scientific publications Citation: McCaffrey, T. (2024). ‘We are on the Political Spectrum’: How is Learning Disabled Theatre Political? In V. Glørstad, T. P. Østern, T. McCaffrey, K. Chikonzo & N. Chivandikwa (Eds.), Theatre and Performing Arts, Disability Citizenship and Community Development – Perspectives from the Global South and North (pp. 25–44). Cappelen Damm Akademisk. hps://doi.org/10.23865/noasp.226.ch1 License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 chapter 1 ‘We are on the Political Spectrum’: How is Learning Disabled Theatre Political? Tony McCaffrey University of Canterbury/ Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, New Zealand Abstract: In this chapter the author, the artistic director of Different Light Theatre located in Christchurch, New Zealand, explores the political potential and signi- ficance of learning disabled theatre. To do so, the author elucidates how various meanings of ‘political’ inform the emergence, the creation and work practices, and the representational politics of the theatre. He draws on 20 years of experience creating theatre, and of working and being together with the learning disabled artists of Different Light Theatre. The company’s work has emerged in the context of the specific political context of learning disability in Aotearoa/New Zealand, expressed on the educational, juridical and social level. The company was formed in 2004 as A Different Light: to align with the notion of perceiving learning disabled people ‘in a different light’. In the chapter, the concept of a ‘political spectrum’ is used as a multi-faceted framework to explore the complexity of political repre- sentation for learning disabled people, who oſten have limited or marginalised access to personhood. Building on a rich variety of practices, which are scrutinised in the chapter, the author presents the idea that ‘a spectrum’ suggests gradation but also connection, and even inclusion. We are all somewhere on a spectrum. Keywords: learning disability, disability culture, performance studies, theatre studies, aesthetics and politics