Disabled Artists and Advocates Reimagine the Future of Accessibility

July is Disability Pride Month. Orange County’s arts and cultural institutions are amplifying disabled voices and expanding the meaning of inclusivity.

"Without Us" by Joey Hernandez. Image courtesy of the artist. [DESCRIPTION FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED: Painting of woman holding a white cane facing a red painting of figures with white canes. The figures in the red painting are stylized and disturbed, a few with visible white eyes and deep frowns. The woman standing in front of the painting has long wavy dark hair, light skin and a blue dress. Pleats are visible in the dress. The walls surrounding the painting are mostly white, with faint hints of pink, yellow and blue. Her white cane has a pink grip and a purple cord. A tiny plaque on the left of the red painting reads "The Blind Leading the Blind." Joey's signature in lower right with simulation braille reading "jch."]

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Colorful, neon lights dancing in her blurry center field of vision. 

When Josephine “Joey” Hernandez began losing her vision as a sophomore in high school, she didn’t realize that the visual hallucinations she was experiencing were a symptom of Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy and Charles Bonnet Syndrome. Not able to find simulations online that accurately reflected what she was seeing, she began teaching herself how to paint, recreating her worldview using opaque, neon acrylic paint. 

Today, she is both an artist and advocate – her acrylic and acrylic gouache paintings feature canes and Braille as recurring elements, and her blog, “Artist’s Adaptation Corner,” shares accessibility tips for blind and low-vision artists.

“I want to create thoughtful depictions of visual impairment that reflect true lived experiences,” Hernandez said. “All of my paintings of cane users are based off of actual cane users, for example. I want to change the dominant visual narrative surrounding blindness and show blind people as actual human beings.”

Hernandez is also a board member of Orange County Arts and Disability, an organization dedicated to raising awareness, leading education efforts, providing opportunities and working to remove the barriers that exist for people with disabilities in arts spaces. 

In April, the group hosted its 49th Orange County Arts & Disability Festival at MainPlace Mall in Santa Ana, featuring visual and performing artists, workshops and resources for all ages. 

In honor of Disability Pride Month this month, the Bowers Museum, in partnership with OCA&D, showcased “Arts on the Move,” a free gallery of artwork by students and adult artists with disabilities, in its Lee Court from July 9-19. The display encouraged viewers to learn more about different ways people can communicate by including guides to the Braille alphabet and the American Sign Language alphabet.

Art displays from the "Art on the Move" exhibit at the Bowers Museum. Photos by Lola Olvera, Culture OC

[DESCRIPTIONS FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED: PHOTO 1: A woman with blonde hair wearing a white shirt and white shorts and a woman with brown hair wearing a black shirt and a floral skirt, view the "Arts On The Move" exhibit sign to their right. The sign says "Orange County Arts & Disability Proudly Presents Arts On The Move / July 9 - July 19, 2025 / Bowers Museum." PHOTO 2: A square-shaped arrangement of upright panels, the "Arts On The Move" exhibit shows colorful art on multiple panels, along with a large poster that introduces people to ASL Language and the Braille Alphabet. PHOTO 3: Three people view the colorful art on the interior panels of the exhibit: a woman with brown hair wearing a black shirt and patterned skirt, a man in a light green shirt and tan pants, and a woman in a blue patterned blouse and black pants. In the background, patrons of the museum sit at round tables. PHOTO 4: Seen from behind, a woman with brown hair wearing a black shirt and a patterned skirt views the colorful art of "Arts On The Move," while two other people approach from her left. PHOTO 5: Seen from behind, a woman with blonde hair wearing a white shirt and white shorts and a woman wearing a blue patterned blouse and black pants view the colorful art of "Arts On The Move" in one of the interior panels, with a wooden bench beside them. PHOTO 6: Pieces of art are arranged neatly in rows on a gray panel, including a painting of a white dog, a tree with swirls of color, pink and purple flowers, and an abstract web of blue and red paint.]

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This year’s Disability Pride Month marks the 35th anniversary of the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities in many areas of public life. OCA&D has been around even longer — since 1982.

Marleena Barber, a visually-impaired vocalist and cabaret artist, became OCA&D’s director in 2019. Shortly afterward, she began receiving inquiries from organizations seeking training and consulting to help enhance diversity, equity and inclusion in their spaces, allowing OCA&D to become a leading resource to the community. 

