Accessibility in choral settings

Wednesday 24 September 2025
from 5:00pm to 6:30pm

Venue: Online - Zoom

Anyone who sings, organises, or attends choral events knows their value to happiness, health and wellbeing, as well as the richness they can add to our communities. That is why it’s important to consider the barriers that keep people from engaging with, joining, and continuing to sing in choirs. This webinar will explore key concepts around disability and consider how we can all play a role in improving accessibility in choral settings.

We will explore:

• the social model of disability and consider the language we use when talking about disability
• the barriers that people with a disability can face in a choral setting
• consider practical steps to improve the accessibility of your choir

This panel discussion will be followed by an open discussion, facilitated by abcd staff – we want to encourage you to take part in the discussion, and we welcome your questions and contributions. We hope that participants will leave with a greater understanding of disability and will feel more confident to approach and discuss topics around disability and accessibility in their choir.

The webinar panel features a variety of singers, conductors and music practitioners all with experience in inclusion:

• Luca Whittle, Laidlaw Scholar at Durham University (their Laidlaw project – Beyond Access: Disabled Children’s Experiences of Belonging in UK Cathedral Choirs)
• Alison Reeves, Access & Inclusion Lead at Making Music
• Jeremy Haneman, Co-Director of Together Productions and Director of Singing For Our Minds
• Sarah Coleman, Musical Director of Glasgow Queer Voices and Policy Advisor for Mencap in Health and Learning Disability

Tickets: £10 (non-members), £7.50 (abcd members)

This webinar will be held live on Zoom; a Zoom link will be sent out to all participants on the week of the session. This session will also be recorded, so participants can attend live or catch up with the recording later at a time to suit them. Any slides or accompanying resources will be shared alongside the webinar recording with all participants.

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