The Australia Council for the Arts and Arts Access Australia have today announced the recipients of the 2022 National Arts and Disability Awards. Presented on the eve of the International Day of People with Disability, the Awards honour pioneering Australians with disability, who have demonstrated outstanding efforts within their practices.

Roya A, Rafeif Ismail and Maddie Little. Photos courtesy of Australia Council for the Arts.

Roya A has received the Established Artist Award, with an accompanying prize of $50,000. Under the name roya the destroya, she is a street performance artist who incorporates dance, circus and physical theatre into her work. Internationally-recognised, she has performed around the world, including in the Middle East, Paris, New York and at the White House in Washington D.C, as well as at Arts Centre Melbourne. One of the favourite parts of her practice is the creation of site-specific performances, finding that “each space is unique, just as each person is unique and different”.

“It gives me a thrill, figuring out what I can do, what works, what might suddenly click – it’s just beautiful. Being able to...