“I do think that awareness and access for disabled artists and arts patrons has improved over time,” she said. “I think our society, as whole, is more aware of non-apparent disabilities than it was before, and I am seeing more program offerings for individuals with autism, those who are neurodivergent or have other sensory disabilities. I think that social media has played a role in this awareness.”

SMART Sundays is Growing at The Muck

Stephannie Beeman, chief education officer at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center, agrees. 

“Awareness and access have been improving, though there’s still a long way to go,” she said.  “We’ve seen a growing understanding that inclusion isn’t just about physical access – it’s about attitude, intentional design and systemic change. More programs are also centering disabled voices, not just including them.”

In 2019, the Muckenthaler Cultural Center launched its SMART Sundays sessions, workshops encompassing movement, dance, music, fine art and sensory exploration that centered the needs of neurodiverse students and young people with disabilities while still welcoming all community members. The sessions illustrate the diverse ways that people can learn and engage, and how spaces can be built to be responsive to a wide range of needs. Related professional development workshops, open to local Orange County teachers, allow educators to learn how to create these inclusive spaces as well. 

“Parents have told us that SMART Sundays are some of the only times their children feel truly seen,” Beeman said. “Teachers have shared how our workshops gave them confidence and language they didn’t have before. And the students – their smiles, focus, and expressive creativity speak for themselves.”

Noting that parents of neurodiverse and disabled children are often paying for additional therapeutic services, it is an annual intention for the Muck to procure funding support for the SMART Sundays program and ensure they can continue to offer it to families free of charge.

As the culmination to her 2024 Muck Artist Residency, neurodivergent painter Lauren Nicole presented a multi-sensory art exhibit that invited visitors to experience the sensations of having sensory-processing differences. The exhibit, which ran from April 10 to May 23, 2025, included physical tactile duplicates and an audio tour with full visual descriptions of each painting.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts provides opportunities on stage and in the audience for people with disabilities. Photos courtesy of Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

[DESCRIPTIONS FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED: PHOTO 1: A young man with light brown hair and glasses, a black shirt and plaid shorts reads a script at Studio D, alongside another young man with reddish brown hair and glasses, with other performance students and teachers around him. PHOTO 2: A young girl in a green floral dress, a young girl in a pink and blue tulle skirt using crutches, and a young girl in a black shirt and blue jeans stand in a line, likely on stage, laughing freely. PHOTO 3: Seen from behind, a person with black and orange hair and a blue long-sleeve shirt sits in a wheelchair, looking out towards the Segerstrom stage across rows of red velvet seats. The lights are dim and actors are seen on stage, but there are no other audience members, suggesting a rehearsal setting.]

Segerstrom Center Actively Engaged

Segerstrom’s School of Dance & Music for Children with Disabilities, created in 2017 as a dance program for children with disabilities, has evolved significantly eight years later. Now named Segerstrom Center for the Art’s Studio D: Arts School for All Abilities, it offers instruction in multiple performing arts disciplines, from ballet to musical theater, for both children and adults. The curriculum is developed by a team of teaching artists and licensed occupational, physical and speech therapists, and is meant to be collaborative so that students’ input is always utilized.

Chloe Saalsaa, manager of Studio D, loves seeing the young performers’ confidence grow over time. 

“I think of students like Avery or Colie who came to the program very anxious and preferred to observe rather than participate in dance and music classes,” she said. “Week by week, they gained comfort and after being a part of Studio D for a couple years now, they jump right in and dance the whole class – sometimes even reminding the teachers what comes next in the lesson.”

Segerstrom Center offers an extensive array of accommodations, including assistive listening devices, noise-reducing headphones, fidget toys, accessible seating and large-print programs. Segerstrom’s Broadway productions offer even more – from braille programs to GalaPro (a service that delivers closed captions directly to a smart device), to designated Saturday matinees that feature ASL interpretation, audio description and open captioning. Eager to innovate, Segerstrom is even exploring new technologies like SoundShirts, which allow users to feel the vibrations of music through garments with haptic actuators, and WatchWord Live Sign Glasses, which uses Wi-Fi to project closed captions straight to augmented reality glasses.

