Too easy to make the assumption that everyone can walk – surely it is the most human thing we humans can do? However, not everyone has the privilege of the sensorial able-bodied. Often overlooked in event planning or in creative compositions, yet frequently made to feel as if in the spotlight, an unintended public performer, trying to tackle unintentional obstacles.

Hear from three leading practitioners who are composing creative ways for everybody to get out and about.

Access to the countryside took on a different meaning for Rowena Macaulay when in her thirties she became a fulltime chair user, meeting with new kinds of barriers and needing new kinds of information. In 2010 she founded Walk Colchester, a community walk advocacy organisation concerned with inclusive approaches to the design and management of the local walking environment. Colchester now has an orbital route developed by Rowena, not yet entirely accessible, that has inspired the making of several short films by members of the local walking public and a punk band’s single. She has a particular interest in the use of photography and digital mapping tools to provide information differently about walking opportunities and obstacles, aimed both at encouraging countryside access by older, disabled and new walkers, and at facilitating collaborative working with professionals in the field.

Tom Marsh is a Countryside Activities Officer at Open Country, a charity that helps people with disabilities to access and enjoy the countryside. Tom’s Audio Walks help those who struggle to access the countryside to connect with the great outdoors. With mindful descriptions incorporating all the senses, he engages listeners with descriptive tours of countryside walks across his home county of Yorkshire and beyond, weaving in elements of historical and geographical interest along the way. Started during lockdown as a way to bring the countryside to those isolating indoors. The audio walks have gained a wider audience over the years. Collaborating with various local organisations, Tom’s walks have drawn in ex-pats reminiscing about their memories of home, people looking to escape the monotony of indoor chores and those who struggle to access the countryside for a variety of reasons.

Amble Skuse is a composer and sound artist who uses disability theory, body sensor technology, spoken word interviews and electronics to create unique sound works. She is interested in the interface between the disabled body and the exterior world, and has explored this through numerous sound walks using her wheelchair. She used “Normalised Interfacing” to explore ways in which the performance of her disability is hidden and unhidden through her actions, and through her ‘performances’ extend a means for the audience to engage with what is given and what is assumed. “My idea for Normalised Interfacing was to reflect on the experience of a city from the perspective of a disabled person, chronicling the adaptation of the body to an unfamiliar urban environment using body sensors and media recording equipment.”