In both Canada and the US, the early 1900s were marked by the dominance of institutionalization and eugenics. Disabled people were seen as objects of deviance, charity, entertainment, and often placed in institutions. Eugenics policies led to forced sterilizations and segregation, particularly targeting people with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.

From 1907–1970s Alberta and British Columbia passed eugenics legislation (Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act, 1928–1972); in the US, over 60,000 sterilizations occurred under state laws.

After WWII, returning veterans with disabilities began to challenge social attitudes and demand greater access. Parents of children with disabilities began organizing for better services and educational inclusion. Still, disabled people continued to be marginalized through institutionalization, public policies, exclusionary education, and employment systems.

The Independent Living Movement was sparked by Ed Roberts, the first wheelchair user to attend the University of California in Berkeley. Facing systemic inaccessibility, Roberts and his peers organized for self-directed services, peer support, and community living—rejecting the dominant model of institutional care.

The Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS), co-founded by Paul Hunt, redefined disability as a social and political issue rather than a medical problem. Although UK-based, UPIAS developed the social model of disability, which was adopted widely by North American artists and activists.

Led by Judy Heumann and Brad Lomax, a disabled Black Panther, more than 100 people occupied a federal building for 28 days, demanding enforcement of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This was the first major federal civil rights protection for disabled people.

The UN declared 1981 the International Year of Disabled Persons, calling for full participation and equality. Canada and the U.S. responded with a wave of public initiatives, some of which included arts and accessibility programs.

Section 15 of the Charter guaranteed equality rights and explicitly protected against discrimination based on mental or physical disability. This was a foundational moment for Canadian disability rights.

This empowered artists and advocates to demand access in publicly funded programs. Opened the door to policies supporting inclusive and accessible programming.

When Gallaudet University—the world’s only university designed specifically for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students—appointed a hearing president over several qualified Deaf candidates, students, faculty, and allies organized a week-long protest demanding Deaf leadership. Their demands were clear: a Deaf president, and a Deaf majority on the board.

The campaign was a defining moment of Deaf cultural pride and self-determination. It galvanized Deaf artists and performers to claim space, leadership, and linguistic rights (ASL/LSQ) in education and the arts. The legacy of DPN continues to influence Deaf-led theatre, film, festivals, and arts advocacy in both the U.S. and Canada.

A landmark civil rights law, the ADA made it illegal to discriminate based on disability in employment, transportation, and public spaces, including arts venues.

In America, cultural institutions were now legally obligated to become accessible. This catalyzed access retrofits in theatres and museums, and pushed forward the idea of inclusion as a civil right, not a courtesy.

After years of pressure from Disabled people’s organizations and protests like the Block Telethon and Direct Action Network (DAN) campaigns, the UK government passed the Disability Discrimination Act. The DDA made it illegal to discriminate against disabled people in employment, education, transport, and access to goods and services. While limited in scope at first, it laid the foundation for more comprehensive legislation later on.

Although not North American, the DDA helped set a global precedent for legally enforcing access. It influenced discourse around anti-discrimination law and cultural access internationally, providing inspiration and strategic language for Canadian and American advocates pushing for similar reforms.

Artists like Geoff McMurchy and Catherine Frazee advanced disability arts as a distinct cultural movement. Companies such as Tangled Art and Disability and Cahoots Theatre pioneered accessible and disability-led art.

This period marked a shift from making art accessible to centering disabled artists as creators. The movement fostered new aesthetics, disability-led leadership, and an emerging national identity around Disability arts.

In response to the limitations of the mainstream disability rights movement, a collective of queer and BIPOC Disabled activists—including Patty Berne, Stacey Milbern, and others—founded the Disability Justice framework through the performance project Sins Invalid. Unlike disability rights, which often centered white, middle-class, cisgender Disabled experiences, Disability Justice emphasizes interdependence, collective access, and intersectionality as core values.

Sins Invalid and other Disability Justice–led initiatives reframed access as a political and creative practice, integrating racial, gender, and economic justice into disability arts. Their work influenced how access is conceptualized—not just as compliance, but as relationship-building, care, and cultural transformation. Disability Justice continues to shape artistic practice, leadership models, and movement strategies across North America.

Both Canada and the U.S. signed the CRPD, with Canada ratifying it in 2010. Article 30 recognizes the right of disabled people to participate in cultural life on an equal basis.

This event provided a global legal framework for advocating inclusive arts policies and programs and gave artists and organizations leverage to push for systemic change.

Crip Technoscience emerged as an interdisciplinary field that critiques mainstream notions of technology, medicine, and innovation by centering disability as a site of creativity, resistance, and knowledge. Led by scholars and activists such as Aimi Hamraie, Kelly Fritsch, and Mara Mills, the movement explores how Disabled people redesign, hack, and repurpose technologies to meet their needs—often outside of or in resistance to corporate or medical models.

Crip Technoscience reimagines access tools not as retrofits, but as creative, community-driven technologies. It influences everything from how performances integrate access, to how digital platforms are built, to how artists with disabilities engage with design, data, and embodiment. It expands disability arts into speculative, futuristic, and deeply political territory—where access is innovation, and Disabled people are not just users, but inventors.

The OAC became one of the first funders in North America to offer a dedicated stream for Deaf and Disability arts, developed through community consultation.

It provided identity-affirming funding for Disability arts, helped grow a new generation of Deaf and Disabled artists and supported Deaf or disability-led projects and collectives.

The Canada Council for the Arts restructured its funding to prioritize equity-seeking groups, including Deaf and Disabled artists. It marked a systemic shift toward inclusive grantmaking.

Disability arts gained visibility, influence, and sustainability. Organizations saw increased recognition, and sectoral conversations around access and equity deepened.

This federal legislation mandated new accessibility standards across federally regulated sectors, including arts and culture.

Arts institutions began to develop formal access plans, with funding increasingly tied to accountability. Created new opportunities—and responsibilities—for access innovation.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a shift to online programming, which unexpectedly accelerated access and innovation—captioning, relaxed formats, ASL, and audio description became more common.

Deaf and Disabled artists led the way in redefining virtual performance and access as creative tools, not just add-ons. For many, digital space became more accessible than in-person venues had ever been.