Angela Bettoni may be the first Mcast BA graduate with Down’s syndrome – but she makes it a point to say she is “no trailblazer” and is just living her life to the full.

The 23-year-old has now moved on to university – another first in Malta for a person with Down’s – where she is pursuing her passion for performing arts. She will be building on her dissertation on representation for people with learning disabilities in this field and doing a diploma in community access for disabled people.

Again, she takes the university accomplishment in her stride. “Don’t think of me as a hero!”

But Bettoni will not take it against you either: “My achievements are open to interpretation. People can see me as they want, I do not mind. I’m just trying to live my life.”

While people consider her an inspiration, she just wants to be seen as “a person”. But the truth is she is doing more than “just living life”.

Bettoni’s milestones are “a matter of raising expectations…” They prove it is possible to have access to higher education with the correct support, she says when pushed.

“I think we are raising expectations, giving hope and creating spaces for people to be seen for who they are.”

At university, Bettoni is now learning skills about how to raise more awareness, which she will be able to implement in her work in the performing arts and life in general.

At 18, she joined Opening Doors Association, a theatre group for adults with learning disabilities, and has since been advocating for mixed-ability performances. The plan is to continue on this in the belief there is more to achieve.

But she can also see improvement over the years: “I am really happy to say that since 2021 we have had seven mixed-ability performances on stage, and they were also well received.”

“Empowerment is a big thing in an inclusive mixed-ability setting,” she says about the encouragement she received.

Asked about the challenges and obstacles she faced during her five years at the college for arts, science and technology, Bettoni prefers a “positive” approach to disability.

“We tend to go on about the negative aspects. Of course, barriers were to be expected along the way. There has to be something to overcome, and I always do.”

But she chooses to talk about the support of her parents and lecturers instead; to focus on the milestones and achievements.

“We have to move away from talking about disability as something negative. There are positives in our lives too.”

As a person with learning disabilities, Bettoni said she “struggled” with aspects of the advanced diploma in performing arts – costume design, lighting, sound and other mathematical and technical aspects that required fine motor skills and a heavy workload.

But she was able to migrate to a tailor-made course in creative arts, which allowed her to pick and choose units that worked for her.

This is what Bettoni means when she says it should be about “equity not equality”.

Equality is about putting everyone on a level playing field and “treating us the same as a non-disabled person”, but equity is about giving opportunities to grow and excel, she explains.

Education, performing arts and life in general need to have a “person-centred” approach, moving away from equality to equity, she continues.

Bettoni may be the only person with a learning disability in her university course, but that also “probably” puts her in a good position to have a deeper understanding of the subject of accessibility.

‘Transformative experiences’

Confident and assertive, Bettoni is speaking in her environment – the newly opened Teatru Salesjan in Sliema – and she says she aspires to perform here one day, as well as the Manoel Theatre.

She also wants to take her latest performance, a mixed-ability duet called Balm, to other stages, apart from the Dance Festival in Malta and Venice’s Venere in Teatro earlier this year.

Funded by Arts Council Malta and the Professional Media Presence project, Balm is an autobiographical piece about a young woman with Down’s syndrome. Bettoni wrote the monologue based on her own experience and she plays the main character.

These performance experiences were “transformative”, she says emphatically. “I was given the space to grow and flourish and the opportunity to perform in big theatres.”

Bettoni will be presenting her dissertation, Representation for People with Learning Disabilities in the Performing Arts in Malta, at the State of the Arts national symposium next week and later at a conference in Greece.

Her study explores how people with learning disabilities can be empowered to break ableism in the performing arts in Malta, where training is limited for them.

Equality is about putting everyone on a level playing field and treating us the same as a non-disabled person, but equity is about giving opportunities to grow and excel- Angela Bettoni

Research on the topic is also limited due to a lack of inclusive works, the study found.

While not everyone may share Bettoni’s passion for physical theatre and dance, the giant strides that the petite girl is making in these fields could have a ripple effect in other areas.

“We still need to break down misconceptions,” she says.

“But the future is about creating more awareness… and maybe, why not, setting up my own mixed-ability dance company. I have a good pool of people to gather together.

“We have to do more; create more inclusive mixed-ability artistic projects, pathways for collaboration and raise more awareness,” she says.

Fundamentally: “I do not look at people’s labels. I see them as a person and a soul. And I connect on a heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul basis.”

Facts and figures

In the last academic year, 460 students registered with the ACCESS-Disability Support Unit (ADSU) at the university, and that number increases “considerably” every year.

Their disabilities and conditions ranged from physical to neurological, neurodiverse and medical, as well as specific learning difficulties.

The ADSU supports students, members of staff and visitors who may have a disability, impairment, or condition by providing professional support through the services of a social worker and occupational therapist.

The students are also supported through course and examinations access arrangements for MATSEC, Junior College and University of Malta.

Requests for arrangements are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and are implemented through liaisons with the relevant professionals.

“Sometimes, the biggest challenge can be to convince students to seek the support they need and talk about it,” the unit said.