Thomas Cochrane runs Twisty-Headed Man, a mental health arts charity founded in Glasgow in 1987. His policy over the years has been not to refer to the group’s mental health problems in any exhibition or publicity, as he explains to me over a bacon buttie in Partick’s Avanti Cafe. The Twisty-Headed Man Company is a [...]

“It’s about changing the context of how people look at you – asking the question, what is virtuosic?” You don’t get much more high-profile at present in the Scottish dance scene than Claire Cunningham. Her invention of a whole new vocabulary of dance and movement built on and around her crutches has won her numerous [...]

Ramesh Meyyappan has recently been awarded a year’s residency with Solar Bear theatre company. This is an opportunity to focus on developing his own skills whilst supporting the aims of Solar Bear: to raise the profile of deaf performers in the UK as well as developing a network with the wider international deaf arts community. [...]

Robert Gale is an actor with experience in theatre, radio and television. He also works in equalities, having been Equalities Officer for the Scottish Arts Council (now Creative Scotland). Robert currently co-directs Flip! – Disability Equality in the Arts, a disability consultancy service and equalities training provider. How did you get into acting? What are [...]

“Because of my disability I tend to work a little differently from other photographers – a calm, creative approach” Craig McGuire is an amateur photographer from Edinburgh. At REVEAL Scotland, we love discovering new talent that deserves wider promotion: it’s what this project is all about. Here’s what Craig had to say on finding REVEAL [...]

The Superheroes are an eight-piece band from Inverclyde who have been trained by Limelight Studios for the past seven years. The band consists of a mixture of Limelight professionals and musicians with learning disabilities who work collaboratively to write and perform their own material. The Superheroes perform at festivals, in schools and as part of [...]

Emma Scott-Smith’s flat is just a ten-minute walk from the Artlink Central office in Stirling where I work. Down one of the beautiful Victorian streets near Stirling’s Albert Halls, I’m impressed as I enter a world of large-scale artwork adorning every wall. Six-foot high paintings depict the female figure in various poses; dark greens, greys [...]

No wonder Keith Salmon has remained in his studio in Irvine for the past eight years. Facing directly onto the harbour-front in this historic North Ayrshire town, the view from Courtyard Studios is charming and the light beautiful. Open to the public most days, from here this award-winning artist labours tirelessly on an ever-expanding collection [...]

Tucked away down a modern back street in Leith, I struggle to find the house whose address I’ve been emailed by Stephan Tait. The numbers seem to go up and down in utterly random fashion – no pattern whatsoever. I do finally find the house I’m looking for and ring the bell. A large black [...]

Alwyn’s band playing recently at the Soutar Theatre in Perth, November 2010 Alwyn James is a remarkable man. A former classics teacher at the prestigious Glenalmond College in the Perthshire countryside, he suffered a massive stroke in 1995 while on tour with his Blues band which left him partially paralysed on the right side and [...]