Access Denied: A SAC round table on disability justice and institutional critique

The CAA Service to Artists Committee presents a round table discussion that expands upon what scholar Amanda Cachia calls “access aesthetics,” or “creative access or access as praxis. This is a genre and an art movement that centers access as a medium that contemporary disabled artists use as a political strategy” (Cachia, 2025, p. 8). As art institutions expand their platforms for disabled artists, they must also confront their limitations. Despite federal policies like the Americans with Disabilities Act, many arts organizations lack adequate accommodations for artists with physical and intellectual disabilities. This positions artists as the experts on accessibility, and makes them responsible for more labor, financial contributions, and aesthetic considerations.

Through access aesthetics, disabled artists often turn to institutional critique while participating in arts programming, such as calling out infrastructural limitations, the absence of accommodation offerings, and lack of knowledge or training among staff. We’ve seen this through Jaklin Romine’s performance series, “ACCESS DENIED,” where she positions her body outside of organizations that are inaccessible to wheelchair users. Actions like these demonstrate how disabled artists become advocates for themselves and others who share their experience.

This round table calls for participants who have studied the unique abilities disabled artists and creatives have employed to open access to institutional spaces, often not designed to meet the needs of disabled artists and visitors. We especially encourage submissions from disabled artists and scholars.

Cachia, A. (2025). The Agency of Access: Contemporary Disability Art & Institutional Critique. Temple University Press.