“The speed of change in the country is actually very fast,” said British speaker, writer and activist Jo Verrent during an event at the British Council office in South Jakarta on July 19.

Verrent is a senior producer of Unlimited Festival, the world’s largest commissions program for disabled artists. She visited Indonesia last week to test the possibility of implementing Sync Leadership, a program that combines leadership theories and the lived experience of disability, in the country.

Verrent recalled her first visit to Indonesia four years ago when most people she encountered were pessimistic about the idea of becoming disabled artists in Indonesia.

“Four years later, there are many [Indonesian] disabled artists who are showing their works here and also in other places,” she said.

Verrent gave some examples, including Jakarta’s first deaf rave with Troi “DJ Chinaman” Lee during last year's Festival Bebas Batas, Jakarta’s first arts festival focusing on art by people with disabilities, and local artist Hana “Madness” Alfikih, a doodle artist with bipolar disorder.  

Verrent saw that after Troi Lee’s performance, the Indonesian deaf community felt empowered and recognized that they had a voice and much more to offer than they had thought.

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