Artist Renu Arora’s disability support restored following campaign
Taken from Arts Professional:
Arora said her allowance was reduced just as she had secured funding for her award-winning new musical The Burgundy Book.
Award-winning disabled artist, actor and writer Renu Arora has said her Access to Work grant has been restored following a “deeply distressing” ten-week campaign.
Arora’s grant was cut by 80% by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) earlier this year, amid development work on her new “digitally immersive musical” about her life-changing accident, titled The Burgundy Book, which won the Peggy Ramsay Award and is supported by Arts Council England.
In response, she wrote an open letter to her MP, Sarah Sackman, that was supported by figures including the show’s director Erica Wyman, and Graeae artistic director Jenny Sealey, who also had her Access to Work allowance reduced earlier this year.
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It stated that the cut to her grant, which aims to help people get or stay in work if they have a physical or mental health condition or disability, amounted to her being “effectively locked out of employment and not able to do the very work that we have secured investment for”.
She also started a petition that received nearly 400 signatures, including Sackman, who has requested a meeting with Arora and Sir Stephen Timms to discuss her experience.
‘Something seriously wrong’ with assessment system
Arora said that, while she is “thrilled” by DWP’s decision to reverse the cut, it is “incredibly bittersweet”.
“My heart breaks for the thousands of disabled artists going through this same horror, who, unlike me, do not already have an established career, or platform, or organisations like artsdepot, or media connections to support them.
“It is a disgrace that it took a massive press campaign across multiple national news outlets for the DWP to do the right thing. It is brutally clear that they care more about PR optics than the welfare of disabled citizens.”
She expressed her gratitude to those who have supported her, adding: “I want to use what happened to me to shine a light on a system that is forcing disabled people to fight for support that should be theirs by right, simply to do their jobs. And now, finally, I can get back to mine – and begin development for The Burgundy Book.”
Whyman, who was formerly deputy artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, praised Arora’s “indefatigable campaign” but warned there is “something seriously wrong with an assessment system that can jeopardise an artist’s work and career in this way”.
She added: “I am proud to work with Renu and I hope her case has a positive impact on the experience of disabled people whose work, ideas, ambition and creativity are essential for all of us.”
DWP has been contacted for comment.