Disability arts festival begins

Performances include an audience with some disabled male strippers

Performers from around the world have gathered in Edinburgh for Scotland's only disability arts festival.

Organisers said that the 12 shows would challenge the usual disability stereotypes held by audiences.

The event, called Degenerate4, is being held at the city's Theatre Workshop until 26 August.

The shows include drama, comedy, cabaret, poetry, music and visual art from the USA, Palestine, Germany and across the UK.

The event, which is in its fourth year, is supported by the Scottish Arts Council.

Theatre Workshop producer Anne Fleming said: "Theatre Workshop is known for its groundbreaking approach to disability theatre and has been recognised as Europe's first fully inclusive producing theatre since 1999.

"The quality and scope of this year's Degenerate festival underlines this commitment to excellence and diversity."

The programme features a show by a man who was blinded in a Los Angeles shooting using drama, poetry and music to tell his story.

Another is described as an intimate audience with the UK's only disabled male strippers - the Crippendales.