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Physically Integrated Dance

Despite considerable progress in acceptance of people with disabilities in our society, it is still uncommon to see people with and without disabilities collaborating and performing as equals. Integrated dance gives people who are disabled the all-too-rare opportunity to see something of themselves and their highly distinctive culture reflected in dance. At the same time, nondisabled people are given the opportunity to view an exciting new dance form that both defies and expands the traditional and often limited definition of "dance" and "dancer."

AXIS Dance Company, based in Oakland, CA, is one of the few companies in the forefront of paving the way for this powerful and inclusive dance form. This work is expanding dance to include an entire population, indeed a culture, which has historically been left out of this highly expressive art form. In so doing, a new audience for dance is growing.

The recent work in physically integrated dance, by AXIS and other companies around the U.S. and Europe, has earned critical praise in both the arts and disability communities internationally, and has also earned wide recognition in the health and education fields for its pioneering nature. In addition to artistic excellence, the social and cultural value that is imbued in the work is integral to the importance of the form.

Positive language empowers. When speaking about people with disabilities, it is important to put people first. Catch-all phrases like 'the blind,' 'the deaf,' or 'the disabled,' do not reflect the individuality, equality, or dignity of people with disabilities. Here are some examples of positive and negative phrases. Note that the positive puts the person first:

	Affirmative Phrases	Negative Phrases
	person with a disability	the disabled, the handicapped
	person who has muscular dystrophy	afflicted by (stricken by, victim of, suffers from) muscular dystrophy
	person with a spinal cord injury	injured, lame, deformed
	person who uses a wheelchair	confined to (restricted to) a wheelchair; wheelchair-bound
	person without disabilities	normal person