Jamie MacDonald charts his experience with being oblivious to many things around him. Although his blindness keeps him physically unaware of much of his surrounding, the obliviousness he actually charts in his stand-up comedy reflects on much more, considering his experiences through childhood, trying to impress his fiancé, and trying to deal with the world’s ever-growing acceptance and accessibility to disabled people. MacDonald charts the downside of a post-paralympic interest and public engagement with disability – talked about extensively by artists like Katherine Araniello and DAG (Disabled Avant-Garde) – which promotes inclusion at all costs, and often presses disabled people to provide inspiration for others. While MacDonald speaks about the burdens of accessibility with a cheeky grin, the expectations of sameness and a ‘nondisabled washing’ points to things that may be lost as everyone becomes expected to achieve the same things. While we know that the world of his childhood – in which he was humiliated for his disability by students and patronised by teachers – was not an ideal environment for feeling empowered as a young man, the world he shows as existing today (exemplified by a young child feeling free to annoy him with all sorts of questions about his blindness) may still have some great inequalities and annoyances. (BL)
JAMIE MACDONALD: OBLIVIOUS Jamie MacDonald, Assembly George Square, 7-30 August. Venue is wheelchair accessible.
More on Jamie MacDonald: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/jamie-macdonald-oblivious
Acoustic Shooting (Described by MacDonald in Oblivion): http://www.disabledshooting.org.uk/getting-started/introduction-to-shooting-disciplines/acoustic-shooting.html
Katherine Araniello: http://www.araniello-art.com/
Further reading: http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/national-paralympic-day-artists-dismiss-talk-of-2012-legacy/