Loaded Pistols: the interplay of social intervention and anti-aesthetic tradition in learning disabled performance

In order to combat the social alienation of people with learning disabilities, applied practice in this field is frequently directed towards performance, partly recognising that marginalisation extends to their exclusion from the stage itself, and partly to establish a communicative space where people with learning disabilities and non-disabled people can meet on something approaching equal terms. This latter point also informs the artistic process with non-disabled artists usually integrated with learning disabled artists in the creation of performance. Heavy Load is a band from Brighton consisting of members ‘with and without learning disabilities’ that draws on the theatrical constructions and posturing of the punk tradition. In this article, I will consider how punk aesthetics are both adopted and negotiated in order to produce meaning at the local and immediate level.