In a rehearsal space on a Saturday morning in Melbourne, something quietly revolutionary is happening. There are ukuleles and keyboards, tap shoes on wooden boards, and instruments built from scratch or reimagined with handmade or 3D-printed parts. In the middle of it all, kids aged 8 to 14 are making music – not in spite of disability but in the full expression of who they are.

This is the Adaptive Music Bridging Program, a collaboration between the University of Melbourne and Melbourne Youth Orchestras (MYO). At the helm is Dr Anthea Skinner, a senior research fellow in Disability and Creative Performance – and a former MYO student herself.

“I came to MYO at 14, after a brain injury,” Skinner tells Limelight. “I loved band as a kid. I couldn’t play sport – not even para-sport – so band was my team. But in every youth band I joined, I was the only visibly disabled person. MYO helped me start playing again. That’s where this all began.”

Skinner’s research and the work of many others is about to culminate in a concert, The Art of Us, which brings together artists who identify as disabled, neurodivergent or Deaf for a showcase of music and...