Nickie Miles-Wildin is a theatre and radio director who loves telling stories that are full of hope, connection and community. She loves to challenge the structures of ordinary storytelling, reaching audiences that are sometimes excluded from theatre spaces and even stories. Her work challenges preconceptions around disability and Nickie aims to put those narratives centrestage through her passion of new writing and devising. 

Nickie creatively integrates access into her work. She loves exploring the possibility of creative access and has grown as a consultant in this field, provoking other theatre makers and writers to find their potential within it. Through this work Nickie encourages new ways of working, leading to exciting outcomes and developing wider audiences for the work created.

I grew up in Gloucestershire with very little access to the arts. Performing was my passion. My sister and I used to dress up, act out scenes from Annie, Oliver, and in the summer we turned the back lane into extraordinary bike shows with 80’s hits blasting out of our red cassette player. Living the dream!

My mum had attempted to get me into youth theatre but was met with:

“We’re not accessible.”

“We’re not sure how we would work with someone who is in a wheelchair.”

The family shows, along with girl guides and A-level Theatre Studies, were my only outlet for performance, a way of expressing myself. I continued to develop my passion for theatre, studying Theatre and Media Drama at University and it was here that I connected with Graeae Theatre Company. 

Taking part in a Graeae audition workshop was an amazing experience as I wasn’t the only disabled person in the room. I didn’t have to apologise for needing to sit down or having to translate the exercise into a different way for my body. I was able to be creative in whatever way worked for me. Graeae continued to influence my work and still does: Through working with them as a performer, workshop facilitator and as a director I have learnt and am still learning about the importance of developing creative access.

‘Before I go any further I think it’s vital to understand what I mean by the word disabled. In the UK there are 14.6 million disabled people. We make up 22% of the working age population.’

Hard to imagine that figure when we are so underrepresented in the arts. Growing up, I hated the word disabled as it had such negative connotations. This is due to growing up in a world that’s catered predominantly for non-disabled people, where being disabled is seen as a medical problem and that the person should change or be fixed to fit back into society.

At the age of 21 I discovered the social model which changed my perspective forever. The social model, developed by disabled people to take action against discrimination, states that a person is disabled by the physical and attitudinal barriers that society places on them. Barriers such as stairs (physical) and negative attitudes that marginalise and exclude people (“you’re not normal”).

Yes! I am not the problem, but the way that society has been constructed to exclude me is the problem. The social model is at the core of all my work. I am constantly thinking about how I can remove barriers to enable the arts to become more accessible to people, be more inclusive, and challenge the preconceptions of disabled people.

Where do I start?

When I make a piece of work, whether that’s for theatre audiences or outdoors, I always think about access. It’s there alongside my initial vision for the piece: How can I creatively embed audio description into the work and make it accessible to blind and visually impaired audiences? Who should I work with to enable this to happen? 

I work with many audio describers who have lived experience of being visually impaired. They are involved early in the process to feed into the making as much as possible. Is there audio description in the script? Is it pre-recorded? Is there a character who can provide the audio description? 

How can I make the show creatively accessible for Deaf and hard of hearing audiences? Is this through creative captioning, integrated BSL and working with Deaf performers or Deaf translators?

What is my vision for the show? What is my audience demographic and how does access fit into those two categories? This is where I work with creatives and consultants to find out what is possible within the show. Creative access removes barriers, provides access to the arts and cultural sector and raises the ambitions and aspirations for all audiences. 

Creative access is fun. It provides more artistic opportunities. I’ve had production meetings about making farts accessible, including auditioning Siri voices! 

At Without Walls I have been advising artists on how to embed access into the shows they are developing, linking them up with disabled consultants in the field, and to develop access pages on their websites. I love listening to an artist’s vision, being an access provocateur, and then experiencing what they have made.  I’ve continued to question festivals on their access provision, sharing examples of best practice and challenging them to seek out disabled audiences and artists. 

Don’t ever think that making your work accessible is a chore, or that it isn’t worth it because no one ever comes to your shows. 

Do it bit by bit and engage with audiences. Disabled, Deaf, neurodivergent and learning disabled artists and audiences have been excluded for far too long due to the lack of access. We all have a responsibility to change that. You can change that by committing to and embedding access into your work, your festivals.

Make us feel welcomed. 

Remove the barriers. 

“If you build it they will come.”  – Field of Dreams, 1989