This database includes musical works that feature a representation of disability or a disabled person. The expansive nature of this list—covering diverse composers, genres, and time periods—demonstrates the pervasiveness of disability within musical discourses. The database is part of the Music and Disability Interest Group (SMT) and Study Group (AMS).

We include musical works according to the following guidelines:

• The musical work features a representation of a disability or a disabled character. (Works composed by disabled composers or for disabled performers are not included on those grounds alone.)
• The musical work should clearly identify the disability—in the title, libretto, poem, or program, or by some external historical evidence. (We exclude works that have been interpreted as metaphorically disabled.)
• The musical work should sustain the representation of disability in some meaningful way. (We do not include works that mention disability only in passing.)
  
• We prioritize concert music, stage music (including opera, oratorio, musicals, and original music for ballet), and popular music. (We do not include film music—at least not yet.)

Many works included here participate in the cultural stigmatization of disability; sometimes they subvert it or neutralize it. To group similar disabilities together, the database uses mostly medical terminology (impairments), and in many instances this compresses a complex representation of bodily difference to one reductive label. This is an inherent problem in typologies such as this; users should consider these entries as starting points for their research, not as concrete diagnoses.

This database depends upon the contributions of its users. If you'd like to add something to the database, please SUBMIT a new entry; if you'd like to modify something, please EDIT an existing entry.

Click on any column to sort the table alphabetically or numerically.