in Aotearoa, and that ableist discrimination or harassment has been regularly experienced and witnessed within the Aotearoa music industry.

Still, there has been little work that amplifies the lived experience of folks with access needs as they navigate the Aotearoa music industry. Our ongoing conversations across the industry make clear that there is a desire for diverse and inclusive music networks, but that folks often feel they do not have the knowledge, resources, or networks to reduce barriers to access. We set out to respond to these gaps by supporting a better understanding of tāngata whaikaha Māori, d/Deaf, and disabled people’s experiences of music career pathways and systems in Aotearoa. Here’s the most pertinent things 30 tāngata whaikaha Māori, d/Deaf, and disabled music makers told us.

Our collaborators discussed a fear of disclosing d/Deafness and/or disability to peers in the music industry, and feeling anxious that being ‘found out’ would limit their career opportunities or damage their professional reputations. Many contributors did not want to disclose their access needs for fear of not being hired, their skills being questioned, or their work being devalued. Many contributors who now publicly identify as tāngata whaikaha Māori, d/Deaf, or disabled didn’t discuss their access needs until they had established careers and felt they had built up the networks and professional reputation for such a disclosure to have no impact on their income.

The fear of disclosing disability continues to shape the lived realities of tāngata whaikaha Māori, d/Deaf, and disabled folks working in music in Aotearoa, where this lack of understanding of access needs and the diversity of disability creates a disempowering and unsafe environment. Musical workspaces were frequently described as places where folks didn’t feel safe speaking about disability, noting that deafness or blindness were regularly used as insults in studio production or live audio settings, and associated with poor quality work.

Hui found that commercial music studios in Aotearoa were generally not accessible spaces. Folks who used wheelchairs or powerchairs regularly encountered tight fits where doors or hallways could not accommodate or be navigated in their chair, mixing desks installed at heights where they were unable to be used, no accessible bathrooms, or studios having only stair access.

Hui contributors spoke to the additional travel they often had to undertake to access appropriate recording spaces, the additional gear that had to be purchased to enable recording, and often having to hire extra folk to do certain roles they couldn’t undertake themselves, which came out of their own fee. These issues were felt particularly strongly by folks in regional areas, who noted they had to travel significant distances for a studio of any kind, and that often those studios were not accessible. Home recording had emerged as a preferred option for some hui contributors, where this enabled a safer, more comfortable environment.

A key part of this project was understanding the accessibility of current arts funding systems in Aotearoa for folks with access needs. A common thread was that application forms or portals themselves are not distinctly inaccessible, but rather there is a funding landscape that precludes and discourages tāngata whaikaha Māori, d/Deaf, and disabled folks from applying. Many folks pointed to criteria such as an established touring network or social media presence that were often inaccessible for folks with access needs, due to factors such as a lack of accessible recording studios, touring being cost-prohibitive coupled with a lack of accessible venues, and social media platforms themselves being inaccessible.

Hui collaborators made a range of suggestions for improvements to the current funding landscape in Aotearoa. These included actions such as making application forms and supporting information available in a range of formats, offering access top ups for tāngata whaikaha Māori, d/Deaf, and disabled folks, and organisations investing in Access Advisors who can act as clear contact points for accessibility and disability help and questions. These suggestions, amongst several others, were offered to NZ On Air as recommendations, noting that implementing these would significantly reduce barriers to access, and increase participation and diversity in music-making in Aotearoa.

The support and funding for this research by NZ On Air is important, we think, because it acknowledges both their position as decisionmakers behind some of the infrastructure and systems that support music within Aotearoa, and an awareness that these current systems and infrastructure may not be fit for purpose for tāngata whaikaha Māori, d/Deaf, and disabled people.

In their response to the report, NZ on Air announced they have already implemented a range of the recommendations and intend to implement a further 12. These recommendations include providing an accessibility top-up to fundees, upskilling the Music team with disability specific training, and developing a comprehensive accessibility policy. This is encouraging, and we hope that this is mahi that can catalyse more change across the sector to better support the inclusion and participation of tāngata whaikaha Māori, d/Deaf, and disabled music makers.

It was crucial we prioritised a collaborative research method that was disability-led, responsive to our cultural practices and context in Aotearoa, and upholds tāngata whaikaha Māori, d/Deaf, and disabled folk as key knowledge holders – and pays them appropriately for their expertise.

This is consistent with a social model of disability, where disability does not lie with the individual person, but rather it is society around the individual that is disabling. To this end, our report contains a lengthy series of findings that speak to the ways that social practices, infrastructure, and systems impact folks with access needs, and the strategies and tactics that can be pursued to enact transformational change – and importantly,  given our positionality in Aotearoa, change that can be guided by  acknowledging the intersection between te ao Māori social practices and accessibility. 

Acknowledgements

We’re enormously grateful to the team at NZ On Air for funding this research and their commitment to supporting greater accessibility. Our sincere thanks also go to Arts Access Aotearoa, for their expertise and advice throughout this project. For more resources and information on accessibility in the arts, visit artsaccess.org.nz.