Building Disability-Centred Creative Futures in East London
What: Participatory research
When: 2025-2026
Where: UCL & Loughborough University
Research Question
How effectively do inclusive innovation initiatives in East London engage with disabled creative communities, and what tangible benefits result from these collaborations?
To answer this question, 78 disabled creative practitioners across Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham, and Waltham Forest shared their time, experience, and insight; therefore, the knowledge it generated belonged to the community that shaped it. The goal is to share what disabled creative communities have to say and help shape a more inclusive, accessible creative sector, starting in East London.
What the research found
81%
Found support services inaccessible.
74%
Found the cost of studios inaccessible.
41%
Felt isolated from creative communities.
31%
Reported people don’t understand access needs.
East London carries the Paralympic legacy. The infrastructure was built. The inclusion missions were written. But when disabled creative practitioners were asked about their experiences, the gap between promise and reality was significant.
The report documents these findings, analyses why current inclusion efforts aren’t working, and introduces four Building Blocks for Disability-Centred Futures: a practical framework for organisations ready to move from intentions to actual change.
Dowload full report in screen reader accessible PDF format here.