#you're welcome to let me know if ive done a bad grammar or spelling or whatever

[deathianartworks]

Okay, I know that one person's opinion on this ain't gonna change anything, however I'd like to put my two cents out there anyway?

See, first of all, it's genuinely fascinating to me that most of the people claiming it as one aren't physically disabled themselves? As someone who has got a physical disability that regularly impacts if I can create my art, it's kinda rude for able-bodied people to say that 'it means disabled people can finally make art too' because it shows that they evidently believe we're all incompetent and haven't actually done even a quick Google search for any disabled artists? (If you do a quick Google search it comes up with loads of examples and I know there's also many on this website too, hi y'all)

We've been here the whole time, and saying that we either a) aren't disabled or disabled enough to count (ps. I have been told this before, in the disguise of 'well you're not that type of disabled person' which is woahh ableist as all hell but that's not the point of this particular mini essay haha) or b) don't exist entirely, completely erases all of the hard work, pain, time and dedication that we've put into creating art. There are also some disabled people who are also claiming this, I know, and for them in particular I have to ask 'why?' why do you think that being disabled inherently means that you are both incapable of creating something yourself and makes it okay for you to steal from others? Because that's what AI 'art' is, it's theft, and it impacts disabled artists too!

Now, there may be some people that don't try to make art because of their disability, as I said previously, however it's never impossible.

Take Alison Lapper for example, who I originally found via the mouth and foot painting artists association website when doing research back in 2021 (all quotes and facts for this will come from her personal artist website linked below however, along with any other websites that I used to research this)

Alison Lapper is a disabled artist that has 'no arms and shortened legs' and obtained an first class honours degree in fine art by drawing entirely with her mouth. She also is a photographer and appears on television regularly, both on her own documentaries and as the director of 'no body's perfect' (which was on the BBC in 2015). Her entire portfolio of work shows the ways that disabled artists can still create and express themselves while still working with their disabilities. Saying that AI art is justified because disabled people can't make art because they're disabled completely takes away from all of the work that she's done as an artist.

Following on from there, take Henri Matisse for another example. Henri Matisse is more of a household name, most famous for his nude paintings and is named by the Tate as 'commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso, as one of the artists who best helped to define the revolutionary developments in the visual arts throughout the opening decades of the twentieth century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture.'

Matisse was not born disabled however was limited to a wheelchair or his bed after an abdominal surgery, it's stated in Henning Zeidler's PubMed article 'Henry Matisse's medical history: multiple health problems and impact on creativity' (a bit words and this is very quote heavy but stay with me here okay) that 'Books, biographies and illustrations often show the artist in a wheelchair or in bed, producing cut-papers with a pair of scissors or painting with a specially extended brush.' This beautifully shows how disabled artists find ways to continue creating while working alongside their boundaries and differing capabilities. The 'specially extended brush' and working from his bed or his wheelchair? Those are wonderful examples of accessibility tools used to create art.

Being disabled doesn't automatically make it so that you are unable to create art. It may make it so that you aren't able to create art in the conventional, able-bodied ways. But stealing from artists, using AI technology to generate an amalgamation of others work without their consent is not the way to go.

On a much smaller level, I'm gonna speak about my experiences as a disabled artist. For context, I have hypermobility and dyspraxia (and some mental disabilities but that's not the focus here) which massively affects my joints and coordination. The doctors who diagnosed me told me that I will not be able to draw, write or any other fine motor skills like those, as well as someone who does not have these. From a hypermobility side, my shoulders are constantly at risk of dislocation if I put any strain on them and my wrists/fingers have a nasty habit of locking up after extended use due to my joints not being connected properly. I have had tendonitis many times over the last decade due to this, which, when mixed with a career and education pathway that entirely revolves around shoulder, wrist, finger mobility and having good hand-eye coordination, leaves me with some nasty side effects and having to alter my work style to work with my disability.

If you take a look at my work, you'll probably notice that none of it has defined lineart, I paint outside of the lines and it's typically made out of shaky lines instead of broad strokes. Due to my disabilities, I am unable to draw a fully straight line, the lines don't always end up where I intended them to and if I try to do completely clean lineart in any reasonable time (I don't have the time to spend hours and hours on each drawing sadly), my wrists will lock up and be unusable (despite me using a support) and my shoulders will ache. Not great when I have a part-time job and a life to keep up with as well as my art haha.

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble, my point is, all of these artists have one thing in common besides being disabled. All of us, no matter how famous well off we are, use disability aids and different methods of creating that work with our disabilities without needing to steal from others. I don't know how to wrap this up neatly rn because I'm writing this at 20past midnight here in the UK but yeah,

Tldr: AI 'art' is still theft, fuck ableists and thieves, disabled artists you rule, keep doing your thing.

Peace out

Websites cited:

im gonna be completely honest i do not understand the argument that ai art could be an accessibility tool

and i feel like people on both sides of that discussion get weirdly inflammatory about it so i can't form any opinions because no one is explaining it they're just yelling about it