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Today we celebrate International Day of Disabled People, a day for people across the world to recognise and value the contribution of disabled people in our communities. We are taking the opportunity to reflect artistically, and as a key employer in the creative industries, looking to the past but most importantly looking to what we can do in the future.  

This is a day to celebrate the diverse work achieved across the arts landscape, to ensure we become more inclusive and that we recognise and support the drive for new developments and collaboration across our industry.    

Christmas 2019 saw ROH and Candoco Dance Company collaborate to stage a musical reimagining of Shaun Tan’s beautifully illustrated book, The Lost Thing, in the newly renovated Linbury Theatre. This enchanting collaboration between Candoco and The Royal Opera, presented an extraordinary cast of disabled and non-disabled singers, dancers and musicians, who came together to tell a story about how we are all connected. The production included relaxed performances for adults and children, modified to be more accessible for even more people including, for example, those who are neurodivergent 

The Royal Ballet Company also presented the world-premiere of Cathy Marston’s ballet The Cellist in the 2019/2020 Season to five-star reviews. The wonderfully evocative piece tells the story of Jacqueline du Pré, a world-class cellist who had Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The Royal Ballet partnered with the MS Society alongside the mainstage production for a three-month community residency with people living with multiple sclerosis. The participants – many of whom had never danced before – worked to develop a dance-focused response to the new ballet, presenting dance pieces in workshops. These two examples from last Season at ROH showcase the meaningful steps we are making across the cultural landscape to collaborate with disabled artists and make our work accessible to as many people as possible.  

The ROH follows the ‘social model of disability’, which says that people are disabled by physical and attitudinal barriers in society, not by an impairment or disability. Understanding and dismantling these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control. In turn this enables fairer representation and involvement of disabled people within society. 

Better access and inclusion for disabled people benefits everyone at the ROH and we are a Disability Confident employer. It brings new talents and perspectives into our organisation and helps us to reflect on, and frequently improve, the experience we offer to every colleague and customer, whether or not they consider themselves disabled.   

On International Day of Disabled People with 2020, we commit to confronting ableism, to creating a more inclusive environment in which everyone feels welcomed and can thrive, and to celebrating the work of disabled people. In doing so, we endeavour to be proactive, beyond our legal responsibilities or the expectations of funders, to continually learn from each other’s experiences and practices.  

The Royal Opera House is pleased to support the Seven Principles of Inclusion and discussions are ongoing across the organisation to establish how we will embed these principles in all of our work.