Sensory Friendly Screenings

Since the summer of 2022, with the support of the Doreen D. Marshall Fund for Youth, The Frida Cinema began offering Sensory Friendly Screenings, movie screenings where the lights stayed on, the sound was turned down, and guests were welcome to move around and make noise. 

“Many patrons have shared how meaningful it is to have a space where they or their loved ones can experience movies without fear of judgment or discomfort,” said Logan Crow, executive director of The Frida Cinema. “Parents, in particular, have expressed gratitude for a space where their children can be themselves, and still feel part of the movie-going community.”

In June, The Frida curated and screened a selection of films by filmmakers with visible and non-apparent disabilities, part of a lineup of programming by Slamdance Unstoppable.

“The emphasis (of the films) was on realistic representation, not idealized representation,” said Trevor Dillon, The Frida’s director of programming. “I was really impressed by the intent behind that.”

“I Don’t Care About Your Parables” by Joey Hernandez. Image courtesy of the artist. [DESCRIPTION FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED: Painting of two women with white canes confidently walking on a sidewalk under scaffolding. They strut with arms linked and canes pointed to the left. The woman on the left wears a dark jacket, pants, and a red scarf. The woman on the right wears a light cropped top, a dark open coat, and dark pants. The painting is mostly constructed of purposefully messy and blurred patches of reds, blues, and purples. Large simulation braille in lower right corner reads "shove it" in grade 2 UEB. Underneath, Joey's signature with simulation braille reading "jch."]

Consistently, the disability community emphasizes the importance of being allowed to advocate on its own behalf. According to Hernandez, depictions of disabilities by people without lived experiences can perpetuate damaging stereotypes. In fact, two of her paintings, “I Don’t Care About Your Parables” and “Without Us,” were in direct response to a painting by a non-disabled artist that associated blindness with ignorance in a highly demeaning way.

Disabled and neurodiverse individuals continue to be depicted as either utterly helpless or unflinchingly resilient, simple or savant, objects of pity or sources of inspiration. Largely, the word “disability” is seen as synonymous with “deficient.” Educators are trying to change that.

“When you create an environment that embraces difference, those so-called ‘deficits’ reveal themselves as unique artistic lenses,” Beeman said. “Some students see patterns or colors differently and turn that into bold, imaginative visual art. Others use repetition or structure in ways that are deeply meaningful. For many neurodiverse artists, creativity isn’t bound by convention – it's intuitive, experimental, and boundary-pushing.” 

Money Can Be a Factor

When it comes to accessibility, one boundary that arts organizations have found difficult to push is their budgets. 

Providing ASL interpreters, sensory items, and large print and braille materials – let alone major infrastructure changes – can be expensive, especially for smaller organizations. While acknowledging this obstacle, Barber encourages leaders to pick a couple areas to focus on, include the costs for providing accommodations into their grant proposals and program costs as a starting point, and work their way from there. 

“When accommodations are visible, regular, and expected, they stop being ‘special’ and start being standard,” she said. 

She also emphasizes the importance of seeking out training and always reaching out to – and compensating – disabled people for input and feedback.

Norm Major III, director of audience services at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, says Segerstrom Center is proud to be a leader in making arts more accessible across the county. Since 2024, the center has hosted the Orange County Arts and Disability Collaborative meetings, where arts and culture organizations can learn about accessibility, collaborate with other arts administrators, and find support in making accommodations a reality in their spaces.

“With the resources and infrastructure to support this work, we see it as our responsibility to

help shape a more inclusive future for the arts – not just at Segerstrom, but county-wide,” Major III said.

More Disability Pride Month Events

Segerstrom’s All Abilities Celebration will take place July 26 on the Julianne & George Argyros Plaza. Attendees can expect live performances, including a performance by Studio D students, as well as sensory-friendly activities, from ASL workshops to DIY Braille bookmark-making. 

Over in Huntington Beach Central Park, OneWell Health Care will be hosting a Disability Pride Party on July 25, featuring live music and games, free food, and inclusive activities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

“What's unique – and hopeful – about the arts world is that it has the tools to transform (current) norms,” Beeman said. “Creativity allows us to reimagine what inclusion looks like – from adaptive materials to sensory-friendly performances to spaces that celebrate all bodies and minds. When we prioritize access, we unlock the full richness of what the arts can be: a place where everyone has the right to express, explore, and belong.”